2006

SG History 101 - The 1971 Dove Awards

It is generally my intention in these articles to portray the positive events in gospel music history, with the desire that the acclaimed and not-so-acclaimed will get their equal and due recognition for making this wonderful art form we all know and love distinctive and unique.

However, in life, there occasionally occurs the negative. Events that we would rather not acknowledge, can bring positives and blessings of their very own when properly dealt with. Such is the case with this month's article.

The year was 1971, gospel music's Dove Awards were about to be presented for the third year. The gospel music industry was making great strides forward, and the advent of the Doves (the equivalent to secular music's Grammy Awards) were ushering in a new era in gospel music.

The Gospel Music Association (GMA) had just come into being seven years before, in 1964, and it was primarily led and run by people in what was still known as the gospel quartet industry, because that's what most of the most popular artists were. They were the prime movers in organizing gospel music in those days, and wanted to establish a way of recognizing the contributions of their leading artists.

It was decided to give out annual awards like the Grammys in secular music, and longtime GMA leader and manager of the Florida Boys Quartet, Les Beasley, happened on the idea to call them the Dove Awards. By 1969, the first such awards were given out, and that was going hand-in-hand with the growth in popularity of gospel music in general.

A number of factors were occurring that would change the gospel music industry forever at that time, and shape its' subsequent direction. One was the so-called "Jesus Movement" of the late 1960s and early 1970s, which consisted of young people being drawn to Christianity in great numbers following abortive experimentation with drug use and other cultural phenomena of the period. That movement spawned music based on the popular music among young people of the time, including rock, folk, jazz, and blues influenced music set to Christian lyrics to express their newfound commitment to those values.

That music and commitment of the younger generation would have an influence on the established gospel quartet industry. To maintain its' commercial viabiliy, and to adapt to the changing times, many of the top artists of that part of gospel music, including the Oak Ridge Boys, the Imperials, the Speer Family, the Blackwood Brothers, the Stamps, and the Statesmen began to modify their appearance and musical sound to attract potential younger fans and stay "with the times" by adopting longer hair, modern fashions, and hiring full bands of instrumentalists to accompany the singers. Newer artists such as the Downings and Rambos used the same approach.

The new approach worked initially, most of the very first Dove Awards were awarded to the above groups, and consequently, the Doves were seen as goals to increase the prestige and marketability of an artist. By 1971, the Dove Awards were becoming a much sought after item for most gospel artists, they lent prestige and recognition to a group. This prestige was borne out by the symbol of the Dove adorning the jackets of most gospel LPs of the time.

It therefore became important to an artist to obtain a Dove Award, in one way or another. As the desire increased to add to the ranks of the GMA, the idea begn to take root among many artists to somehow tie GMA membership into the Dove Awards process. Thus, artists became involved in recruitng new members into the GMA.

Naturally, some artists were more able to recruit potential GMA members than others. Groups like the Blackwood Brothers, Oak Ridge Boys, and the Imperials (all of whom did well in initial Dove Award voting) became involved in recruiting new members into the GMA.

And since membership in the GMA allowed one to vote for Dove Award recipients, it wasn't long before artists got the idea to tie their recruiting efforts into influencing the Dove Award voting.

One of the more enterprising groups involved in the promotion of GMA recruitment was the Blackwood Brothers. The group had been managed for many years by longtime lead singer James Blackwood. But, by 1971, health problems had forced him to cut back considerably in the group, giving up his position in the quartet to his son, James, Jr, and relinquishing managerial control to his nephew and group baritone singer, Cecil Blackwood.

At Cecil's direction, the Blackwood organization adopted a very aggressive policy of recruitment into the GMA, offering gifts and paid GMA memberships in return for following their "recommendations" for winners in the Dove Award nominations. Naturally, the "recommendations" were for members of the Blackwood organization, or, where that was not possible, "official" candidates it sanctioned. Such an approach was effective, for estimates were that 1/3 of all the eligible voters for the Dove Awards that year were people recruited that year by the Blackwood organization.

At this point, allow me to interrupt the narrative and state categorically that such a method of recruitment was NOT against the GMA rules. The Blackwood organization did not do anything that any other organization could not have done, or considered doing. Nothing here was in violation of any existing policies.

So, come the night of the 1971 Dove Awards banquet (October 9) in Nashville, it perhaps came as no shock when as the award winners were announced, they were precisely the ones that the Blackwood organization had recommended. After a while, many got up and left the building in protest and disgust at how the award ceremony was turning out.

The GMA Board was embarrassed, and acted quickly. They voted to nullify the entire process for the year, and not recognize any award winners. They then formed a committee to change the voting process to insure that what had just happened would never occur again. At this point James Blackwood got involved. He returned the awards to the GMA, and issued the following statement:

"I take full responsibility for what I consider unethical solicitation of votes by members of our organization and personally guarantee there will be no repetition. I further pledge our complete support for the Gospel Music Association and subscribe to the statement of the ideals and concepts of this organization as set forth in the statement by the board. I strongly urge all other participants in the Dove Awards to subscribe and adhere to the code of ethics to be set forth by the Gospel Music Association."

So despite Cecil's objections on the basis that no rules were broken, James refused to relent.  Even years later, when JD Sumner recommended that James accept the awards anyway, James Blackwood would not allow himself to accept any Dove Awards under such circumstances.

Another trend that was just beginning in the gospel music industry at that time was a greater accountability and commitment to "living what you sing," proof that the gospel music industry was becoming aware of its' growing presence in the society around it, and had to assume greater responsibility for its' actions.

So, when you try to look up the Dove Award winners for 1971, you won't find any, and that is why.

In a larger sense, gospel music was a winner because of how it dealt with this embarrassing situation.