[1] Harris quit in late 1950 to form a new group, citing dissatisfaction with what he viewed as the crookedness of the business and immoral behavior by musicians he saw on the "Gospel Highway" touring circuit. Crain) group the Soul Stirrers, who had moved to Houston. [1] He was briefly replaced on lead by Paul Foster, then by Sam Cooke. Discover more music, concerts, videos, and pictures with the largest catalogue online at Last.fm. Although they are known to the secular world primarily as the vehicle for singer Sam Cooke ’ s rise to R & B prominence, the Soul Stirrers are far more important for creating, or at least defining, the modern gospel quartet sound. The lead singer role changed hands several times. [1] The Soul Stirrers, formed as a jubilee quartet, transformed their sound, influenced by hard gospel singers such as Mahalia Jackson and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. [1] The group was a pioneer in the development of the quartet style of gospel, and a major influence on soul, doo wop, and Motown, some of the secular music that owed much to gospel. In 1936, Alan Lomax recorded the Soul Stirrers for the Library of Congress's American music project, and those four unissued recordings are in the American Folklife Center collection today. He had a pure tenor three-octave voice that he utilized for moans and slurs and leaps into falsetto. Cooke doesn't sing lead on all of the Soul Stirrers ' tracks, though there are plenty of his leads to hear throughout the set; he shares lead duties with Paul Foster, although by the end of his time in the outfit, Cooke was taking most of the solo leads. The first Soul Stirrers 78 to feature Cooke, “Jesus Gave Me Water,” was a major hit, and with his good looks the young singer made an instant impact with female audiences, in the process becoming the gospel circuit’s first sex symbol. Their lead singer, J W Alexander, was later to find fame with the Soul Stirrers. Robinson spoke up for the young Cooke and in 1951, at the age of nineteen, he became lead vocalist of the Soul Stirrers, with whom he toured and recorded for six years. 2:50; Toiling On - The Soul Stirrers. In 1950, Cooke replaced gospel tenor R. H. Harrisas lead singer of the gospel group the Soul Stirrers, founded by Harris, who had signed with Specialty Recordson behalf of the group. Among the members of that group was R.H. (Rebert) Harris, who soon became its musical leader. One of the early singles with Cooke was "Jesus Gave Me Water", a major hit that brought the Soul Stirrers acclaim. Janis Joplin and Dusty Springfield flirted with soul, which lead to a new genre called blue-eyed soul, and Joe Cocker, Michael McDonald and Van Morrison all followed in their footsteps. The Southern Gospel Singers recorded two records in 1939 and 1940 for the fledgling Bronze Record Company while Little Axe was with them. The Soul Stirrers signed with Specialty Records, where they recorded a number of tracks, including "By and By" and "In That Awful Hour". When Paul Foster left, he was replaced by Sam Cooke. [1] Cooke joined the group at 19 and served as lead vocalist from 1950 to 1956.[2]. Back with the Highway QCs, Sam Cooke had made a lasting impression on JW Alexander – so much so that when The Soul Stirrers’ lead singer, Rebert … Harris, also from Trinity, Texas, brought several changes to the Soul Stirrers that affected gospel quartet singing generally. The Soul Stirrers formed as a Jubilee quartet, transformed their sound, influenced by many hard gospel singers such as Mahalia Jackson and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. the soul stirrers featuring sam cooke - 1959 / jesus be a fence around me - 1961 / encore with the soul stirrers - 1962 / resting easy - 1967. With Sam Cooke, The Soul Stirrers went through a transformation. Reubert Harris, also from Trinity, Texas, brought several changes to the Soul Stirrers that affected gospel quartet singing generally. Justin later joined a group of friends who sang at a local church. 3:10; Soul Stirrers - I'm Thankful (1961) 2:19; Stand By Me Father (SAR 101) with Johnnie Taylor lead singer - The Soul Stirrers. His recording of "You Send Me" in 1957 launched a successful pop music career. The Soul Stirrers, American gospel singers who were one of the first male quintets and one of the most enduring male groups. But all the group members with the exception of Little Axe had day jobs so chances of touring were restricted. [1][2] He had a pure tenor three-octave voice that he utilized for moans and slurs and leaps into falsetto. Robinson spoke up for the young Cooke and in 1951, at the age of nineteen, he became lead vocalist of the Soul Stirrers, with whom he toured and recorded for six years. As World War II began, it became more difficult for many gospel quartet groups to make a living. In December 1950 Robert Harris the Soul Stirrers electrifying lead singer quit the group. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 as a member of the Soul Stirrers; the group was also inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2000. Thomas L. Breuster was replaced by Bob King and, briefly, Julius Cheeks. After tenth grade, which is as far as the school went, 15-year-old Harris attended Mary Allen College in nearby Crockett and weighed a tempting offer to join (Silas) Roy Crain's (aka "Senior" Crain or S.R. By this point, gospel made up half of Rupe’s releases. The group also loosened the rigid arrangements that jubilee quartets had favored to permit individual singers within the group more space for individual development. He was the fountainhead of numerous gospel and soul singers, and direct model to Sam Cooke, who replaced him as lead singer of the Soul Stirrers. When Sam replaced R.H. Harris, the legendary lead singer for the extremely popular gospel group The Soul Stirrers, it was the beginning of his meteoric rise. We Promote Carolina Beach/Shag & Christmas Music All Music 0n SomeBeachMusic.com Is For Entertainment Only ! 