DETROIT — Legendary Christian musicians Bill and Gloria Gaither are among the inductees in this year’s Gospel Music Hall of Fame and Museum, marking the first time the tributes usually reserved for black contributors to the industry will include white honorees.
“The vote was very strong to include the Gaithers,” said Sherry DuPree, a board member and archivist for the Detroit-based organization. “African-Americans love their music, have been loving their music for many, many years.”
The couple has written more than 500 songs, including “He Touched Me,” “Because He Lives” and “The King Is Coming.”
They will join other inductees at an Oct. 26 ceremony in Detroit.
Other honorees include Yolanda Adams, a Grammy-winning contemporary gospel artist; Pastor Daryl Coley, who combines jazz and gospel in his worship songs; and Inez Andrews, a songwriter who has performed from storefronts to Carnegie Hall.
They join the following inductees: Hulah Gene Hurley, who sang with the Voices of Tabernacle; the Rev. Cleophus Robinson Sr., a gospel artist who died in 1998 after performances from the White House to “The 700 Club;” Lee Williams and the Spiritual QC’s, known for the hit “Learned to Lean;” Charles Fold & the Charles Fold Singers, who have recorded 16 albums; Harold Smith & the Majestics, known for such hits as “The Lord Will Carry You Through” and “Nothing Can Change the Love I Have for Jesus;” and Charles G. Hayes and the Cosmopolitan Church of Prayer Choir, which has recorded 30 albums and grown from five siblings to more than 100 members in the last 40 years.
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