A RARER GOSPEL 78 FROM THE WARD SINGERS ON THE ORIGINAL US SAVOY LABEL

GREAT IS THE LORD

b/w   HE KNOWS

Clara Ward (April 21, 1924 – January 16, 1973) was an American gospel artist who achieved great success, both artistic and commercial, in the 1940s and 1950s as leader of The Famous Ward Singers.

A gifted singer and arranger, Ward took the lead-switching style used by male gospel quartets to new heights, leaving room for spontaneous improvisation and vamping by each member of the group while giving virtuouso singers such as Marion Williams the opportunity to step forward in songs such as "Surely, God Is Able" (among the first million-selling gospel hits), "How I Got Over" (which she wrote; one of the most famous songs in the Black gospel repertoire), and "Packin' Up".

Ward ranks among the greatest of gospel singers along with Mahalia Jackson, Roberta Martin, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and others.

Despite her career success, Ward's life was an unhappy one. Financial hardships caused her and her family to move 19 times before her adulthood. Sexually abused in childhood by a cousin and relentlessly driven as prime breadwinner by her mother throughout her life, Clara's life was one of constant work and little joy. According to her sister Willa, Gertrude Ward recognized Clara's exceptional musical ability when Clara was a child and controlled and manipulated her throughout her life. In her biography of Clara, Willa attests that Gertrude worked to prevent Clara from forming any romantic attachments. Although Clara eloped as a teenager (at age 17 in 1941), her mother forced her to tour and the strain caused the always frail Clara to have a miscarriage. Her marriage ended after only one year. Willa describes Clara as explaining her occasional lesbian encounters as the sexual expression likely to escape her mother's notice. Her only real happiness seems to have come from her longtime romance with Rev. C. L. Franklin (with whom the Ward groups extensively toured), the famous Detroit-based preacher and father of the legendary Aretha Franklin.

Ward's poor health forced her to retire in the early 1970s. She died after two strokes in 1973. Aretha Franklin and Rev. C. L. Franklin sang at her funeral in Philadelphia in 1973; Marion Williams sang at her second memorial service held days later in Los Angeles, California.

A WONDERFUL 78 RARITY IN UNPLAYED CONDITION!

 

DISC DETAILS:-

SAVOY 4076 10" 78rpm SAV-O-FLEX The Famous Ward Singers - Great Is The Lord b/w He Knows unknown (org, p, g, d) Gertrude Ward, Clara Ward, Henrietta Waddy, Marion Williams, Willa Ward Moultrie, Frances Steadman, Kitty Parham (vocal group) NYC, March 7, 1955 SWS8702 He Knows unknown (p, b, d) Gertrude Ward, Clara Ward, Henrietta Waddy, Marion Williams, Willa Ward Moultrie, Frances Steadman, Kitty Parham (vocal group) NYC, December 19, 1955 SWS6781 Great Is The Lord CONDITION:   A SIDE IS M-    THE B SIDE LABEL IS BADLY WATER DAMAGED BUT RECORD SURFACE IS E+

 

POSTAGE STUFF

10" 78 RPM RECORDS NEED CAREFULLY PACKING, AND I CLAIM TO HAVE THE BEST PACKAGING IN THE WORLD FOR DISPATCHING THEM!

 THE GREG'S GREAT'S SYSTEM CONSISTS OF A SPECIALLY DESIGNED INNER BOX MADE OUT OF 1" THICK POLYSTYRENE, WHICH THEN GOES INSIDE A DOUBLE CORRUGATED STIFF OUTER CARDBOARD CARTON. THE BOXES CAN TAKE UP TO 21 RECORDS,

 

I SEND OUT ON AVERAGE ABOUT 30 PARCELS A WEEK AND DISPATCH IS NORMALLY DONE ONCE A WEEK