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The King's Heralds (1927 - Present)
A.K.A. The Lone Star Four
History
The King’s Heralds are the oldest continuous quartet in the United States. They started in 1927 when brothers Lewis, Waldo and Wesley Crain and Ray Turner, students from Southwestern Junior College in Keene, Texas, formed a singing group. They called themselves the Lone Star Four. Soon they started singing with a radio evangelist R. L. Benton at radio station KFPL in Waco, Texas.
In 1936, they began working with a radio evangelist H.M.S. Richards in California and changed the name of their group to The King’s Heralds. They remained a part of his national broadcast ministry, Voice Of Prophecy, for approximately forty-five years. For around thirty years they have continued their own singing ministry, first, as The Heralds, and since 2003, again as the The King’s Heralds.
They have been blessed with a much lower level of personnel turnover than most Southern Gospel quartets. The original quartet stayed together for around twelve years. A more recent lineup of Don Scroggs at first tenor; Jerry Patton at second tenor; Jack Veazey, baritone; and Jim Ayars at bass stayed together for over fourteen years, with each of these gentlemen recording at least twenty-eight years of service with the quartet.
The group has made over one hundred recordings through the years with some performed in non-English languages. The King's Heralds made performing overseas an integral part of their ministry. They are known for singing a cappella as well as traditional quartet music with instrumental accompaniment.
Their recordings have appeared on related labels including Chapel, Voice Of Prophecy, Hosanna House, and Acclaim. They appeared on several albums during the 1950s with other Chapel Records artists, and contralto Del Deckler was featured on a number of the King's Herald recordings during the same period.
Today’s group consists of Don Scroggs, tenor; Joel Borg, lead; Russell Hospedales, baritone; and Jeff Pearles, bass. They are headquartered in Portland, Tennessee. This lineup has been together since 2005.
(Larry Baker contributed to this article.)