DORIS AKERS, GOSPEL DIVA, DIES AT 72

[Eric LeBlanc-CISTI]

Gospel songwriter/publisher/singer/pianist/choir master DORIS AKERS has died.
She has been called one of the most influential and prolific composers in all
of gospel music. During her lifetime, she composed over 500 gospel songs,
including "A Double Portion of God's Love" (1947), "God Is So Good (To Me)"
(1956), "Grow Closer" (1952), "I Never Knew Joy Before" (1951), "I Was There
When The Spirit Came" (1950), "Lead Me and Guide Me" (1953), "Sweet, Sweet
Spirit" (1962), "You Can't Beat God Giving" (1957). Mahalia Jackson's original
1956 version of "God Is So Good (To Me)" is still to me one of Mahalia's finest
recordings & is included in SONY/LEGACY 2CD 47083 : MAHALIA JACKSON - GOSPEL
SPIRITUALS AND HYMNS V.1. Her songs have a contemporary feeling which may
account for her songs also being recorded by Christian pop stars. Bill
Gaither's videos "Old Friends" and "Turn Your Radio On" includes maybe her last
appearance on film. Her songs are also included in hymn books and has been
used in musicals like "Praise House" and "Me And Bessie". Her recording career
began when she left The Sallie Martin Singers in 1945, forming the
Simmons-Akers Singers. A few of these rare recordings are now available on
SPECIALTY CD 7056 : WOMEN OF GOSPEL GOLDEN AGE V.1. (There's also some evidence
she formed a bop group during her stay in Los Angeles.) Over the years she
recorded for RCA Victor, Capitol and Christian Faith Records. In 1961, she was
voted Gospel Composer Of The Year, and Female Gospel Singer Of The Year. In
1992, the Smithsonian Institute honored her as the foremost black gospel
songwriter in the United States.

DORIS MAE AKERS was born on May 21, 1923, Brookfield, MO., and died Wednesday,
July 26, 1995, Minneapolis, MN., at the Heritage Of Edina Nursing Home. She
was survived by her brother Donald, and 2 sisters, Nellie Bright and Bernice
Tillman. She was preceded by the other important black gospel songwriters/
publishers of this century : William Herbert Brewster (1897-1987), Lucie Eddie
Campbell (1885-1963), James L. Cleveland (1931-1991), Thomas Andrew Dorsey
(1899-1993), Roberta Martin (1907-1969), Sallie Martin (1895-1988), Kenneth
Morris (1917-1988) and Charles Albert Tindley (1851-1933)

Reference:
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Black Women In America / Darlene Clark Hine, Elsa Barkley Brown & Rosalyn
Terborg-Penn (Carlson Publishing, 1993)

We'll Understand It Better By And By : Pioneering African American Gospel
Composers / Edited by Bernice Johnson Reagon
(Smithsonian Institute Press, 1993)