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'''Thomas Andrew Dorsey''' (July 1, 1899 – January 23, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and [[Evangelism|Christian evangelist]] influential in the development of early [[blues]] and 20th-century [[gospel music]]. He penned 3,000 songs, a third of them gospel, including "[[Take My Hand, Precious Lord]]" and "[[Peace in the Valley]]". Recordings of these sold millions of copies in both gospel and secular markets in the 20th century.<ref name="wapo obit">"Thomas Dorsey, Father of Gospel Music, Dies at 93", ''[[The Washington Post]]'', (January 25, 1993), p. D6.</ref>
Born in rural Georgia, Dorsey grew up in a religious family but gained most of his musical experience playing blues at [[Juke joint|barrelhouses]] and parties in [[Atlanta]]. He moved to [[Chicago]] and became a proficient composer and arranger of [[jazz]] and [[vaudeville]] just as blues was becoming popular. He gained fame accompanying blues belter [[Ma Rainey]] on tour and, billed as "Georgia Tom", joined with guitarist [[Tampa Red]] in a successful recording career. Ma Rainey died in 1939. She was just 53 years old. Tampa Red died in 1981.
After a spiritual awakening, Dorsey began concentrating on writing and arranging religious music. Aside from the lyrics, he saw no real distinction between blues and church music, and viewed songs as a supplement to spoken word preaching. Dorsey served as the music director at Chicago's [[Pilgrim Baptist Church]] for 50 years, introducing musical improvisation and encouraging personal elements of participation such as clapping, stomping, and shouting in churches when these were widely condemned as unrefined and common. In 1932, he co-founded the [[National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses]], an organization dedicated to training musicians and singers from all over the U.S. that remains active. The first generation of gospel singers in the 20th century worked or trained with Dorsey: [[Sallie Martin]], [[Mahalia Jackson]], [[Roberta Martin]], and [[James Cleveland]], among others.
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