Richard Smallwood, gospel singer and recording artist nominated eight times for the award Grammy AwardsHe died. He was 77 years old.
Smallwood died Tuesday of complications from kidney failure at the Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Sandy Spring, Maryland, his representative, Bill Carpenter, announced.
Carpenter said in an interview that Smallwood had health problems for many years, and music gave him strength to endure.
“Richard was very committed to music, and that’s the thing that kept him alive all these years,” he said. “Making music that makes people feel something is what made him want to keep breathing, keep moving, keep living.”
Smallwood’s songs have been performed and recorded over the years by artists such as Whitney Houston, Stevie Wonder, Destiny’s Child, and Boyz II Men.
Smallwood “opened up the whole world of gospel music for me” as a singer and songwriter Chaka Khan he wrote on Facebook after his death.
“His music not only inspired me, it transformed me,” she said. “He is my favorite pianist, and his brilliance, spirit and dedication to music have shaped generations, including my own journey.”
Smallwood was born on November 30, 1948, in Atlanta and began playing the piano by ear at age 5, according to biographical material provided by Carpenter. By the age of seven, he was receiving formal lessons. He formed his gospel group when he was 11 years old.
He was raised primarily in Washington, D.C. by his mother, Mabel, and his stepfather, Reverend Chester Lee “CL” Smallwood. His stepfather was the pastor of Union Temple Baptist Church in Washington.
Smallwood was a music major in multiple ways at Howard University in Washington, where he graduated cum laude with a music degree. He was a member of Howard’s first evangelical group, Heavenly. He was also a founding member of the university’s gospel choir, according to Carpenter’s obituary.
After college, Smallwood taught music at the University of Maryland and formed the Richard Smallwood Singers in 1977, bringing a contemporary sound to traditional gospel music. He later formed Vision, a mega-choir that fueled some of his biggest gospel hits, including “Total Praise.”
“Full Praise” has become a modern hymn that touches people from all kinds of backgrounds and walks of life, Carpenter said by phone Wednesday.
“You can go to any type of church — a black church, a white church, a nondenominational church — and you might hear that song,” he said. “Somehow, it found a foothold throughout Christendom. If nothing else had been written, it would have put it in the modern hymnbook.”
In recent years, mild dementia and other health issues have kept Smallwood from recording music, and members of the Vision Choir helped care for him.
Khan said his legacy will live on “through every note and every soul he touched.”
“I’m really looking forward to singing with you in heaven,” she said.