2007

SG History 101 - London Parris

This month, I shall tell the story of one of gospel music's most beloved singers and personalities….Conley "London" Parris.

Like many of the greatest gospel singers in the southern tradition, Parris hailed from North Carolina, a long time hotbed for that form of gospel music.

Conley Parris was born May 25, 1931 in Alexander, NC…just north of Asheville. Quartet singing surrounded young Conley throughout his childhood. His father, Hugh, was a fine bass singer …. as were his brothers Hugh and Rex. His cousin Dennis also was a noted singer and a teacher at singing schools in the area. So the desire to sing was planted early in young Conley.

By all accounts, Conley had a normal, happy childhood, then come his graduation from high school in 1950, he joined the Air Force, where he would be stationed in Macon, GA, meet gospel music legend Deacon Utley and befriend him, and then Conley joined a semi-professional quartet called the Travelers (not to be confused with the Trav'lers of North Carolina, a great quartet of the 1960s).

One fateful night in 1952, Conley and Utley went to a baseball park in Fort Payne, AL, where gospel greats Lee Roy Abernathy and Shorty Bradford were singing that evening as the Happy Two. The singers' Cadillac was parked in right field with the doors open, making a makeshift dressing room. Conley and Utley stopped by to say hello.

When Conley said "Hello", he then coughed…and that cough made Abernathy, who was alert to the least little things he heard, take immediate notice. He turned to Bradford and said, "Did you hear that?" When Bradford asked what he was supposed to have heard, Abernathy told him, "That boy's cough … I tell you, he's got that sub-bass register."

Abernathy asked Conley if he sang. Conley told him he'd never sung in his life, wherupon Abernathy asked him to sing "Rock of Ages". When Conley tried, he sang it in a register too high for him. When Abernathy told him he could do better, Conley replied that he‘d give anything in the world if he could sing.

One didn't say things like that to Lee Roy Abernathy and expect him to forget.

Sure enough, two years later, Abernathy and Bradford were singing in the Homeland Harmony Quartet when the group's great bass singer, Aycel Soward, suddenly decided to quit. Abernathy was in a pinch, and he had to think fast.

Since the quartet had a TV show, Abernathy decided to advertise there on the spot for a bass singer. There was no shortage of applicants, 55 men tried out, and 55 were turned down. What was the group to do?

Abernathy turned to Bradford, "Remember that feller we saw in Fort Payne two years ago?" Bradford knew who Abernathy was referring to. Abernathy then told Bradford to try and contact Conley. Bradford called Deacon Utley to see if he could find him.

Fortuitously, Conley happened to be with Utley at that time. Bradford then put Abernathy on the phone. Abernathy asked Conley to come to his house that evening. Naturally, Conley jumped at the chance to visit Abernathy, who put him to work that night to sing bass for the Homeland Harmony Quartet.

Understandably, Conley was untrained and raw, and made a number of mistakes in his first concert appearance. But Abernathy, as close to a musical genius as gospel music ever had, saw the potential in Conley, and knew he could make a great bass singer out of him if he could just work with him.

The first thing Abernathy did to Conley was change his name.

Conley's nickname to that point was "Sarge", earned during his Air Force days. Abernathy was thumbs down on that stage name for his newest protégé. He then played with Conley's name and arrived on London. "That's it!" Abernathy said. "From now on, you're London Parris!"

And from that point, Conley was known for the rest of his life as London Parris.

It did, however, come at a cost to Abernathy initially. The rest of the Homeland Harmony Quartet got Soward to come back. Abernathy took London and formed a new group, the Lee Roy Abernathy Quartet.

Abernathy then worked daily with London, and the youngster's confidence and ability grew with each lesson. Soon, the potential that London showed Abernathy initially began to be realized. London developed one of the lowest and smoothest bass singing voices in the industry.

Parris' big break came next.

The Rebels Quartet of Tampa, FL was beginning to make a name for itself in the industry, sparked in large part by their famous and renowned bass singer, Jim Waites, long known as one of the very best bass singers anywhere. But in 1955, Waites suffered a serious heart attack, forcing him to stop touring with the Rebels and take time off to recover.

The Rebels' manager, John Mathews, came to Abernathy and asked for a recommendation for a replacement. Almost right away, Abernathy suggested London, who was starting to really blossom as not only a bass singer, but as a stage performe as well.

The Rebels otherwise might have been loath to hire a replacement with such little experience, but because of Abernathy's reputation, took a chance on Parris, making him a member of the quartet. London had quite a pair of shoes to fill, having to replace not only one of the best bass singers in the business, but one of the most popular and beloved as well.

