Welcome to Shout! Black Gospel Music Moments. I’m Robert Darden.
Perhaps no group – gospel or pop – has been through more successful permutations than the Soul Stirrers. Founded by the incomparable Robert Harris outside Houston the late 1920s, the Stirrers were one of the last and greatest of the a cappella jubilee quartets. From the ‘30s through ’50, they morphed into one of the greatest of the early gospel groups.
When Harris eventually left, tired of the road, they recruited Sam Cooke. Cooke, of course, was one of the greatest stars of the ‘50s and ‘60s and took gospel to a whole new level before he too left to devote himself to a hugely successful pop career.
Cooked was replaced by Johnnie Taylor, who also left to become a soul and pop star – think “Who’s Making Love?” and “Disco Lady” – before he was quickly replaced by the multi-talented Crume brothers – Arthur and Leroy ... who shepherded the group into the 2000s. That’s the Crumes at the top of their game on “He’s Been a Shelter for Me” from 1967.
MUSIC: “He’s Been a Shelter for Me,” the Soul Stirrers, 45
I’m Robert Darden … “Shout! Black Gospel Music Moments” is produced by KWBU, the Black Gospel Music Preservation Program at Baylor University Libraries and is funded by generous support from the Prichard Foundation.