A life lived in total praise

Roy Francis pays tribute to gospel music maestro Richard Smallwood 

I can’t remember when I first came across Richard Smallwood’s music, but I can remember the moment his composition, ‘The Centre of My Joy’, gripped my attention. It wasn’t just for the beauty and tunefulness of the music, but also for that simple, profound and memorable phrase: ‘Centre of my joy’. From that moment on, Smallwood’s music demanded my attention, and when he released ‘I Love the Lord’, it cemented my admiration for who was then, to me, a new artist.

So impactful was his music that when I produced People Get Ready, the gospel TV programme in the 1980s, I included his song ‘I Love the Lord’ in one of the episodes. Beverly Wint delivered a memorable and deeply moving performance of it, and it became a standout moment of the programme. Yet, it was ‘Total Praise’ that truly stopped me in my tracks, and anyone who knows anything about me, knows that I love gospel, classical and choral music, and Smallwood seamlessly incorporates all three in that song.

I’ve also had the pleasure of presenting and promoting Richard Smallwood in concert in the UK on more than one occasion, and what struck me was he was a quiet, unassuming man, a maestro in the original sense of the word, and ‘a distinguished conductor and performer’. The vocals of his singers were unlike anything I’d ever heard before in gospel – the nearest being the Clark Sisters in their prime. And, while it’s difficult to describe what makes a piece of music ‘great’, what we know is that any assessment, appraisal or evaluation is likely to be subjective, and it’s why we rely on experts to guide us. Yet, with Richard Smallwood’s music, there is complete unanimity, for not only was he a ‘great’ gospel artist/composer, but also one of the most significant and influential gospel artists.

‘Total Praise’ – undoubtedly his greatest hit song – is like no other, and when it was released, it signalled a fresh new, totally original gospel sound. It was majestic, modern, emotionally charged and completely different. His music reminds me of the sacred music of great composers like Handel, Bach and others, who I know Smallwood admired.  

Smallwood’s musical journey, like that of many gospel artists, follows a familiar pattern. Born on November 30, 1948, in Atlanta, Georgia, Richard moved with his parents at the age of 10 to Washington DC, where from an early age, he started singing and playing in his father’s church. In his teens, while in school, he started his own gospel group. Roberta Flack, the famous soul singer, was one of his high school teachers.

A graduate of Howard University, Richard Smallwood is a classically trained composer, pianist and arranger, and along with a strong background in music theory and choral composition, his skills have become the hallmark of his sound. He credits gospel greats Roberta Martin, Clara Ward, Mahalia Jackson and James Cleveland among his influences, along with Edwin Hawkins and others, who are today foundational to the modern gospel sound. In the last few years of his life, he suffered from a variety of illnesses which had prevented him from performing, and when it was announced that he had died on December 30, 2025, gospel music lost one of its towering figures and practitioners. 

Aside from making an indelible impact with his music recordings – 10 studio albums and six live albums – Smallwood’s songs also impacted popular culture. ‘I Love the Lord’ was performed by Whitney Houston in the film The Preacher’s Wife, and other artists who have sung his songs include Yolanda Adams, Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan and Karen Clark Sheard. He received numerous awards over the years, including four Dove Awards, six Stellar Awards and a President Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by former President Joe Biden.

Smallwood deserves to be ranked alongside the likes of ‘gospel greats’, such as Thomas Dorsey and Andraé Crouch. Many of his songs are now gospel standards – timeless compositions that transcend eras and style, which will forever be sung in churches and performed by choirs across the world. Smallwood added classical motifs and intricate vocal harmonies to gospel music. In so doing, he transformed it and elevated it to new levels of creativity and artistic expression.

ROY FRANCIS
Former BBC producer, and author of Making Gospel Music Work for You.
Visit www.royfrancis.co.uk