J D Sumner Dead at 73
David Murray
the life work of J D Sumner. Many may not be aware of some of the things he
did that set the course for the future of Gospel Music.
It's time RMC had a history lesson that goes beyond the early 70s!
>>J. D. Sumner Passes Away
Legendary Bass Vocalist Was President of the Southern Gospel Music
Association
Southern Gospel music legend, J. D. Sumner, died of heart failure Sunday
night in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where his group, the Stamps
Quartet, were performing. Sumner was 73 and would have celebrated his 74th
birthday Thursday.
Sumner's full name was John Daniel Sumner. He was born November 19, 1924, in
Lakeland, Florida, and began singing bass with a local church group at the
age of eight. After service in the U.S. Army from 1944 through 1945, Sumner
landed a job singing with the Sunny South Quartet in Tampa. A couple of
years later, he organized and sang with another Tampa group, the Dixie Lily
Harmoneers. His big break, however, came in 1949 with the Sunshine Boys from
Atlanta, Georgia. Blessed with an incredibly low bass voice, J.D. slowly
began etching his place in gospel music history as the group performed live
on radio and in concerts across the South. In 1950, he traveled with the
Sunshine Boys to California and appeared with the group as a singing cowboy
in five Westerns starring Hollywood film stars Charles Starrett and Smiley
Burnette.
After a tragic plane accident in June 1954 took the lives of R.W. Blackwood
and Bill Lyles, Sumner left the Sunshine Boys and joined the Blackwood
Brothers Quartet as a full partner. Over the next eleven years, he remained
a member of one of the most popular gospel groups of all time. As a
Blackwood, J. D. also proved to be an innovator. He was the primary force
behind the decision to secure a bus for the group's travel, thus putting
into motion the first custom bus in the entire music industry. Sumner also
inaugurated the National Quartet Convention in October 1957, an annual
gathering of the major groups in the gospel music industry. In 1965, Sumner
left the Blackwoods to manage and sing bass for the Stamps Quartet, a
position he would hold for the next thirty-three years. As a member of the
Stamps, he toured with Elvis Presley from late 1971 until the entertainer's
death in 1977. During a brief period when the Stamps were inactive, Sumner
helped form the Masters V in 1980. This group, a collection of gospel
legends that included old friends James Blackwood, Jake Hess, and Hovie
Lister, was one of the most popular groups of the 1980s.
Over the course of his career, Sumner composed almost 500 gospel songs.
Among his compositions were "The Old Country Church," "Because of Him,"
"Inside the Gate," and "God Made a Way." Still, he was best known for the
incredible range of his bass voice. For several years, he was listed in the
Guinness Book of World Records for recording, on two separate occasions, a
double low C. In 1964, Sumner along with others helped form the Gospel Music
Association. At the time of his death, he was president of the Southern
Gospel Music Association, an organization dedicated to the preservation of
Southern Gospel music's heritage. In 1981, Sumner won a Grammy for his work
with the Masters V. He was elected to the GMA Hall of Fame in 1984 and was
an inaugural member of the SGMA Hall of Fame in 1996.
J. D.'s wife of fifty-one years, Mary, passed away in 1992. He is survived
by two daughters, Shirley Enoch and Frances Dunn; two grandchildren, Kathy
Hall and Jason Enoch; two great-grandchildren, Jordan Hall and Denver Hall;
one brother, Rev. Russell H. Sumner; and two sisters, Myrtis Mathews and
Bernice Thompson.
The body will lie in state Wednesday afternoon, November 18, from 4 p.m to 8
p.m. at Woodlawn Funeral Home, Thompson Lane, Nashville, TN. The funeral
will be held at Christ Church in Nashville, on Thursday, November 19, at 11
a.m. Visitation and services are open to the public. The entombment service
following the funeral will be private. In lieu of flowers the family
requests that donations be made to the Southern Gospel Music Association
Hall of Fame, 211 7th Avenue North, Suite 320, Nashville, TN 37219. Cards
and letters may be sent to the J.D. Sumner family at PO Box 150532,
Nashville, TN 37215.<<