SG History 101

SG History 101 - Henry Slaughter

This month we take a look at the life and career of a gospel music artist who knew early on what he was called to do, and whose life and career were a logical application of that calling, and in so following that calling has blessed scores and scores of people, in bygone years, and to this very day.

Henry Thaxton Slaughter was born January 9, 1927 in Roxboro, NC into a relatively simple world where people built and nurtured their families based on a belief and trust in God and time-honored and proven values. Young Henry learned the value of hard work and basic trust in God to provide for one’s wants and needs in life.

Early on, he learned about the power of music as well…how it could inspire and move people to embrace the most important things in life…and simultaneously provide meaningful and enjoyable entertainment for people led to make and listen to it.

And at a very young age, when Henry chose to commit his life to serving Jesus Christ, he had developed enough talent and interest in music to realize that his life’s calling was to sing, play, and make music that expressed his deepest core beliefs, i.e., to glorify God and make people aware through music that giving one’s life to faith in God was the way to go for all people.

Growing up where he did then, it was only natural that Henry was drawn to the gospel quartet music that was quickly becoming the “rage” for God fearing people in his part of the world, and most of the American Southeast at that time.

It was during his teenage years then that young Henry Slaughter wrote a letter to the Lone Star Quartet, a group affliated with the famous Stamps-Baxter Company in Dallas, Texas. In response, the famous singer and publisher Frank Stamps wrote to Henry about a couple of singing schools sponsored by the company, one in Dallas, and another in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Since Chattanooga was closer for him, Henry determined that he would attend that school, and demonstrate that he knew how to sing and play(on the piano)the music well enough that he would be able to go into professional gospel music and “set the world on fire”.

What Henry found out quickly was he wasn’t as ready as he thought, not quite yet.

Since the Stamps-Baxter schools were run by experienced teachers and by professionals with considerable experience, it was soon apparent to Henry just how far he still had to go before he could take his promising potential out to the world. But the teachers there, particularly Henry’s piano teacher, pianist Herschel Collins of the Lone Star Quartet, and voice teacher W.W. Combs, were patient with Henry as he strove to learn the ins and outs of the gospel quartet genre.

Finally, the school ended…and Henry emerged more confident, more skilled, and more determined to make his mark in gospel music than ever. And after a brief stint in the Army, he came home ready to make his mark in professional gospel music.

That career began in 1947 with a piano job with one of the better quartets of the period…the Stamps-Ozark Quartet. Henry played with them into the 1950s.

Along the way, Henry happened to meet a very attractive young lady named Hazel, and ten months after they first met, in December 1952, they were married. Hazel would prove to be an outstanding companion for Henry in more ways than one in the subsequent years. But for the time being, the two began to start a family of their own, eventually bringing three children…sons David and Mike, and daughter Amanda into the world, where they would eventually bring children of their own to multiply the Slaughter family.

As the 1950s continued, Henry would segue to Tulsa, Oklahoma and join one of the more colorful quartets of the day, the Tulsa Trumpeteers, who were perhaps best known for their famous tenor who would later become a part of the famous Statesmen Quartet, “Rosie” Rozell. Henry’s stay with the Trumpeteers wwas not that long, but it was a rewarding one.

Rewarding principally because his talents caught the eyes and ears of Earl Weatherford, whose fine quartet was becoming well-known to fans of gospel music and whose lead singer, Glen Payne, was also an alumnus of the Stamps-Ozark Quartet. It was understandable then that Payne would tout Henry’s skills to Earl, and when Weatherford pianist Danny Koker left that quartet in 1958, it was Henry who would be chosen to take Koker’s place.

Koker was one of the finest pianists around…an accomplished player, arranger, and singer as well. But Henry was starting to become quite adept at all that as well…and now he was joining a quartet in the Weatherfords that was working for a church. The Weatherford Quartet was the official quartet for Rex Humbard’s fast growing Cathedral of Tomorrow church in Akron, Ohio…and this would expand Henry’s musical reach even farther than ever, for he would work with the church’s choir as well as the quartet. But this was also a culmination of one of Henry’s boyhood dreams…to use his talent for music in the service of the church.

More and more, Henry was writing songs that were recorded by the country’s top quartets…and it was about that time when he wrote a song called “What A Precious Friend Is He”…which not only became a veritable theme song for the Weatherfords at that time, but the song is still sung today in the Weatherfords’ performances. It has become a gospel music standard.

At that time(the late 1950s)the Weatherford Quartet had its’ most famous lineup with Payne on lead, Earl Weatherford on baritone, Armond Morales as bass, and Earl’s wife Lily singing the male tenor part. That lineup achieved a vocal blend that has seldom been duplicated, and Henry took advantage of the vocal skills of his quartet mates to create some of the most noteworthy and famous arrangements ever used in gospel music.

It appeared as if Henry’s career was established for life. Certainly the Weatherfords were among America’s top gospel quartets…especially after their classic 1959 RCA LP “In The Garden”, an album many gospel fans feel is one of the best of all time to this very day…and one that has the musical touch of Henry Slaughter all over it, in the piano stylings and in the vocal arrangements.

But if anything in gospel music is certain, it is change…and change hit the Weatherford Quartet in 1963. A rift was growing between Earl Weatherford and Rex Humbard…Humbard wanted the quartet more involved in his church, while Earl wanted to make more money doing concerts, as most of his gospel music peers were doing. Earl felt tied down by the church, and it got to the point where Humbard issued an ultimatum to each member of the Weatherford Quartet…either work for him and be at his call, or take your chances out on the road, as the other gospel quartets were doing.

