Dr. Charles G. Hayes

Affectionately nicknamed Dad Hayes simply by parishioners, Dr. Charles G. Hayes was a cherished cathedral head and fixture in the Chicago gospel picture for over 50 years along with his Cosmopolitan Cathedral of Prayer Choir, aka the Warriors, who created genre classics including their biggest strike, “Jesus COULD WORK It Out.” Created Dec 10, 1937 in Verbena, Alabama, Hayes started performing and playing piano as a kid. He relocated towards the Windy Town after senior high school in 1955 and became an ordained minister 2 yrs later on. In 1959, at age 21, he founded the Common Kingdom of Christ, quickly renamed Cosmopolitan Chapel of Prayer, within the south part of Chicago. Over time of development, the church’s choir would record a lot more than 30 albums. Their Savoy Information debut, Everything’s Alright, premiered in 1981. The ensemble continued going to the Billboard Gospel Albums graph with many LPs, including 1993’s I’ll REMEMBER, 2005’s The Remix (on Icee Information), and Hayes’ last album using the Warriors, 2013’s AGAIN (released by Cosmo Seems). Throughout a lot of his tenure using the chapel, Hayes’ Sunday solutions had been broadcast on Chicago radio, and in old age streamed on the web. He and his choir also performed all over the world, including an appearance in the Montreux Jazz Event in Switzerland. Dr. Hayes passed away in Feb 2014 in Oak Yard, Illinois following a long illness.