Willie Johnson

Frequently credited as Costs Johnson, this musician is among the founding associates from the Golden Gate Quartet, a gospel ensemble whose noises frequently crossed over in to the realms of doo wop and barbershop quartet tranquility. The original associates of the group had been Johnson, Henry Owens, Clyde Riddick, and Orlandus Wilson, all high-school learners in Norfolk, VA. It had been not the very first time this name have been employed for a gospel group — another Golden Gate Quartet acquired began up in Baltimore in the ultimate decade from the 19th hundred years. Nevertheless, the Norfolk ensemble became popular enough to get bragging rights towards the name. The group helped spread the sound of dark gospel across the world and in a few periods like the ’50s the Golden Gate Quartet performed even more in European countries than in america. The group’s recordings, including well-known spirituals like the bossy “Move Where I Send Thee,” the doubly challenging “Provide Me Two Wings,” as well as the clinging “HANG ON,” were released on labels such as for example Decca, Capitol, and Crown. Some associates of the group also overlapped into various other gospel documenting combos like the Jubilaires and the initial Jubalaires. Rock and roll listeners in the ’70s had been presented to vocal skills of Johnson on many trendy Ry Cooder albums. Elvis Presley, alternatively, acquired known about the group prior to after that. Among personal preferred gospel choices that he documented were numbers such as for example “I, John,” co-written by Johnson and his quartet companions.