The Caravans

No touring gospel ensemble surpassed the Caravans in national popularity from the closing years of the 1950s into the middle of the 1960s. Widely regarded as one of the finest female ensembles ever to emerge in spiritual music, the group’s ever-changing membership served as an unmatched incubator for future stars, among them Shirley Caesar, Inez Andrews, Bessie Griffin and James Cleveland, all of whom later achieved solo renown. Albertina Walker, a contralto, assembled the Caravans in Chicago in 1952 with several former members of the Robert Anderson Singers, including Ora Lee Hopkins, Elyse Yancey and Nellie Grace Daniels. Although personnel rotated frequently from the beginning, the States label sides cut between 1952 and 1956 featured, alongside the steadfast Walker, Griffin, Dorothy Norwood and Cassietta George, the last of whom joined in 1954. Cleveland also appeared, supplying piano accompaniment and delivering spoken narration on hymns whose measured tone stood in sharp relief to the impassioned ensemble singing.

By 1956 the Caravans ranked among gospel’s leading attractions, celebrated for their seemingly instinctive coordination. The move to Savoy in 1958 brought Andrews, Caesar and Dolores Washington into the lineup; the pairing of Caesar’s youthful soprano brilliance with Andrews’s piercing contralto created a formidable contrast, and by decade’s end the group ruled the gospel touring circuit. Andrews’s departure in 1962 did not halt their ascent; they signed with Vee-Jay and issued the album Seek Ye the Lord. Their most settled period followed, as Walker, Caesar, George, Washington, Josephine Howard and pianist James Herndon appeared together on every Vee-Jay release. Caesar’s solo departure in 1966 ended the group’s supremacy, and within months Walker stood as the sole remaining member. She recruited a new configuration that featured future disco diva Loleatta Holloway, yet the effort proved brief; occasional Caravans reunion performances nonetheless continued in subsequent years.