Lee Roy Abernathy (August 13, 1913 - May 25, 1993)

Sometimes credited as Leroy Abernathy

Biography

Lee Roy Abernathy was born in Cartersville, Georgia. His sharecropping parents, Dee and Clara Belle Abernathy, relocated frequently during his formative years. His first experience as a singer came at the age of five when he sang with his father’s group, the Atco Quartet. By the time Abernathy was 14, he had learned to play piano. Abernathy only completed seven grades in traditional school, but he had more than 30 private music instructors. One school where he studied was the Conservatory of Music in Atlanta, GA. He studied with shape note instructors including James D Vaughan and Adger M Pace.

Abernathy wrote many popular gospel songs. Some of these include He’s A Personal Savior and A Newborn Feeling. Along with Dwight Brock of the Stamps, Abernathy helped to popularize the use of “turnaround” segments between song verses which served to highlight the talents of the musician(s). He was an early pioneer printing sheet music (single songs) and boasted of thousands of piano students taught with his Modern Gospel Piano Course by Mail. He also served as a vocal coach to numerous singers including bass singer London Parris who went on to have great success in the industry.

Abernathy wrote a book in 1948 simply titled IT. The book is a collection of Abernathy's songs and his commentaries about quartet life. It was designed to be a handbook for gospel musicians and is a highly sought collector's item today.

Abernathy was also well known as a performer. He pulled stints with the Rangers Quartet, Jubilee Quartet, and the Homeland Harmony Quartet. Abernathy and Carroll “Shorty” Bradford also performed together as the Happy Two, billed as a “two-man quartet.” The Happy Two were an unusual group. Their program focused on corny humor and drew from songs that had interesting, intertwining parts. When they sang, they sounded almost like a quartet. Both singers had extensive vocal ranges, and this added to their appeal. They excelled at novelty tunes, and at one time, a $500 diamond ring was offered to anyone who could sing as high and as low as Bradford.

The expertise of these two gentlemen led them to form a new quartet in the early 1950s called the Miracle Men. A former comrade from the Homeland Harmony Quartet, Aycel Soward, joined the pair to sing bass. Earl Terry was the first tenor and Idus Spivey filled out the quartet at baritone. When the Miracle Men were on a program, you could be assured they would sing songs no other group on the program would sing. This was because Abernathy was a prolific songwriter. Often, the group would sing five-part music with Abernathy providing the fifth vocal part. Abernathy and Bradford only kept the Miracle Men together for about a year before returning to their popular two-man format.

Abernathy also founded the Abernathy All Star Quartet.

In addition to gospel music, politics also had an attraction for Abernathy. He composed songs for Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1936 campaign and was a candidate for governor of Georgia in 1958.

Abernathy continued to teach piano and voice lessons to many famous gospel musicians until his death in 1993. The SGMA Hall Of Fame and the Georgia Music Hall of Fame have inducted him into their respective halls. In later years, he continued to travel on a part time basis with various quartets as a vocal coach and pianist. In 1983, a recording titled Command Performance paid tribute to the songs of Abernathy, with cuts by the Rex Nelon Singers, Gold City, the Singing Americans, the Hemphills and others. He also owned his own music publishing company.

Awards

GMA Hall Of Fame (1973)
SGMA Hall Of Fame (1997)

Songwriter's Résumé

(Partial List)

A Newborn Feeling
A Wonderful Time Up There (AKA "Gospel Boogie")
All About Jesus
Beautiful Streets Of Gold
Big Boss
Checking Up On My Payments
Connect Me With My Lord
Everybody's Gonna Have A Terrible Time Down There
Filled With Glory Divine
Hard Labor
Heaven Is Where You Belong
He'll Take Me Through
He's A Personal Savior
He's Such A Comfort To Me
I Thank My Savior For It All
I Want To Know More About My Lord
I Want To Thank You, Lord
If God Didn't Care
I'll Live A Million Years
I'm Building A Bridge
I'm Gonna Roll Along
I'm Ready Now To Go
It's All Over Now
Listen To The Bells
Listen To The Radio
Lord I'm Ready Now To Go
Mansions Can't Be Bought
Miracles Will Happen On That Day
Mom And Dad
Movin Up To Gloryland
Music Is The Language Of The World
My God Goes With Me
My Home
My Labors Will Be O'er
Newborn Feeling
On That Judgement Day
Take A Moment And Live
Television
The Greatest Of All
The Master Locksmith
Way Up In Glory Land
Won't It Be Glory There
You Can't Believe Everything You Hear
You Can't Put A Price On Your Soul

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