's (yes, they became famous) which were tutored by members of the nationally renown Soul Stirrers. Albums include Portrait of a Legend: 1951-1964, Sam Cooke With The Soul Stirrers, and World Spirituality Classics 2: The Time for Peace Is Now - … James and Katie Harris and their nine children (Rebert was their sixth) lived about 300 yards from the barbed wire fence of the Eastham Prison Camp, where convicts would toil in the fields and sing themselves back home with a mixture of spirituals and blues. Rebert H. Harris, also known professionally as R.H. Harris, (March 23, 1916 – September 3, 2000) was a gospel artist and lead singer of the Soul Stirrers. The Soul Stirrers, formed as a jubilee qua… As the gospel quartet style of singing became more popular, groups would perform in competitions called "song battles" to further increase the genre's popularity. Cooke, though brilliant, was a member of the group for just six years of its roughly six-decade existence. The Soul Stirrers' origins date back to 1926, where in the town of Trinity, TX, baritone Senior Roy Crain formed a quartet with a number of other teens with whom he attended church. 12 tracks (32:34). The Soul Stirrers were an American gospel music group, whose career spans over eighty years. The Soul Stirrers formed as a Jubilee quartet, transformed their sound, influenced by many hard gospel singers such as Mahalia Jackson and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. And don’t get hung up on the sequence as any of these ten artists could be number one. Their first recording under Cooke's leadership was the song "Jesus Gave Me Water" in 1951. In December 1950 Robert Harris the Soul Stirrers electrifying lead singer quit the group. The Soul Stirrers made other important changes in those years: ad-libbing lyrics, singing in delayed time, and repeating words in the background as both a rhythmic and emotional support for the lead singers. All Rights Go To The Artist! Around 1957 or 1958, Spencer Taylor and the Highway QCs participated in a Norfolk gospel program with the Floodgates. He started out as the lead singer for the gospel group Soul Stirrers, but had always loved blues and jazz. Paul Foster (July 12, 1920 – August 20, 1995) was born in Grand Cane, Louisiana and sang with the legendary gospel group, the Soul Stirrers, from 1950 to 1963. Rebert H. Harris, the lead singer for the Soul Stirrers, whose style was the fountainhead for generations of gospel and soul singers, died on Sept. 3 in Chicago. He used a falsetto style that had its antecedents in African music, but which was new to the popular jubilee singing style of the time. Despite the economic situation, throughout the 1940s and leading into the 1950s, many gospel quartet groups were able to pursue their careers successfully. It was there, that the "performance bug" bit him. He had a chance to sing alongside many of the era’s most respected quartets, such as the Soul Stirrers, whose lead singer, Sam Cooke, was an inspiration to the young Rogers. [1] That innovation led the Soul Stirrers, while still called a quartet, to acquire five members. Listen free to The Soul Stirrers – The Soul Stirrers (Jesus Gave Me Water, His Eye On the Sparrow and more). At age 15 he became the lead singer of the Highway Q.C. The Soul Stirrers along with other quartet performers, dropped the "flatfooted" style of jubilee quartets before them and expanded their repertoire from spirituals and traditional hymns to the newer gospel compositions. The name "Soul Stirrers" yields from the description of one of Roy Crain's earlier quartets as "soul-stirring." The Soul Stirrers were one of the top acts on the all night gospel circuit. Cooke mastered these techniques as the lead singer of the group The Soul Stirrers. Rebert Harris, also from Trinity, Texas, brought several changes to the Soul Stirrers that affected gospel quartet singing generally. 2:27; Soul Stirrers - I Love The Lord (1961) 2:43; Soul Stirrers - He Care (1961) 2:37; Soul Stirrers wade in the water. The group was formed by (Silas) Roy Crain, launching his first quartet who sang in a jubilee style, in 1926 in Trinity, Texas, United States. He pioneered the "swing lead"---in which two singers would share the job of leading the song, allowing virtuoso singers to increase the emotional intensity of the song as the lead passed between them without disturbing the four part harmony. On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed The Soul Stirrers among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire. [3], "Rebert Harris, 84, Soul Singer And Model for Sam Cooke", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=R._H._Harris&oldid=996097475, Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with multiple identifiers, Pages using authority control with parameters different on Wikidata, Pages using authority control with parameters, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 24 December 2020, at 14:35. Impressed with Rogers’ singing, the QCs invited him to join their group. Cooke sang with the group for six years, traveling back and forth across the country and gaining a wealth of knowledge regarding how black people were treated. Sam was recruited to take the … Other characteristics are a call and response between the lead vocalist and the chorus and an especially tense vocal sound. Among the members of that group was R.H. (Rebert) Harris, who soon became its musical leader. His refusal to sing at a segregated concert led to what many have described as one of the first real efforts in civil disobedience and helped usher in the new Civil Rights Movement. He used a falsetto style that had its antecedents in African music, but which was new to the popular jubilee singing style of the time. [1] Various line-ups continued touring and recording throughout the last half of the century to a small and devoted following. Contributors. