He was sometimes billed as "The Thunderbolt of the Middle West", and has been described as "arguably the greatest male soloist in the history of gospel music.... [with] a voice of unimaginable range and power, moving from a whisper to a scream without the slightest suggestion of effort".
He worked as a laborer in Macon, before moving in 1941 with his wife Viola and their children to East St. Louis, Illinois, where he was employed in a chemical plant.
He began singing at Thomas A. Dorsey's National Conventions of Gospel Choirs and Choruses, directed by Smith, and after a performance in Los Angeles in 1949 was signed by talent scout J. W. Alexander to Specialty Records.
[2] As one of the Specialty label's most successful artists, the company tried to persuade him to record more secular material, but May refused, although he acknowledged blues singer Bessie Smith as a major influence.
[1] He continued to perform widely in the Southern states despite health problems, and recorded a series of gospel albums for the Nashboro label through the 1960s and early 1970s.