Biography
If performers could ascend to the status of commandments, Richard Huey would likely rank among the top ten for his foundational role in sacred gospel music, where he authored or co-authored enduring standards such as "Hurry Sundown" and "Rock My Soul (In the Bosom of Abraham)" while helping form pioneering vocal ensembles like Richard Huey's Jubileers and Richard Huey and His Sundown Singers.
By the early '40s, the popularity of recordings issued by Huey and his collaborators, sometimes augmented by extra choral voices, had demonstrated that audiences would purchase polished releases of religious material. Far from confining himself to devotional material, however, Huey ranged freely across stylistic boundaries in a manner that mirrored the broader activities of his era, encompassing the output of the labels he recorded for and the varied pursuits of his lyric-writing associates. Clarence Williams, for instance, joined him on the dignified "Hurry Sundown" even as he supplied risqué verses to established blues performers, while major imprints routinely placed gospel sides beside suggestive content, adjacent to old-time selections and within easy reach of Tin Pan Alley offerings.
His commanding vocal presence and interpretive range enabled Huey to secure parts on the Broadway stage, most prominently in Bloomer Girl alongside Celeste Holm. He also appears in the vintage jazz short Caldonia, embodying the disreputable Felix Paradise amid chaotic antics that feature jumping jive maestro Louis Jordan and his girlfriend Caldonia.
By the early '40s, the popularity of recordings issued by Huey and his collaborators, sometimes augmented by extra choral voices, had demonstrated that audiences would purchase polished releases of religious material. Far from confining himself to devotional material, however, Huey ranged freely across stylistic boundaries in a manner that mirrored the broader activities of his era, encompassing the output of the labels he recorded for and the varied pursuits of his lyric-writing associates. Clarence Williams, for instance, joined him on the dignified "Hurry Sundown" even as he supplied risqué verses to established blues performers, while major imprints routinely placed gospel sides beside suggestive content, adjacent to old-time selections and within easy reach of Tin Pan Alley offerings.
His commanding vocal presence and interpretive range enabled Huey to secure parts on the Broadway stage, most prominently in Bloomer Girl alongside Celeste Holm. He also appears in the vintage jazz short Caldonia, embodying the disreputable Felix Paradise amid chaotic antics that feature jumping jive maestro Louis Jordan and his girlfriend Caldonia.