The Ward Singers were one of the most popular gospel vocal groups of the 1950s. Highly influential thanks to their great showmanship, lavish stage costumes, and incorporation of popular vocal styles into their performances, the group had a lasting impact in the gospel and secular musical worlds.
The family originally hailed from South Carolina, living in relative poverty, and they moved during the early 1920s to Philadelphia in search of better employment. The family matriarch was Gertrude Mae...