Gospel music

== History ==
According to Yale University music professor Willie Ruff, the singing of psalms in [[Scottish Gaelic]] by [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterians]] of the Scottish [[Hebrides]] evolved from "[[lining out]]"—where one person sang a solo and others followed—into the [[call and response]] of gospel music of the American South.<ref>{{cite news|title=From Charles Mackintosh's waterproof to Dolly the sheep: 43 innovations Scotland has given the world |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/charles-mackintosh-chemist-waterproof-google-doodle-scotland-inventions-innovation-bicycles-a7499911.html|newspaper=[[The Independent]] |date=January 3, 2016}}</ref> Another theory notes foundations in the works of [[Isaac Watts]] and others.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://songsandhymns.org/people/detail/isaac-watts|title=Isaac Watts – The Center For Church Music, Songs and Hymns|website=Songsandhymns.org}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=July 2019}}

Moreover, the genre arose during a time when literacy was not a guarantee, utilizing a great deal of repetition (which, unlike more traditional hymns, allowed those who could not read the opportunity to participate).{{citation needed|date=June 2022}}

=== 18th century ===
Perhaps the most famous gospel-based hymns were composed in the 1760s and 1770s by English writers [[John Newton]] ("[[Amazing Grace]]") and [[Augustus Toplady]] ("Rock of Ages"), members of the [[Anglican Church]]. Starting out as lyrics only, it took decades for standardized tunes to be added to them. Although not directly connected with African-American gospel music, they were adopted by African-Americans as well as white Americans, and Newton's connection with the [[Abolitionism|abolition]] movement provided cross-fertilization.

=== Holiness-Pentecostal era (19th century) ===
[[File:Philip Paul Bliss, 1838-1876, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing left LCCN2005678063.jpg|thumb|upright|Philip Paul Bliss]]
The first published use of the term "Gospel song" probably appeared in 1874 when [[Philip Bliss]] released a songbook entitled ''Gospel Songs. A Choice Collection of Hymns and Tunes''. It was used to describe a new style of church music, songs that were easy to grasp and more easily singable than the traditional church [[hymns]], which came out of the mass revival movement starting with [[Dwight L. Moody]], whose musician was [[Ira D. Sankey]], as well as the [[Holiness movement|Holiness]]-[[Pentecostalism|Pentecostal]] movement.<ref name="Malone_520"/> Prior to the meeting of Moody and Sankey in 1870, there was an American rural/frontier history of [[Revival meeting|revival]] and [[camp meeting]] songs, but the gospel hymn was of a different character, and it served the needs of mass revivals in the great cities.<ref>{{harvp|Christ-Janer|Hughes|Smith|1980|p=364}}</ref>

The revival movement employed popular singers and song leaders, the most famous of them being Ira D. Sankey. The original "gospel" songs were written and composed by authors such as [[George Frederick Root|George F. Root]], [[Philip Bliss]], [[Charles H. Gabriel]], [[William Howard Doane]], and [[Fanny Crosby]].<ref name="Malone_520"/> As an extension to his initial publication ''Gospel Songs'', Philip Bliss, in collaboration with Ira D. Sankey issued no's. 1 to 6 of ''Gospel Hymns'' in 1875.<ref>Benson, Louis F. ''The English Hymn: Its Development and Use in Worship.'' New York: George H. Doran Co., 1915, p. 486. Several sources cite the Bliss and Sankey 1875 publication as the first to use the word "gospel" in this sense. For example, {{harvp|Malone|1984|p=520}}.</ref> Sankey and Bliss's collection can be found in many libraries today.

The popularity of revival singers and the openness of rural churches to this type of music (in spite of its initial use in city revivals) led to the late 19th and early 20th century establishment of gospel music publishing houses such as those of [[Homer Rodeheaver]], [[E. O. Excell]], [[Charles Davis Tillman|Charlie Tillman]], and [[Charles Albert Tindley|Charles Tindley]]. These publishers were in the market for large quantities of new music, providing an outlet for the creative work of many songwriters and composers.<ref>Hall, Jacob Henry. ''Biography of Gospel Song and Hymn Writers''. New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1914, provides contemporary information about songwriters, composers and publishers.</ref>

The advent of radio in the 1920s greatly increased the audience for gospel music, and [[James David Vaughan|James D. Vaughan]] used radio as an integral part of his business model, which also included traveling quartets to publicize the gospel music books he published several times a year.<ref>See also [[Charles Davis Tillman]].</ref> [[Virgil Oliver Stamps|Virgil O. Stamps]] and [[J. R. Baxter|Jesse R. Baxter]] studied Vaughan's business model and by the late 1920s were running heavy competition for Vaughan.<ref name="Malone_521">{{harvp|Malone|1984|p=521}}</ref> The 1920s also saw the marketing of gospel records by groups such as the [[Carter Family]].

