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Article: Thomas A. Dorsey, 93, gospel music creator, dies. (Obituary)
- Article from:
- Jet
- Article date:
- February 8, 1993
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1993 Johnson Publishing Co. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Thomas A. Dorsey, 93, who blended blues, ragtime and church songs into a creation he called gospel music, died recently of Alzheimer's disease at his Chicago home. He was the writer of such gospel classics as Take My Hand, Precious Lord, The Lord Will Make A Way Somehow and Peace in the Valley.
His invention of gospel in the early 1920s was to have a profound impact on the religious community. Dorsey wrote more than 2,000 blues songs but his main love was gospel and he contributed about 1,000 songs to the genre he created.
Dorsey began experimenting with gospel to reconcile an inner conflict over his religious upbringing and his early love of the blues, ...