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Famein 1989 as a member of the Soul Stirrers; the group was also inducted int… In the late 1940s, Harris helped to create the National Quartet Convention to help "professionalize" the African-American gospel music community. 's became almost like a farm club of future singers. They later moved to Chicago, where they broadcast a weekly radio show (WIND) with other famous groups including Golden Gate Quartet and The Famous Blue Jay Singers. In return, the Highway Q.C. One of the first singles with Sam was ‘Jesus Gave Me Water’. [1] In the early 1930s, after Crain moved to Houston, he joined an existing group on the condition that it change its name to "the Soul Stirrers". He was 84 and lived in Chicago. It resulted in some quartets supplementing their income by doing live performances at churches, schools, and neighborhood centers. The Soul Stirrers joined the Specialty roster in February 1950 at the suggestion of the Pilgrim Travelers’ J. W. Alexander. The group was formed by (Silas) Roy Crain, launching his first quartet who sang in a jubilee style, in 1926 in Trinity, Texas, United States. Over the next few years, between 1976-1983, Justin became associated with the "Gospel QC Quartet" and "The Saints of God". Most histories of popular music confine the Soul Stirrers to the footnotes of the Sam Cooke story, but they were among the most popular groups in black gospel music before and after Sam Cooke. The group was called the Friendly Four and then the Friendly Gospel Singers when Harris moved to town to start seventh grade at the Trinity Colored High School. The name "Soul Stirrers" yields from the description of one of Roy Crain's earlier quartets as "soul-stirring." Harris grew up on a farm 13 miles outside Trinity, Texas in the former "Blackland" settlement (named after the darkness of its soil, not the racial constitution of its residents). For this top ten, I will only be listing the masters, originators and innovators of soul. At the time the Soul Stirrers were a jubilee group, singing poppy, up-tempo numbers such as "Down By the Riverside". He was instrumental in transforming the ensemble jubilee quartet style of the 30s into the lead-focused hard gospel style of the 40s and 50s. 2:40; Lists. Soul Stirrers - Listen To The Angels - SAR. [3], Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Here Are Hundreds More Artists Whose Tapes Were Destroyed in the UMG Fire", Vocal Group Hall of Fame page on The Soul Stirrers, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Soul_Stirrers&oldid=1002809263, Articles needing additional references from November 2008, All articles needing additional references, Pages using Template:Infobox musical artist with unknown parameters, Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with multiple identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 26 January 2021, at 03:56. Passionate gospel singer R.H. Harris is best known as the lead vocalist of the pre-Sam Cooke Soul Stirrers, one of the most influential vocal groups in gospel history.While a member of the Soul Stirrers from the late '30s through 1950, Harris pushed his voice to new limits of powerful, throaty intensity. Rebert Harris, also from Trinity, Texas, brought several changes to the Soul Stirrers that affected gospel quartet singing generally. Foster sang second lead alongside two other gospel greats, Rebert Harris and Sam Cooke. Genres: Gospel, Traditional Black Gospel, Soul. In the early 1930s, after Crain moved to Houston, he joined an existing group on the condition that it change its name to "the Soul Stirrers". Several singers emerged from the group’s ranks to become influential rhythm-and-blues and soul singers, most notably Sam Cooke. R.B. Rebert says he started arranging his first gospel quartet, with his brother Almo and two cousins, before he even knew what the quartet style was. But as soon as Harris finally committed (Rebert says the year was 1931; gospel historians usually put the year at '35 or '36), he helped change the group's sound to a slower, deeper, more passionate hard gospel style. Harris claimed to have no musical influences besides ones he found in the trees and fields of his family's farm outside Trinity. He was instrumental in transforming the ensemble jubilee quartet style of the 30s into the lead-focused hard gospel style of the 40s and 50s. The group — and all of its members — was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 as one of rock's 'Early Influences', and into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2000. The Soul Stirrers were an American gospel music group, whose career spans over eighty years. R.B. The Soul Stirrers made other important changes in those years: ad-libbing lyrics, singing in delayed time, and repeating words in the background as both a rhythmic and emotional support for the lead singers. This game of pretend, ironically enough, would become a reality for Justin when he would become the lead singer for the "Soul Stirrers". Rebert H. Harris, also known professionally as R.H. Harris, (March 23, 1916 – September 3, 2000) was a gospel artist and lead singer of the Soul Stirrers. The Soul Stirrer's nationwide touring gained them an even larger audience. The Soul Stirrers were one of the top acts on the all night gospel circuit. ... Cooke became popular as the lead singer of the gospel group The Soul Stirrers, before controversially moving into secular music. [1] When Cooke left in 1957 to pursue a career in pop music, the Soul Stirrers' preeminence in gospel was essentially over, though a brief period of success with Johnnie Taylor sustained the group for a time. The Soul Stirrers discography and songs: Music profile for The Soul Stirrers, formed 10 September 1926. The name `` Soul Stirrers that affected gospel quartet singing generally of that group R.H.. 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