William James Gaither (born March 28, 1936) is an American singer and songwriter of Southern gospel and contemporary Christian music.

[4] Gaither was influenced by Southern gospel singers such as Jake Hess and Hovie Lister and by groups such as the Speers, the Statesmen, and the Happy Goodmans.

Gaither and his wife, Gloria, have written many songs including: "The Longer I Serve Him," "Because He Lives," "The King Is Coming," "Sinner Saved By Grace", "Something Beautiful," "He Touched Me", "It Is Finished," "Jesus, There's Something About That Name" "I'm Gonna Sing", and "Let's Just Praise The Lord."

[5] A video of a man surreptitiously recorded playing "Jesus, There's Something About That Name" on a piano in his destroyed house was shared by many people following the Tornado outbreak of December 10–11, 2021.

[9] In the 1980s, Gaither was involved with Paragon Associates, which formed a partnership with Zondervan to buy Benson Records, which is now part of Sony BMG Music Entertainment.

He has maintained the Gaither Vocal Band with a variety of singers through the years, including Gary McSpadden, Steve Green, Lee Young, Jon Mohr, Larnelle Harris, Michael English, Lemuel Miller, Jim Murray, Mark Lowry, Terry Franklin, Buddy Mullins, Jonathan Pierce, Guy Penrod, David Phelps, Russ Taff, Marshall Hall, Wes Hampton, Adam Crabb, Todd Suttles and Reggie Smith.

Gaither's Homecoming tours, which started in 1991, brought together major stars of the southern gospel and CCM industry, sparking a revival of the genres.

The tours have sold more than 1.1 million tickets across the world, and have included such notable venues as the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall.