The Roberta Martin Singers
| The Roberta Martin Singers | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Chicago, Illinois |
| Genres | Gospel |
| Years active | 1933–1970 |
| Labels | Fidelity, Apollo, Savoy |
| Past members |
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The Roberta Martin Singers were an African-American gospel group based in the United States.
The group was founded in 1933 by Roberta Martin, who in that same year had just become acquainted with gospels music, which was different from the traditional spirituals which were popular at the time. Theodore Frye and Thomas A. Dorsey were directing a junior choir at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Chicago, Illinois, and asked Martin to serve as the accompanist. From this junior choir, Martin selected six young men at random to form a group, Eugene Smith, Norsalus McKissick, Robert Anderson, Willie Webb, James Lawrence, and W.C. Herman. This group was named the Martin and Frye Singers, and in 1936, the group adopted the name of The Roberta Martin Singers. The Roberta Martin Singers (RMS) contained no traditional bass. For a brief period of time, the group was known as the Martin and Martin Singers, when Sallie Martin joined Roberta's group. That venture was short lived. In 1939, Anderson briefly left the group and returned in 1941 before departing for a final time in 1943, also in 1939, Martin added the first female voice to the group, Bessie Folk. By the mid-1940s, the RMS added two more women to their ranks, Sadie Durrah and Delois Barrett (Campbell), who would go on to found the Barrett Sisters.
In 1947, the group made their first recording for Fidelity Records as the "Roberta Martin Singers of Chicago", singing "Precious Memories" with Norsalus McKissick on lead. After the group's first release, the RMS made more recordings, for Religious Records of Detroit, Michigan through 1947, and for Apollo Records beginning in 1949 through 1955. Some of their most popular releases during this time include "Old Ship of Zion" (1949), "Yield Not to Temptation" (1947), "He Knows How Much You Can Bear" (1949), "Only a Look" (1949), and Eugene Smith's composition, "The Lord Will Make a Way" (1951).
Most of these recordings featured only a piano, organ, and the occasional drum accompaniment. Martin's piano playing was done in such a way that she combined both classical music and blues in her piano playing. Martin played mainly in the middle of the keyboard, providing secondary beats in the upper ranges of the keyboard, and bringing each song to a ritard at the end.
In 1949, Eugene Smith became the group's business manager and booking agent as Martin began to concentrate on publishing music and running her own music school. Members were added or replaced older members, such as the addition of Romance Watson in 1949, and Myrtle Scott and Myrtle Jackson in 1951. Martin also began to team up with a young James Cleveland, who composed songs for the group such as "I'm Determined" (1953), "Every Now and Then" (1957) and "Since I Met Him" (1961).
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