The Freemans

The country gospel quartet the Freemans consists of Darrell Freeman and his wife Chris Hawkins together with their daughter Misty Freeman and Darrell’s first cousin Joe Freeman. Originally assembled in Tennessee during 1983, the lineup featured Diane Hawkins—Chris’s sister—as a founding member and soon secured a contract with Calvary Records. Throughout the remainder of the 1980s the ensemble maintained a steady output of recordings that included Have You Heard, Everything New, Solid, Warming Up, and Going Back. In the early 1990s Diane departed following her marriage to Joe and the impending arrival of their child, after which Misty assumed the vacated role. Around the same period the quartet achieved its peak commercial standing, becoming the sole ensemble in Southern gospel history to place four singles inside the Top 40 simultaneously. The Freemans launched their independent label Goldenvine Productions in 1992 and subsequently issued the acclaimed albums Once Was Enough, In a High Wind, and Renaissance, along with Highway, their initial release of the twenty-first century.