Richard Smallwood's Songs Crossed Boundaries

Richard Smallwood, a gospel singer and recording artist nominated eight times for Grammy Awards, has died. He was 77. Smallwood died Tuesday of complications of kidney failure at a rehabilitation and nursing center in Sandy Spring, Maryland, the AP reports. Smallwood "opened up my whole world of gospel music," singer and songwriter Chaka Khan wrote on Facebook after his death. "His music didn't just inspire me, it transformed me," she said. "He is my favorite pianist, and his brilliance, spirit, and devotion to the music have shaped generations, including my own journey."

Smallwood was born in Atlanta and began to play piano by ear by age 5, according to biographic materials provided by his representative, Bill Carpenter. By age 7, he was taking formal lessons. He had formed his own gospel group by the time he was 11. He was primarily raised in Washington, DC, by his mother, Mabel, and his stepfather, the Rev. Chester Lee Smallwood, who was pastor of Union Temple Baptist Church. Smallwood was a music pioneer 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 gospel group, the Celestials, and a founding member of the university's gospel choir.

After college, Smallwood taught music at the University of Maryland and went on to form the Richard Smallwood Singers in 1977, bringing a contemporary sound to traditional gospel music. He later formed Vision, a large choir that fueled some of his biggest gospel hits, including "Total Praise." The hymn touched people from all types of backgrounds and walks of life, Carpenter said. "You can go into any kind of church—a Black church, a white church, a nondenominational church—and you might hear that song," he said.

Smallwood's songs were performed and recorded by artists such as Whitney Houston, Stevie Wonder, Destiny's Child, and Boyz II Men. Houston brought his music to film by performing "I Love the Lord" in the 1996 movie The Preacher's Wife, according to Smallwood's biography at the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.