b. 1 July 1899, Villa Rica, Georgia, USA, d. 23 January 1993, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Often known as the founder of gospel music. Born into a religious family, Dorsey nevertheless shunned sacred music for many years, although it is in that idiom that he was to make the biggest impact. He learned to play piano in his youth, and when he settled in Chicago in 1916 he began to carve out a career for himself on the blues scene there. In the early 20s, he toured as a musician in the Ma Rainey show. Between 1928 and 1932 he recorded extensively as a blues artist under his pseudonym Georgia Tom, as partner to Tampa Red, as part of groups such as the Hokum Boys, and as accompanist to many artists, from obscure figures such as Auntie Mary Bradford and Stovepipe Johnson to big names such as "Big" Bill Broonzy, Memphis Minnie and Victoria Spivey. Despite the comparative brevity of this period of his career, he was very influential for the quality and variety of his piano accompaniments, and also for one of his best-known records, with Tampa Red, "It's Tight Like That", a smutty, double-meaning song that was enormously popular and led to a vast number of cover versions, copies and variants.

Listen to THOMAS A. DORSEY at Finetune.

• (1973)  Precious Lord Recordings Of The Great Gospel Songs Of Thomas A. Dorsey

• Take My Hand, Precious Lord
• It's A Highway To Heaven
• The Lord Will Make A Way Somehow
• Old Ship Of Zion
• (There'll Be) Peace In The Valley

• Mahalia Jackson
• Yolanda Adams
• Shirley Caesar
• Donnie McClurkin
• Dottie Peoples
• Mighty Clouds of Joy
• Sam Cooke
• Kirk Franklin
• The Soul Stirrers
• Al Green
• Byron Cage
• The Staple Singers
• Kirk Franklin and the Family
• Rev. Milton Brunson & The Thompson Community Singers
• Patti LaBelle
• Daryl Coley
• Aretha Franklin
• Gaither Vocal Band
• Fred Hammond
• The New Life Community Choir Featuring John P. Kee