The Spiritual 5 were formed about 1950 around the sweet, high tenor of Silas Washington and the multi-talented Lee Toussaint, second cousin to New Orleans’ legend Allen Toussaint. By 1955, they were recording for Ernie Young’s Nashboro label, cranking out hit songs under the tutelage of Rebert Harris of the Soul Stirrers, who was one of their biggest supporters.
The Spiritual 5 moved to Don Robey’s Peacock label in 1960, where they released this memorable version of the old spiritual, “Sweet By and By.” The original group broke up shortly thereafter, but another Spiritual 5, made up of the children of some of the original members, still sings and releases gospel music today!