Roberta Martin

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Born in Helena, Arkansas, on February 12, 1907, Martin moved to Chicago with her family in 1917, where she studied piano. Although a high school teacher inspired her to dream of becoming a concert pianist, her future course was changed after accompanying the Young People's Choir at Ebenezer Baptist Church. She came into contact with Thomas A. Dorsey, known as the Father of Gospel Music, through her work as the pianist for the youth choir. With Dorsey's help, she and Theodore Frye organized the Martin-Frye Quartet, a youth group consisting of Eugene Smith, Norsalus McKissick, Robert Anderson, James Lawrence, Willie Webb and Romance Watson, in 1933. Martin renamed the group the Roberta Martin Singers in 1936 and added Bessie Folk, Myrtle Scott and Delois Barrett Campbell to the group in the 1940s. The group set the standard for the gospel choir and mixed group, and had an extremely successful recording career, featuring such hits as "Only A Look," and "Grace."Wimbush, Vincent L. African Americans and the Bible: Sacred Texts and Social Structures, Continuum International Publishing Group (2001), pg. 471; {{ISBN|0-8264-1376-5}}{{Cite book |last=McNeil |first=W. K. |title=Encyclopedia of American Gospel Music |date=October 18, 2013 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9781135377007 |pages=242}}

Most of these songs were published by Roberta Martin Studio of Music, a publishing house in Chicago that she incorporated in 1939, and would eventually publish outstanding compositions by gospel artists ranging from Professor Alex Bradford to James Cleveland. Her first composition, "Try Jesus, He Satisfies," was an immediate hit in 1943.Darden, Bob. People Get Ready!: A New History of Black Gospel Music, Continuum International Publishing Group (2004), pg. 190; {{ISBN|0-8264-1436-2}}

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The theme song of the Roberta Martin Singers is "Only A Look."{{Cite book |last=Greer |first=Ronald L. |title=Only a Look: A Historical Look at the Career of Mrs. Roberta Martin and the Roberta Martin Gospel Singers of Chicago, Illinois |date=September 17, 2015 |publisher=WestBow Press |isbn=9781512708981}} It was always sung at the opening of their concerts, at their annual Anniversary Program in Chicago, and was recorded on the Apollo label with Bessie Folk with Delois Barrett as lead soloists and later on the Savoy label with Delois Barrett as lead vocalist.

Martin complemented her group's performance with her piano accompaniment, which often dictated the rhythm and pace of the song or commented on it by responding to or accenting a singer's performance. Martin's piano style reflected the influence of Holiness artists such as Arizona Dranes and her classical training.

The other musical signature of the Roberta Martin Singers was the accompaniment of "Little" Lucy Smith on the Hammond organ. Her droning introductory chord and unique "passes" using the bass pedals set the tone for a meditative experience and became a recognized trademark of a "Roberta Martin gospel song".

Martin briefly retired from music in the 1960s due in part to her battle with cancer, but came back to record her final album Praise God (from whom all blessings flow), and her vocal recording, "I Have Hope", which was written by her friend Jessie Jimerson (aka Jessie Jimerson-Phillips).

Her group disbanded upon her death in 1969, but the surviving members continued to perform as a group in reunion concerts into the 21st century. Many of the members later had solo careers, such as Delois Barrett and Gloria Griffin, who was the composer of the classic gospel song "God Specializes", made famous by the Roberta Martin Singers in concerts and recordings.

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Roberta Martin died of cancer on January 18, 1969, at the age of 61, at Mercy Hospital, Chicago. Her funeral attracted over 50,000 mourners.{{Cite book |last=Carney Smith |first=Jessie |title=Notable Black American Women: Book 2 |publisher=Gale Research |year=1992 |isbn=9780810391772 |pages=436}}

During her lifetime, she had composed about seventy songs, arranged and published 280 gospel songs, and reached and inspired thousands of listeners selling sheet music. Her compositions include "He Knows Just How Much We Can Bear," and "God Is Still on the Throne" (1959), "Let It Be" (1950), and "Just Jesus and Me" (1966). Martin earned six Gold records.Ruether, Rosemary Radford. Encyclopedia of Women And Religion in North America, Indiana University Press (2006), pg. 991; {{ISBN|0-253-34687-8}}

The Roberta Martin Singers sang at Gian-Carlo Menotti's Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy, in 1963. She helped develop a distinctive gospel-piano style which had a special sound that integrated, for the first time, men and women into the gospel chorus during the mid-1940s.Southern, Eileen. The Music of Black Americans: A History W. W. Norton & Company (1997), pg. 462; {{ISBN|0-393-03843-2}}

On July 15, 1998, the United States Postal Service issued a 32 cent commemorative stamp honoring Martin's influence. The stamp was one of four honoring gospel women. The other women honored were Mahalia Jackson, Clara Ward, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe.{{Cite web |title=32c Roberta Martin single |url=https://postalmuseum.si.edu/object/npm_1998.2014.55 |access-date=2024-03-11 |website=postalmuseum.si.edu |language=en}}

{{reflist}}

• Tony Heilbut, The Gospel Sound: Good News and Bad Times Limelight Editions (1997), {{ISBN|0-87910-034-6}}
• Horace Clarence Boyer, How Sweet the Sound: The Golden Age of Gospel Elliott and Clark (1995) {{ISBN|0-252-06877-7}}
• Bernice Johnson Reagon, We'll Understand It Better By And By: Pioneering African-American Gospel Composers Smithsonian Institution (1992), {{ISBN|1-56098-166-0}}

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Category:American gospel singers

Category:Singers from Arkansas

Category:Savoy Records artists

Category:People from Helena, Arkansas

Category:1907 births

Category:1969 deaths

Category:Deaths from cancer in Illinois

Category:Apollo Records artists

Category:20th-century American composers

Category:20th-century American women composers

Category:20th-century African-American women singers

Category:20th-century American women singers

Category:20th-century American singers

Category:Gospel music composers

Category:African-American history in Chicago

Category:Gospel music pianists