1926 -

The Soul Stirrers have the great distinction of being the only gospel quartet to be inducted into the America’s Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame in 1988 and The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.
The group was formed by Roy Crain, who had launched his first quartet, which sang in a jubilee style, in 1926 in Trinity, Texas. In the early 1930s, after Crain moved to Houston, he joined an existing group on the condition that it change its name to “the Soul Stirrers.” Among the members of that group was R.H. Harris, who soon became its musical leader.

He pioneered the “swing lead”, in which two singers would share the job of leading the song, allowing virtuoso singers to increase the emotional intensity of the song as the lead passed between them. That innovation led the Soul Stirrers, while still called a quartet, to acquire five members; later groups would have as many as seven but still consider themselves “quartets”, which referred more to their style than their number.

Some Bio references wikipedia.org

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