{"id":218902,"date":"2025-12-31T15:08:33","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T20:08:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2025\/12\/31\/richard-smallwood-grammy-nominated-gospel-singer-dies-at-77\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T15:08:33","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T20:08:33","slug":"richard-smallwood-grammy-nominated-gospel-singer-dies-at-77","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2025\/12\/31\/richard-smallwood-grammy-nominated-gospel-singer-dies-at-77\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Smallwood, Grammy-Nominated Gospel Singer, Dies at\u00a077"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\tRichard Smallwood, the eight-time Grammy-nominated gospel singer and songwriter, has died. He was 77.<\/p>\n

\n\tHis family announced his passing on the artist\u2019s official Instagram<\/a> page on Wednesday (Dec. 31).<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\tAddison Rae performs on stage at \"The Addison Tour\" held at the Brooklyn Paramount on October 01, 2025 in Brooklyn, New York.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tAddison Rae\u00a0Just Played Her First Festival\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\n\t\u201cWe are grateful for the overwhelming love and support during this difficult time,\u201d the statement read. \u201cYour tributes are a testament to Richard\u2019s reach and impact. Please continue to keep his family, friends, the music community, and all those affected by this loss in your prayers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSmallwood died on Tuesday (Dec. 30) from complications related to kidney failure at the Brooke Grove Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Ashton-Sandy Spring, Maryland, his representative told Variety<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n\tBorn on Nov. 30, 1948, in Atlanta and raised in Washington, D.C., Smallwood was brought up by his mother and stepfather, the pastor of Union Temple Baptist Church. He began playing the piano at age 5 and formed his first gospel group by age 11. He later attended Howard University, where he earned a degree in music and became a member of the school\u2019s first gospel ensemble, the Celestials.<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter graduating from Howard, Smallwood founded the Richard Smallwood Singers in 1977. The group \u2014featuring Dottie Jones, Jackie Ruffin and Darlene Simmons \u2014 released the 1984 album Psalms<\/em>, which peaked at No. 1 on Billboard<\/em>\u2019s Gospel Albums chart. The project earned the group its first Grammy nomination<\/a> for best soul gospel performance by a duo or group.<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter releasing five albums with the Richard Smallwood Singers, Smallwood disbanded the act in the early 1990s and went on to form a large backing choir known as Vision. The choir accompanied him on numerous albums through 2015, including the Gospel Albums chart-toppers Journey: Live in New York<\/em> (2007), Promises<\/em> (2011), and Anthology: Live<\/em> (2015).<\/p>\n

\n\tTheir song \u201cTrust Me,\u201d which reached No. 9 on Billboard<\/em>\u2019s Hot Gospel Songs chart, earned Smallwood his final Grammy nomination in 2012.<\/p>\n

\n\tOver the course of a five-decade career, Smallwood established himself as a towering figure in gospel music as a vocalist, pianist and songwriter. His work earned him a total of eight Grammy nominations, along with numerous Dove and Stellar Awards.<\/p>\n

\n\tSmallwood also wrote songs that were later recorded by other major artists. Whitney Houston<\/a> recorded \u201cI Love the Lord\u201d for her 1996 film The Preacher\u2019s Wife<\/em>, while Destiny\u2019s Child<\/a> performed \u201cTotal Praise\u201d as part of a gospel medley in 2007. Boyz II Men<\/a> also sang a portion of the song on their 1997 album, Evolution<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 2019, Smallwood released the book Total Praise: The Autobiography<\/em>, named after his signature song.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn later years, the artist battled mild dementia and other health issues that kept him from recording new music, according to People<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n


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Aller \u00e0 la source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Richard Smallwood, the eight-time Grammy-nominated gospel singer and songwriter, has died. He was 77. His family announced his passing on the artist\u2019s official Instagram page on Wednesday (Dec. 31). Related Gone But Not Forgotten: Musicians We Lost in\u00a02025 Jennifer Lopez’ ‘Up All Night Live’ Las Vegas Residency Setlist: Every Song From Night 1 Addison Rae\u00a0Just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-218902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musique","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218902\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}