=== Emergence of Black gospel (1920s–1970s) ===
{{Main|Black Gospel music}}
[[File:MahaliaJackson.jpg|thumb|right|[[Mahalia Jackson]] has been called the "Queen of Gospel"]]
The Pentecostal movement quickly made inroads with churches not attuned to the Europeanized Black church music that had become popular over the years since Emancipation. These congregations readily adopted and contributed to the gospel music publications of the early 20th century. [[Sister Rosetta Tharpe]], pioneer of [[rock and roll]], soon emerged from this tradition as the first great gospel recording artist.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/black-culture/shows/list/rock-and-roll-rosetta-tharpe/|title=Godmother of Rock and Roll: Sister Rosetta Tharpe|website=[[PBS]]|access-date=August 8, 2015}}</ref> The first person to introduce ragtime to gospel (and the first to play piano on a gospel recording) was [[Arizona Dranes]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.patheos.com/Resources/Additional-Resources/COGIC-Women-in-Gospel-Music.html|title=COGIC Women in Gospel Music on Patheos |date=June 10, 2009 |access-date=February 2, 2010 |website=Patheos.com}}</ref>

The 1930s saw the rise of Black gospel quartets such as the [[Five Blind Boys of Mississippi]] and the [[Five Blind Boys of Alabama]].<ref>{{harvp|Malone|1984|p=522}}</ref> In addition to these high-profile quartets, there were many Black gospel musicians performing in the 1920s and 30s, usually playing the guitar and singing in the streets of Southern cities.

In the 1930s, in Chicago, [[Thomas A. Dorsey]] turned to gospel music, establishing a publishing house.<ref name="Malone_523">{{harvp|Malone|1984|p=523}}</ref> It has been said that 1930 was the year traditional black gospel music began, as the National Baptist Convention first publicly endorsed the music at its 1930 meeting.<ref>{{harvp|Southern|1997|p=484}}</ref> Dorsey was responsible for developing the musical careers of many African-American artists, such as Mahalia Jackson (best known for her rendition of his "[[Take My Hand, Precious Lord|Precious Lord, Take My Hand]]").<ref name="Malone_523" />

Meanwhile, radio continued to develop an audience for gospel music, a fact that was commemorated in [[Albert E. Brumley]]'s 1937 song, "Turn Your Radio On" (which is still being published in gospel song books). (In 1972, a recording of "[[Turn Your Radio On (album)#Charts|Turn Your Radio On]]" by the Lewis Family was nominated for [[Dove Awards of 1972#Award recipients|Gospel Song of the Year]].)<ref>"The Gospel Music Association's Dove Awards Nominations for the Gospel Song of 1972", [[Canaan Records]] (Waco, Texas) CAS-9732-LP Stereo.</ref>

In 1964, the [[Gospel Music Association]] was established, which in turn began the [[GMA Dove Award|Dove Awards]] (in 1969) and the [[Gospel Music Hall of Fame]] (in 1972). Both of the latter two groups began primarily for Southern gospel performers, but in the late 1970s, began including artists of other subgenres, which brought in many Black artists.<ref>{{harvp|Malone|1984|p=524}}</ref> Also in 1969, [[James Cleveland]] established the [[Gospel Music Workshop of America]], a Black gospel outlet.

Late 20th-century musicians such as [[Elvis Presley]], [[Jerry Lee Lewis]], and the [[The Blackwood Brothers|Blackwood Brothers]] were also known for their gospel influences and recordings.<ref name="Malone_521" />

=== Contemporary Black gospel and gospel rap (1970s–present) ===
{{Main|Urban contemporary gospel}}
 	
[[Urban contemporary gospel]] emerged in the late 1960s and early 70s with Walter Hawkins highly popular "Oh Happy Day" which is still performed worldwide in the 2000. Artists such as James Cleveland, Aretha Franklin, the Clark Sisters, [[Andraé Crouch]] and [[Richard Smallwood (musician)|Richard Smallwood]] followed crossing over musically and gaining notoriety, and this pattern would repeat itself in subsequent decades, with new artists like [[Yolanda Adams]] and [[Kirk Franklin]] making increasingly more bold forays into the secular world with their musical stylings. The current sphere of Black gospel recording artists is almost exclusively of the urban contemporary bent.

Also of note is the rise of [[Christian hip hop|Christian (or gospel) rap/hip-hop]], which has gained increasing popularity since the days of the [[Gospel Gangstaz]] and [[The Cross Movement]]. Often considered a subgenre of urban contemporary gospel, Christian rap has become dominated in present times by artists from [[Reach Records]], who have seen perhaps the most commercial success of any artists in the gospel genre; [[Lecrae]] (the label's founder and preeminent artist) has charted in the top 10 of on the [[Billboard 200]] three times, with his 2014 album [[Anomaly (Lecrae album)|"Anomaly"]] debuting at No. 1.