Detroit is a city of churches (more than 1,500) and over the years these institutions have been the launching pad for numerous performers. Developing their craft in choir booths, artists like the Winans, Anita Baker and Aretha Franklin have gone on to make a profound impact on gospel and other genres of music around the world.

Thomas Dorsey, a noted blues musician who merged sounds to create traditional gospel music in the 1930s, chose Detroit as one of the first places to establish gospel choruses and sent trainers to the area to teach this new repertoire. Detroit's ascendance as a center of gospel music also was impacted by a century of dynamic preachers such as the Reverends James. L. Lofton and C.L. Franklin, who preached and sang gospel themselves. Independent recording companies and radio programs also boosted the popularity of gospel music, along with Detroit's abundance of talented singers, composers and musicians.

Today, gospel in Detroit is as popular as ever. Beyond the local churches, gospel can be heard at major theaters, festivals and other performance spaces throughout the metropolitan area.

Artist Sample
Vanessa Bell Armstrong
Mattie Moss
Clark Sisters
Rev. James Cleveland
Rev. Charles Ashley Craig II
Fred Hammond
Rev. Charles Nicks Jr.
Elma Lois
Hendrix Parham
Herbert Pickard
Rance Allen Group
Della Reese /The Meditation Singers
Esther Smith
Min. Donald Vails
Min. Thomas Whitfield
The Winans