Richard Smallwood (musician)

Richard Smallwood was born in Atlanta on November 20, 1948.^[1] He graduated cum laude from Howard University with a dual B.A. degree in classical vocal performance and piano, in addition to graduate work in the field of ethnomusicology.^[2] Smallwood was a member of the Celestials, the first gospel group at Howard University. The group was the first gospel act to appear at Switzerland's Montreux Jazz Festival. Smallwood was also a founding member of the university's first gospel choir.^[3]

Smallwood's recording career began in 1982 with the album The Richard Smallwood Singers. The album spent 87 weeks on Billboard's gospel chart. Its follow-up, Psalms, was nominated for a Grammy Award. Two years later his Textures album was also nominated. Textures included the song "Center Of My Joy" which was written by Smallwood with Bill and Gloria Gaither. Smallwood won his first Grammy Award, along with a Dove Award, for his production on the Quincy Jones and Mervyn Warren album Handel's Messiah: A Soulful Celebration.

Smallwood's music has been recorded by many artists including Destiny's Child, Yolanda Adams, and Karen Clark-Sheard. He accompanied opera singer Leontyne Price at a Christmas celebration at the White House during the Reagan administration. Smallwood, with his group Vision, recorded several successful projects for the Verity label. He finished his master's degree in divinity from Howard University in 2004 and was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2006.^[1]

One of his concerts was recorded live at the Hammerstein Ballroom at the Manhattan Center in New York. The concert features guests Kim Burrell on “Journey”, Kelly Price on “Morning's Breaking”, Chaka Khan on “Precious Is Your Name”, as well as the Hawkins Family, Tramaine Hawkins, and the original roster of singers who comprised both the Richard Smallwood Singers and Vision.^[4] Aretha Franklin and the Clark Sisters contributed to additional studio tracks on the album.^[5]

Among Smallwood's most popular songs are “Total Praise”, composed in 1996 while he was experiencing sorrow in his life, and “I Love the Lord”, popularized by singer Whitney Houston in the film The Preacher's Wife.^[6]

Smallwood died in Sandy Spring, Maryland, on December 30, 2025, due to kidney failure, at the age of 77.^[7]