The Soul Stirrers

Though they're mostly revered as the group that brought Sam Cooke into the limelight, the Soul Stirrers had been an established Gospel act for the previous fifteen years. One of the first acts to stray from the usual quartet formula, they brought in an additional singer in to up the expressiveness of the vocals. The appropriately named Soul Stirrers brought a deep gut-wrenching suggestiveness to traditional Gospel. The years spent with Cooke in the 1950s found the group drifting towards more secular material, something Cooke departed to do full time. The group carried on with a succession of fine tenors and still record to this days although with new, younger members.