The Angelic Gospel Singers

The Angelic Gospel Singers, a vocal ensemble whose Billboard chart history extended across seven decades, originated in Philadelphia in 1944. Margaret Allison and Josephine McDowell, two sisters, assembled the original quartet with their friends Ella Mae Norris and Lucille Shird. After extensive tours across the eastern United States, the group signed with Gotham Records, which issued their enduring standard “Touch Me, Lord Jesus” in 1949. Backed on piano by Allison, their blues-inflected treatment of the Lucie Campbell hymn secured national radio airplay and reached the Top 20 of the Billboard R&B chart.

Bernice Cole enlarged the lineup to a quintet in 1951; Shird and Norris departed in 1953 and 1955, respectively. Cole stepped away temporarily in 1956 because of a family illness. At the same time Gotham folded amid IRS difficulties, and after brief affiliations with other labels the Angelic Gospel Singers established a partnership with Nashboro Records that endured more than twenty-five years.

In 1961 the sisters added their first male member, Thomas Mobley, and issued My Sweet Home. Subsequent releases included Songs from the Heart in 1964, Jesus Paid It All in 1968, and Somebody Saved Me in 1970 before Mobley exited and Geraldine Morris filled the role on a short-term basis. Cole reclaimed her place in 1975. Three decades after their debut, the loose, rustic style continued to find airtime on gospel radio, prompting Allison, McDowell, and Cole to release Gotta Find a Better Home in 1976, Margaret, Josephine and Bernice in 1978, and Come Over Here in 1979.

Pauline Taylor joined in 1982, and the ensemble moved to Mississippi’s Malaco label for I’ve Got Victory in 1986 and Out of the Depths the following year, both of which entered the Top 30 of the Billboard gospel chart. Guitarist John Richmond and bass player Darryl Richmond appeared on those recordings and remained as official members. The Malaco association continued through the 1990s and 2000s, producing He’s My Ever Present Help in 1992, Try God in 1995, Home in the Rock in 2000, and the final album Touch Me Again in 2008. Live performances persisted until leader Margaret Allison died on July 30, 2008, at age 86, bringing the group’s sixty-plus-year run to an end.