Jake Hess

Leading the trailblazing Statesmen Quartet as its primary singer, Jake Hess played a pivotal role in broadening Southern gospel's reach and scope, while his bold and theatrical vocal approach significantly shaped rock & roll's early evolution because he ranked as the preferred vocalist for a youthful Elvis Presley. Born William Jesse Hess on December 24, 1927, in Limestone County, AL, as the youngest of twelve children in a struggling sharecropping household, he grew up with a father named Stovall and several older brothers who supplemented their income by performing and instructing at regional singing schools; at age five Jake made his first public appearance alongside the family ensemble by delivering a solo version of "Harmonies of Heaven."

He subsequently trained in harmony at the Stamps-Baxter School and sang with multiple ensembles, among them Louie Auten & the Tennessee Valley Boys, prior to affiliating with Ottis Williams & the Haleyville Melody Boys in 1944. At sixteen Hess entered the popular John Daniel Quartet, where he made his recording debut on "Just a Prayer Away." In rapid order he next performed with Troy Daniel's ensemble, then with brothers Ollie, Butch, and Cleveland in the Hess Brothers Quartet, followed by the esteemed Sunny South Quartet (where he partnered with future gospel icon bass vocalist J.D. Sumner), and ultimately the Melody Masters Quartet, the Sunny South's main competitor.

A versatile ensemble member until that juncture, Hess received his first opportunity to handle lead vocals in 1948 when pianist Hovie Lister recruited him for the newly formed Statesmen Quartet. Lister himself became a major force by incorporating piano into Southern gospel for the first time and introducing a soulful, ragtime-tinged approach that moved the genre away from its previously austere accompaniments. Although an ordained minister, Lister recognized the need to modernize gospel for postwar listeners, especially younger ones, and through frequent radio broadcasts, package tours, and television appearances the Statesmen reached a fresh audience that included aspiring teenager Elvis Presley, who later named Hess and R&B singer Roy Hamilton as his chief inspirations. The Statesmen recorded for Capitol and RCA, starred in their own nationally syndicated television program, and in 1952 began joint tours with longtime rivals the Blackwood Brothers, drawing record audiences across the South. Those package shows concluded in tragedy on June 30, 1954, when the Blackwoods' plane crashed, killing R.W. Blackwood and Bill Lyles; Hess rescued James Blackwood after the latter attempted to save his brother from the wreckage.

Hess stayed with the Statesmen until late 1963, at which point he established his own group, the Imperials. Just as Lister's piano had refreshed the Statesmen sound, the Imperials advanced the style further by adding electric guitar, bass, and drums; on RCA they reached the top of the Christian charts with fourteen singles and hosted their own Nashville-based syndicated television series. In 1967 they also provided backing vocals for Presley's gospel album How Great Thou Art. That same year, however, recurring kidney ailments and cardiac issues compelled Hess to cease touring, prompting him to depart the Imperials and join the cast of the Nashville gospel program Heaven's Jubilee. Despite medical caution he suffered a heart attack yet recovered sufficiently to return to television within weeks. Eventually he resumed road work by assembling Jake Hess & the Sound of Youth with son Chris and daughter Becky plus an eighteen-member youth choir. Beginning in 1968 he also released a series of solo albums on RCA and captured Grammy Awards in three straight years for Beautiful Isle of Somewhere, 1969's Ain't That Beautiful Singing, and 1970's Everything Is Beautiful.

As the 1970s opened Hess launched the Jake Hess Sound, a leaner iteration of the Sound of Youth limited to Becky, Chris, and a rhythm section; the ensemble spent the rest of the decade performing on the fair circuit, including a four-year engagement in California. In 1977 he sang at Presley's funeral, having performed at country legend Hank Williams's burial twenty-four years earlier. Hess returned to traditional quartet singing in 1981 as a member of the Masters V, reuniting him with Sumner, Lister, and James and Jake Blackwood; their debut album won a Grammy, and the group toured until health concerns ended their road work in 1988.

Three years later Hess assembled a new Statesmen Quartet lineup, yet physician advice forced permanent retirement from touring in 1993, after which he and wife Joyce settled in Columbus, GA. He subsequently appeared regularly in Bill Gaither's Homecoming gospel video series and received induction into the Southern Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1997. Solo recording resumed with albums such as the jazz-inflected Leanin' and Terry & Jake, a project with NFL Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw, and he also released the autobiography Nothin' But Fine: The Music and the Gospel According to Jake Hess. On December 14, 2003, shortly after performing in Atlanta with Gaither and his Homecoming Friends, Hess suffered another heart attack and died January 4, 2004, in Opelika, AL, at age seventy-six.