Richard Smallwood, gospel singer and musical inspiration, dead at 77

Richard Smallwood, a gospel singer and recording artist nominated eight times for Grammy Awards, has died. He was 77.

Smallwood died on Tuesday of complications of kidney failure at a rehabilitation and nursing centre in Sandy Spring, Md., his representative Bill Carpenter announced.

Smallwood had health issues for many years, and music gave him the strength to endure, Carpenter said in an interview.

“Richard was so dedicated to music, and that was the thing that kept him alive all these years,” he said. “Making music that made people feel something is what made him want to keep breathing and keep moving and keep living.”

Smallwood’s songs were performed and recorded over the years by artists such as Whitney Houston, Stevie Wonder, Destiny’s Child and Boyz II Men. Houston brought his music to film by performing I Love the Lord in the 1996 movie The Preacher’s Wife, according to Smallwood’s biography at the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

Smallwood “opened up my whole world of gospel music,” singer and songwriter Chaka Khan wrote on Facebook after his death.

“His music didn’t just inspire me, it transformed me,” she said. “He is my favourite pianist, and his brilliance, spirit and devotion to the music have shaped generations, including my own journey.”

A music pioneer

Smallwood was born Nov. 30, 1948, in Atlanta and began to play piano by ear by the age of five, according to biographic materials provided by Carpenter. By age seven, he was taking formal lessons. He had formed his own gospel group by the time he was 11.

He was primarily raised in Washington, D.C., by his mother, Mabel, and his stepfather, Rev. Chester Lee (C.L.) Smallwood. His stepfather was the pastor of Union Temple Baptist Church in Washington.

Smallwood was a music pioneer in multiple ways at Howard University in Washington, where he graduated cum laude with a music degree. He was a member of Howard’s first gospel group, the Celestials. He was also a founding member of the university’s gospel choir, according to an obituary from Carpenter.

After college, Smallwood taught music at the University of Maryland and went on to form the Richard Smallwood Singers in 1977, bringing a contemporary sound to traditional gospel music. He later formed Vision, a large choir that fuelled some of his biggest gospel hits, including Total Praise.

That song became a modern-day hymn that touched people from all types of backgrounds and walks of life, Carpenter said.

“You can go into any kind of church — a Black church, a white church, a non-denominational church — and you might hear that song,” he said. “Somehow it found its footing throughout the whole Christian world. If he never wrote anything else, that would have put him in the modern hymn book.”

Stevie Wonder performed Total Praise at the funeral of Martin Luther King Jr.’s son, Dexter Scott King, at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on Feb. 10, 2024.

In recent years, mild dementia and other health issues prevented Smallwood from recording music, and members of his Vision choir helped care for him.

His legacy will live on “through every note and every soul he touched,” Khan said. “I am truly looking forward to singing with you in heaven.”