Main content

The "Godfather of Gospel Music"

Thomas A Dorsey is credited with developing Gospel music into a global phenomenon. His own musical roots were in jazz and blues but a personal tragedy led him back to church.

Thomas A Dorsey is credited with developing Gospel music into a global phenomenon. He started his own musical career in jazz clubs and blues bars, but personal tragedy led him back to church, and inspired hundreds of Gospel songs that transformed the genre. Rebecca Kesby has been listening to archive recordings of Thomas A Dorsey and his singing partner Willie Mae Ford Smith, and speaking to Professor Albert J Raboteau from Princeton University.

(PHOTO: Thomas A. Dorsey - 1982. Courtesy of National Endowment For Arts/Humanities/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock. Credit REX)

Available now

9 minutes

Last on

Mon 29 Jan 2018 08:50GMT

Broadcast

  • Mon 29 Jan 2018 08:50GMT

Featured in...

Podcast