A determined London dedicated himself to learning as much as he could…not only borrowing Waites' stage tradition of shaking his pant legs to "shake out" the low notes, but adopting some of his own. London began using a handkerchief for effect on stage…when he would wave it and shout out, "Come on, boys" in encouragement, audiences knew a big bass ending was coming, and London learned quickly how to build on that for effect.

Because of that and London's own winning personality…he was always going out and greeting audience members before the Rebels would even sing…he not only reinforced the Rebels' image as gospel's "friendliest quartet" (which is how they were billed for years), he began to develop a large fan following of his very own. By 1960, any concerns that the Rebels would not survive the loss of Waites had completely vanished, their new bass singer was a "hit" with fans.

Simultaneously, London's ability to hit the low, low notes earned him comparisons to the Blackwood Brothers' famous bass, JD Sumner, and a "rivalry" between the two singers began to emerge. For the balance of the 1960s and into the 1970s, the top contenders for the unofficial title of "lowest bass singer" in gospel music were Sumner and Parris. In the long run, the consensus went to Sumner in that "battle", but even he admitted that Parris was always his main competition in that regard.

Parris' career was almost cut short in the early 1960s due to an ear infection he developed. On occasion, Waites would be called out of retirement to fill in for Parris, and in 1964, the situation became so serious that Parris was given a leave of absence from the Rebels to get surgery to remedy that infection. At first the Rebels hired Bob Thacker as Parris' replacement, dropping him for Waites a few months later. Waites even recorded an album in 1964 for the Rebels while Parris was recovering, but by 1965, Parris was able to return to the Rebels, and Waites went back into retirement.

One can imagine how difficult it would be for a singer, particularly a bass singer, to sing without being able to hear properly. So when Parris returned to the Rebels, his already fine singing improved with his hearing problems corrected. Parris continued to make fine recordings with the Rebels until 1968.

It was in that year that the Blackwood Brothers were in need of a new bass singer..and as much as Parris loved the Rebels, and they him, this was an opportunity Parris could not turn down. So London Parris joined the Blackwood Brothers, and helped that quartet stay atop the industry as the 1970s dawned.

By 1971, Parris was able to realize a long time ambition he'd had, to start his own quartet. That group, the Apostles, became one of the hottest new quartets on the gospel scene, winning a Dove Award for best new group.

But there's a big difference between being in a top quartet and having to finance and run one yourself, and sadly, Parris found that out the hard way. So around 1974, he disbanded the Apostles and returned to the Rebels, who by that time were in a state of flux of their own.

Parris' return was not enough to turn the Rebels back around, and by the 1980s, he could be found singing bass with a well-known part time group, the Senators. From there, it was a short stint with another part time group, the Monitors…and by the end of the 1980s, Parris was singing with a mixed group known as Heritage. That lasted until about 1990, and remarkably, Parris' ability had not diminished one bit, nor did his passion for singing. He was once described as someone who would sing "…to a field of rocks…", such was Parris' love for singing, and doing it
before audiences.

In 1991, Parris did some singing with an ad hoc collection of ex-Blackwood Brothers (Bill Shaw, James Blackwood, Cecil Blackwood, and Wally Varner) where this writer met him for the first time, and had the privilege of being introduced to him formally from the stage. Being a fan of Parris since I first became infatuated with gospel music as a youngster, one can imagine the thrill I had.

Parris also appeared with the old Rebels at the Grand Old Gospel Reunions when they were first organized, and appeared each year there with the group he first became famous with until 1991.

This was because on Labor Day of 1992, Parris suffered a heart attack and passed away two days later. He was but 61 years old, and he loved singing and people as much as he did the day he first began singing manyyears before.

Parris was inducted into the Southern Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame in 2004, a fitting exclamation point to one of the most legendary careers in gospel music.

Also during his later years, he worked with many young bass singers…most notably Eric Winston of the Blackwood Brothers and Tim Duncan, who is at present one of gospel music's most popular bass singers, of Ernie Haase and Signature sound. He remains a primary influence on a whole generation of bass singers who entered gospel music in the 1980s, the 1990s, and even today, in a new decade.

What is London Parris' legacy? He is one of the most famous, most imitated, and most popular bass singers ever to sing in gospel music. This writer will remember him best as a kind, big-hearted, generous man that above all else … loved to sing bass. As the title of the first of his five solo albums testifies, "God Called Me To Sing".

And sing … London Parris did.