International editorial team, January 2 (EFE). – American artist Richard Smallwood, a well-known gospel singer and eight-time nominee for the Grammy Awards, the country’s top music awards, has died at the age of 77.
Smallwood died last Tuesday of complications from kidney disease at a nursing and rehabilitation center in Sandy Spring, Maryland, his representative Bill Carpenter announced, The Hollywood Reporter (THR) reported today.
The singer had health problems for many years and music gave him the strength to overcome them, Carpenter explained in an interview.
“Richard was very dedicated to music and that’s what kept him going all these years,” he said. “Making music that makes people feel motivated him to keep breathing, keep moving forward and keep living,” the manager explains, according to THR.
Smallwood’s songs have been performed and recorded over the years by artists such as Whitney Houston, Stevie Wonder, Destiny’s Child and Boyz II Men.
According to Smallwood’s biography, which is on display at the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, Houston brought her music to film with the song “I Love the Lord” in the 1996 film “The Preacher’s Wife.”
Smallwood was born in Atlanta on November 30, 1948, and began playing the piano by ear at age 5, according to biographical information provided by Carpenter. At the age of 7 he was already taking part in official courses. At the age of 11 he founded his own gospel group.
He was raised primarily in Washington, D.C., by his mother Mabel and stepfather Reverend Chester Lee “CL” Smallwood. His stepfather was pastor of Union Temple Baptist Church in Washington, THR explains.
Smallwood was a musical pioneer in many ways at Howard University in Washington, where he graduated cum laude with a degree in music. He was part of Howard’s first gospel group, the Celestials. According to an obituary for Carpenter, he was also a founding member of the university’s gospel choir.
After college, Smallwood taught music at the University of Maryland and founded the Richard Smallwood Singers in 1977 to bring a contemporary sound to traditional gospel music.
He later founded Vision, a great choir that produced some of his greatest gospel hits such as “Total Praise.” EFE
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