| The Weatherfords | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Weatherford Quartet Weatherford Trio |
| Genres | Christian: Southern Gospel |
The Weatherfords (also Weatherford Quartet and Weatherford Trio) are an American Gospel ensemble.
The Weatherfords are husband and wife Earl and Lily Weatherford, who first began singing together in the mid-1940s in California after their marriage in 1945. Earl had founded the group prior to this as an all-male troupe, and Lily began filling in on the tenor parts in 1948, eventually becoming the group's most visible member. They moved several times over the next few decades, to Fort Wayne, Indiana, Akron, Ohio, and Paoli, Oklahoma.
The ensemble sang on California radio stations in the 1940s, and was offered a full-time spot on radio station WOWO in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1949. In the 1950s they recorded for RCA Victor, and worked in collaboration with evangelist Rex Humbard. The group's other key members at this time were Glen Payne, Armond Morales, and Henry Slaughter (the last on piano).
Slaughter and Morales left the group to join The Imperials in 1963, and Slaughter continued working with Humbard and later joined the Cathedral Quartet; Earl and Lily found new members to fill out the ensemble. They continued recording and performing for the next several decades. Earl Weatherford died in 1992; in 1999, Lily published an autobiography, With All My Heart. She continues to perform under the name The Weatherfords with new members.
+James M. Clark +Fulton Nash +Glenn Couch (b.1935) +David Ingles (b.1934) +Bob Thacker