When a new face is added to an existing group, they typically sing or play for a few years, do their part well, expand the fanbase, and eventually move on. Most group members leave the group as well off as they found it, though there are some negative exceptions. MusicScribe’s 2017 survey will focus on those members from history who joined an existing group and made a lasting impact to the point that their name should forever be synonymous with the group’s best years.
In a short series of surveys this summer, we will determine the Most Significant Personnel Change in Southern Gospel music’s history.
Here are a few starters:
1988 – Mark Lowry joins the Gaither Vocal Band
1980 – Tim Riley joins Gold City
1964 – George Younce joins the Cathedral Trio, making them a quartet
1971 – Jim Hamill joins the Kingsmen
1965 – William Lee Golden joins the Oak Ridge Boys
1965 – J D Sumner joins the Stamps
1948 – Jake Hess joins the Statesmen
2002 – Jim Brady joins the Booth Brothers
Please make additional nominations by leaving a comment here on the MusicScribe website under this article. (Not on Facebook or Twitter, please.)
Nominations are open until midnight (EDT) July 31.
1995 – Arthur Rice joins the Kingdom Heirs
2003 – Joseph Habedank joins The Perrys (all of their awards came during his tenure, I believe)
1963 – Sale Shelnut joining the Dixie Echoes
Michael English joins GVB in 1985 and again in 2009. He also made a lasting contribution to the Singing Americans before that even though his tenure was brief (both times).
Rodney Griffin joining Greater Vision
Cathedrals: Roger Bennett, Mark Trammell
LeFevres: Rex Nelon
Hoppers: Kim Hopper, Connie Hopper
Gold City: Brian Free, Ivan Parker, Mark Trammell
Greater Vision: Rodney Griffin
Happy Goodmans: Vestal Goodman
Bill Gaither Trio: Gloria Gaither (she was not an original member)
Blackwood Brothers: JD Sumner, Bill Shaw
Inspirations: Mike Holcomb
Kingsmen: Ray Dean Reese
Couriers: Neil Enloe
Weatherfords: Lily Fern Weatherford
Kim Hopper joins the Hoppers
Vestal Goodman joins the Happy Goodmans
Jake Hess joins the Statesmen
Michael English joining the GVB
Jim Hamill joining the Kingsmen
Ivan Parker/Tim Riley joining Gold City
Dale Shelnut joins the Dixie Echoes
JD Sumner joining the Stamps
Ed O’Neal joining the DMB
Karen Peck joins the Nelons
Charlotte Ritchie joins Jeff & Sheri Easter (what a sound she had)
Lauren Talley joins the Talleys
JD Sumner and Cecil Blackwood join Blackwood Brothers after the plane crash. This changed the direction of the BW Bros and (according to some sources) led to NQC.
1965 was more about JD Sumner leaving the Blackwood Bros than it was about him joining the Stamps, though I realize that isn’t the focus of your survey. What a shocker that was to those of us around to experience it.
Yes, the focus of the survey is individuals who joined a group and proceeded to elevate that group far beyond what it had been in the immediate past.
I don’t suppose he elevated the group “far beyond” what it had been, but when Jay Berry joined the Rebels, it put them at another level.
Connie Hopper was a member of the Hoppers from the beginning, by the way.
Guy Penrod – Gaither Vocal Band
Luke Vaught – Inspirations
When Lauren Talley joined The Talley Trio.