Rev. James Cleveland
Rev.
James Cleveland was born in
Chicago, Illinois on December 5, 1931 to Rosie Lee and Benjamin
Cleveland during the height of the greatest depression. James’ grandmother attended
Pilgrim Baptist Church, where she was a member of the choir.
James had no choice but to attend these rehearsals with his
grandmother and found himself sitting through these choir
rehearsals – bored stiff!! Eventually James decided he would
conquer the boredom through attempting to sing along with the
choir. It was in one of these rehearsal that James’ singing was
noticed and he was made choir mascot. The choir director,
Thomas A. Dorsey wrote a song for him which launched the career
of what was the be a long line of performances. Through
Dorsey’s teaching and directing young James was
influenced in a great way.
Playing the piano was a skill that
James developed through trial and error. His keen ear and
ability to quickly grasp musical style helped him develop a
command of the keyboard. But it was Roberta Martin who was the
inspiration for his piano style. At a young age, James
patterned his playing after Mrs. Martin, and it was Roberta
Martin who published James Cleveland’s first composition, “I
Want to See Jesus”. After developing his musical skills, James
went to New York where he became Minister of Music at Faith
Temple COGIC. where Bishop A. A. Childs was pastor. There
he worked with organist Herman Stevens. From New York, James
went to Philadelphia, where along with Bessie Folk and Narcellus
McKissick (former members of the Martin Singers) the Gospel
group “The Gospelaires” was formed. After much success with the
Gospelaires, James went on to move to Detroit, Michigan where he
became Minister of Music for Dr. C. L. Franklin. In the course
of the next few years, James moved from Detroit to Chicago, and
then back to Detroit. It was then that he became Second
Assistant Pastor to Rev. Chas A. Craig Sr., at Prayer Tabernacle
and through this fellowship the famous “Voices of Tabernacle”
was born. Eventually Rev. Cleveland relocated to Los Angeles,
California, where he founded the Cornerstone Baptist Church.
Even though the church started with less than 100 members, the
membership grew to over 7,000 people.
Before moving to California, James
Cleveland enjoyed a great deal of success as a Savoy Recording
artist. However, after moving West, he found himself without
the usual polished background singers, and nearing the end of
the recording contract, James needed to complete one more
recording session. He decided to call his friend Reverend
Lawrence Roberts, pastor of First Baptist Church of Nutley, New
Jersey, and solicit the use of Roberts Angelic Choir to
background this final session. Roberts responded positively and
James along with friends Thurston Frazier and Billy Preston
drove from California to Nutley, New Jersey. The album was
recorded in 1962 and titled “This Sunday In Person” featuring
James Cleveland with the Angelic Gospel choir, under the
direction of Thurston Frazier and Rev. Lawrence Roberts,
featuring Billy Preston at the organ. The LP was the first live
gospel recording session ever. It was an overwhelming success.
Savoy Records hurried to re-sign Cleveland and quickly produced
Volume 2. This LP was even greater success featuring the hit
selection “How Great Thou Art”. Volume 3 of James Cleveland and
the Angelic Choir was titled “Peace Be Still”. This 1963 LP
became the first gospel LP to sell over 50,000 albums (unheard
of back then). From then on James Cleveland had the “Midas”
touch on any LP which he was associated. He spoke of his
musical style … “I’ve always maintained my own style of music,
it has changed slightly over the years because I’ve tried to
stay up with the times. I prefer traditional messages and
stylings because people in the church choirs can sing it. I try
to make my music a source of material for churches and choirs.
I play simple enough so that even storefront musician can pick
it up”.
As a musician, performer and
producer, James maintained a level of excellence over an
incredibly long period of time. Reverend Cleveland stated once,
“I want to stay in the music business through promoting gospel
music and upgrading the quality and performance of gospel
music. I am pleased that Gospel Music Workshop of America has
grown to the largest gospel music organization in the world,
with over 20,000 members”.
The stage presence of Rev. James
Cleveland is an experience that’s almost unexplainable, he
mesmerizes audiences, not only with the presentation of singing
material, but this unique way of addressing musicians with a
single “ssshh”. Cleveland had a charisma on stage that was
inimitable. He said, “Nobody taught me about stage presence, I
just try to be with people on their level. I feel like people
like folk who talk about everyday problems and shared
experiences, rather than trying to be glamorous. I try to talk
to them (audiences) and give them hope that things are going to
get better. I think I can talk to people on their level because
people are just people”.
Through his lifetime James
Cleveland has won numerous awards and accolades that are too
numerous to list. However it is noteworthy to remember James
Cleveland won five (5) Grammy Awards. The last was February 21,
1991, awarded posthumous with The Southern California Community
Choir on the Savoy Records LP entitled, “Having Church”. It
should also be mentioned that Rev. Cleveland was awarded an
honorary Doctrine degree from the Trinity Bible College and was
the first gospel artist to be awarded a “STAR” on the Hollywood
Walk of Fame.
Reverend Cleveland will never be
forgotten as one of the world’s foremost leaders and pioneers of
gospel music and his gospel music ministry will live on.
Literally every black gospel artist today has been influenced by
James Cleveland.
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