[1] The Drinkard surname, although gained through a Native American ancestor, has British origins with a meaning that alludes to the running of water.
He was descended from a family of African-American landowners in Blakely, Georgia, where three of his eldest children (William, Lee and Marie) were born.
The asset was gradually depleted as small portions of the land were sold, over time, to resolve the continued legal troubles of a close relative.
[3][4] The family moved to Newark, New Jersey during the Great Migration of the 1920s where their five younger children (Hansom, Anne, Nicholas Jr., Larry and Cissy) would be born.
Following their mother Delia Mae's stroke, Nitch coaxed his four younger children Anne, Nicky, Larry and Cissy to sing sacred hymns to keep the family's spirits high.
By the dawn of the 1950s, with jubilee singing going out of style and gospel music hitting its "golden age" with singers such as Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Mahalia Jackson and Clara Ward, the group soon grew to include Lee and Marie, this led to the group being renamed the Drinkard Singers, with Lee now serving as manager.
By 1952, Judy Guions, who had been adopted years earlier by Lee Drinkard-Warrick alongside a younger sister Sylvia, joined the group.
Member Judy Clay went on to a critically acclaimed career in soul music, mainly in duet recordings with the likes of Billy Vera and William Bell.
Clay's sister Sylvia Shemwell eventually joined Cissy's session group in 1963, four years before they acquired the name of the Sweet Inspirations.