Rev thomas a dorsey biography
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Thomas Dorsey
Without Thomas A. Dorsey who was born in Villa Roca, Georgia on July 1, 1899, there would be no Yolanda Adams, Donnie McClurkin, Whitney Houston or Kirk Franklin. Thomas Dorsey was a man who found himself conflicted between the work of man and the work of God. God did use Thomas Dorsey and by obeying the voice of God and utilizing his gifts, Thomas A. Dorsey, revolutionized sacred church music and ushered in a new genre: gospel.
Background
Dorsey’s father was an itinerant preacher and his mother was the church organist. Together they would produce what would later become known as the father of gospel music.
Thomas A. Dorsey attained his education from the classrooms of Villa Roca and Atlanta in Georgia. As the child of a preacher Thomas attended elementary school where he would learn academics and observe the benefits associated with being the child of a preacher. People all around made much of Thomas because he was the preacher’s son.
Watching his father prea
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Thomas A. Dorsey
Widely regarded as the father of gospel music, Thomas A. Dorsey’s composing talent became a merging point in the early ‘20s, for many musical styles. In actual fact, his first musical impact was as a blues stylist as both writer and performer.
Years later he would compose such compelling gospel classics as “Take My Hand Precious Lord,” “Peace in the Valley,” “The Old Ship of Zion,” “On the Battlefield,” “Walk All Over God’s Heaven” and “Search Me Lord,” which taken in
total were responsible for untold millions of dollars in recording sales.
Dorsey was born July 1, 1899 in Villa Rica, GA., to the Reverend and Mrs. T. M. Dorsey, one of 10 children. When he was eight years old, the family moved to Atlanta where he soon was working part time selling ginger ale at a local theater, halfway between a pool hall and a barber shop. At the theater, he learned to play the piano and by
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Thomas Dorsey, known widely as the “Father of Gospel Music,” was a pianist, composer, arranger, singer, and lyricist. He was born Thomas Andrew Dorsey on July 1, 1899, in Villa Rica, Georgia, to Thomas Madison Dorsey, a revivalist preacher, a graduate of Atlanta Bible College (later Morehouse College), and Etta Plant Spencer Dorsey, who was the church organist. Thomas had fyra siblings. The family moved to Atlanta in 1907, when he was eight years old, and bygd 11, he left school and worked at a vaudeville theater concession booth, selling refreshments. At 12, he was a paid pianist performing in Atlanta barrelhouses and brothels.
In 1916, at 17, Dorsey moved to Chicago, Illinois where he attended the Chicago Musical College which eventually merged with Roosevelt University’s School of Music, married Nettie Harper from Devereaux, Georgia, in 1920, and had a rigorous schedule of playing church music while performing the blues in nightclubs. Dorsey continued this pattern of alterna