Clara Ward born 21 April 1924

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

Born in Philadelphia, Ward was unquestionably the driving creative force behind her group's success, but the business smarts belonged to her mother, Gertrude Mae Murphy Ward. The textbook stage mother, Gertrude and her husband relocated to the Philadelphia area from a life of abject poverty in rural South Carolina; the family struggled throughout the Depression, but in 1931 she was struck by a vision which commanded her to begin a singing career. Forming a family group which included Clara and her sister Willa on piano, Gertrude quickly emerged among the most forceful promoters in all of gospel -- a gifted vocalist in her own right, her truest talents were nonetheless of an entrepreneurial nature, and after a transcendent performance at the 1943 National Baptist Convention, the Ward Singers were one of the top attractions on the church circuit.

                                   

The Wards' success, however, did not come without a price, as Clara, the star of the group, later admitted to constant frustrations with her life as a teen phenomenon, and although she loved gospel, it appears unlikely that she would have pursued a singing career if not for the constant pressure applied by her mother. By the late '40s, the group had grown so successful that they added a pair of new members, Henrietta Waddy and Marion Williams, a Miami teen whose powerhouse voice became the Wards' trademark. With Williams installed as soloist, the Wards hit their creative peak, issuing such masterful hits as "Surely God Is Able" and "Packin' Up." For her part, Clara remained content to remain somewhat in the background, accompanying the group on piano while Williams stole the spotlight.

While her gorgeous alto was the centrepiece of hits like "How I Got Over," arguably Ward's greatest strength was as an arranger; "Surely," the group's biggest hit, even introduced a new waltz rhythm into the gospel lexicon. The Wards -- who by now also included Frances Steadman and Kitty Parham -- were also the first gospel group to employ the switch-lead style of the shouting quartets, always keeping at least four vocalists in their ranks at all times. The consensus pick as the best hymn singers in the business, the Wards also rejected the homespun choir robes of the past in favour of elaborate costumes -- according to legend, on one occasion their infamous wigs grew so tall that they actually touched the ceiling. Throughout the '50s, they were among gospel's elite, scoring more hits and making more money than any group before them.

During the early '50s, the Wards began regularly touring with the Reverend C.L. Franklin of Detroit; the father of Aretha Franklin, who was a gifted singer and preacher in his own right, and as his star rose, the group's fame continued to grow. However, in 1958, Williams quit, and the bottom fell out -- Parham and Steadman exited as well, all over their notoriously low salaries, and although new recruits including Thelma Jackson, Carrie Williams, and Jessie Tucker were quickly brought in, the Wards' popularity decreased. But by 1961, amid considerable hoopla, they moved to the club circuit, playing Las Vegas and even Disneyland, all to the shock of gospel traditionalists; white audiences were intrigued, and the group continued touring throughout the '60s

Ward was the first gospel singer to sing with a 100-piece symphony orchestra in the 1960s. The Clara Ward Singers recorded an album together on the Verve label, V-5019, The Heart, the Faith, the Soul of Clara Ward, and the Ward Singers performed their music live in Philadelphia with the city's Symphony and the Golden Voices Ensemble. Ward sang backup for pop artists with her sister Willa's background group, most notably on Dee Dee Sharp's hit, "Mashed Potato Time", which reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1962. In 1969, Ward recorded an album for Capitol Records, Soul and Inspiration, consisting of pop songs from Broadway plays, Hollywood movies and the Jimmy Radcliffe song of hope "If You Wanna Change the World". The album was later reissued on the Capitol's budget Pickwick label minus one track. In the same year, she recorded an album in Copenhagen, Denmark on the Philips label, Walk A Mile In My Shoes, which included the pop title song, other pop songs (such as "California Dreaming") and a few gospel songs.

Ward also recorded an album for MGM/Verve, Hang Your Tears Out To Dry, which included country and Western, blues/folk, pop and an arrangement of the Beatles' hit song, "Help". Her 1972 album Uplifting on United Artists, produced by Nikolas Venet and Sam Alexander, included an interpretation of Bill Wither's pop hit "Lean On Me" and a rearrangement of the Soul Stirrers' 1950s recording of "Thank You, Jesus". Also in 1972 Ward, because she was under exclusive contract to United Artists at this time, provided vocals for a Canned Heat's album The New Age, on the ballad "Lookin' For My Rainbow"; it was released on that album and as a single 45 rpm record.

In 1968, the Clara Ward Singers toured Vietnam at the request of the U.S. State Department and the U.S.O. It was a popular war-time tour supported by recorded radio broadcasts of the Ward Singers on U.S. Armed Forces Radio. The Ward Singers narrowly missed death when their hotel in Vietnam was bombed and several guests died. Ward was invited back to Vietnam by U.S.O. in 1969 for several more months. These war-time tours were filmed and all the Ward Singers were given special certificates of recognition by the U.S. Army.

The Clara Ward Singers toured in Australia, Japan, Europe, Indonesia, and Thailand during the late-1960s through the early-1970s. They had a one-day TV special in London, England. They were in constant demand on American television programs and appeared on The Mike Douglas Show over a dozen times. They appeared on Oral Roberts' Country Roads TV special, later released as a soundtrack album. In 1969, The Clara Ward Singers appeared on the Monkees' television special. Clara continued to perform at her mother's church, the Miracle Temple of Faith for All People in Los Angeles, California, as well as at Victory Baptist Church. Her mother, Gertrude Ward, also had a popular religious radio program in the Los Angeles market.

Ward collapsed while performing at the Castaways Lounge in Miami Beach, Florida in May 1966 and suffered a series of strokes prior to her death. The first occurred in August 1967 which was listed as "massive". Two more strokes followed: one listed as "minor" during a recording session at her home in December 1972; another on January 9, 1973, which left Ward in a coma. Ward died on January 16, 1973 at age 48 as a result of several strokes. Aretha Franklin and Rev. C. L. Franklin sang at her funeral in Philadelphia; Marion Williams sang at her second memorial service held days later in Los Angeles. She is interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

In 1977, Ward was honoured posthumously at the Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York City and her surviving sister, Willa, accepted the award in her honour.

(Edited from AllMusic & Wikipedia)