Faced with that choice, Earl, Lily, and Armond Morales opted to take the Weatherford Quartet on the road…while Payne, tenor Bobby Clark, and Henry opted to stay with Humbard. Payne and Clark eventually formed the Cathedral Qusrtet, a group that became one of the most illustrious ensembles in gospel music history.

As for Henry, he stayed on to direct the Cathedral’s choir, apparently feeling that his place was to serve the church. But again, that “change” thing came up, and Henry was about to enter another defining phase of his career.

For in mid-1963, the Statesmen Quartet’s famous lead singer, Jake Hess, decided the time was right to form his own quartet, a longtime dream of his. But befitting his stature in gospel music, he didn’t simply want to start at the bottom and work up. No, Hess wanted the best possible group he could put together in his quartet/

The first person Hess recruited for his dream quartet was Henry…Hess knew that Henry could provide him with the musical expertise a quartet like he envisioned would need. He also wanted Henry to help him choose the singers he needed for this “super” quartet.

Henry no doubt saw the chance to impact the gospel quartet world in the way he dreamed he wanted to back at the Stamps-Baxter school in Chattanooga. So Henry accepted Hess’s offer, and along with his old quartet mate Morales on bass, Sherrill Nielsen as tenor, Hess as lead, and Gary McSpadden as the baritone, formed the Imperials, certainly a group that went on to fulfill the dream Hess had for it.

Some of Henry’s best known compositions, including “Lonely Mile”, “If The Lord Wasn’t Walking By My Side”, and “I’ve Never Loved Him Better Than Today” were written during that period. And for the next two years, Henry’s outstanding piano playing and arrangements made the Imperials one of the genre’s outstanding and accomplished quartets.

Henry began to follow the lead of his talented piano predecessors such as Jackie Marshall and Lee Roy Abernathy and began offering courses on how to play piano as well as getting into music publishing. All this activity made Henry extra busy…to the point that he left the Imperials in 1966 to concentrate on his other activities…and just as the Imperials were on the verge of making it really big in the quartet world.

But Henry was not nearly done with performing gospel music, not by a long shot. In the 1970s, Henry began touring with his wife Hazel, going all over the United States and Canada and becoming one of the more successful touring acts in gospel music, During the 1970s, Henry won five Dove awards as the gospel music Instrumentalist of the Year. And in 1980, Henry published an autobiography, “In Search Of The Pearl Of Great Price”, which was critically acclaimed, and is the best place to go if one wants to know more about Henry Slaughter than this humble article can go into.

In more recent years, Henry was one of the first inductees into the Southern Gospel Piano Roll Of Honor in 1996, and was inducted into the Southern Gospel Music Association in 2006.

And not surprisingly, Henry and Hazel made regular appearances on the Gaither Homecoming Series in the last few years.

As one of the most dignified representatives of alltime great gospel music, and also a revered elder statesman of the genre, Henry Slaughter can well be considered an example of what can be accomplished with the right combination of musical talent, perseverance, faith, and complete dedication to one’s craft.

Henry Slaughter is one of the most illustrious gospel music personalities of all time. He has been an unqualified success as a pianist, writer, arranger, singer, and publisher…and thus is worthy of being spoken of as one of the most esteemed and productive gospel music artists ever.

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Reader Comments

   .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) ~ 01/05/2009

Henry Slaughter was, and is, the real deal. Only a handful of quartet pianist/arrangers have held that equal spotlight with their singers that Henry did.
Henry is the man.

Chris J. Becker
Cedar Rapids, IA

   .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) ~ 01/06/2009

Thanks for another great history lesson. Since I came to SGM late I am enjoying learning about the pioneers in the genre that I have seen on Gaither's videos. Henry is one I have enjoyed over the years.

God is good all the time & all the time God is good. 

Elaine Harcourt

   .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) ~ 01/08/2009

Ok - I typed a whole "book" and it got lost somehow, so I will try once again!!!

Back in the late 70s Henry and Hazel used to open for the Bill Gaither Trio - Bill, Gloria and Danny. That was some of the best singing I've ever heard! We really came to love H & H and went to hear them whenever they came around our area. In fact it was going to these concerts that led to my buying and listening to mmy first Gaither video! Haven't stopped since and own most! It was the videos that led us to love SGM and as a natural progression, we started going to NQC over 10 years ago.

4 or 5 years ago Dave Edwards brought his Florida "Breakfast Club" to the Blue Gate Restaurant/Theater in Shipshewana, IN over the summer months. Henry and Hazel packed the house out for the first 4 years. I really missed that they weren't there last summer, but they are "getting more and more 'life experience' all the time". Hazel still sounded as sweet, low and strong as ever, and Henry, well, he could still almost make that piano talk!!

Thanks for a great reminder of these beloved pioneers!

God is good - all the time
All the time - God is good

   .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) ~ 01/09/2009

Henry Slaughter! Just saying the name makes you visualize Henry playing the piano, in a style that is all his own.

I think "What A Precious Friend Is He" is one of the great gospel songs, and must have been written just for Lily Fern and Armond........they both do it so well.

Thanks for the effort you put into these articles, John. I always enjoy them.

   .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) ~ 01/12/2009

To Henry:
This man has been a blessing to Gospel
Music's Golden Age. His stunning
testimony for Christ,his musical talent
and his innovative piano stylings.

I send my best to Henry and Hazel as
we wait for the uppertaker.

Bobby Clark

   .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) ~ 03/23/2010

I have used the Piano Gospel Course to teach piano for years. Are the books still available?



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