Kenneth Morris (August 28, 1917 – February 1, 1989)[1] was an African American composer of gospel music and publisher who popularized several songs, including "Just a Closer Walk with Thee".
He studied at the Manhattan Conservatory of Music and founded a band which performed at the Chicago World's Fair in 1934.
In Chicago, he was introduced to several prominent members of the gospel community, including Charles Henry Pace and Lillian Bowles.
Morris met Sallie Martin (1896–1988), a Georgia native, in the choir at First Church of Deliverance in Chicago where she was the choir director and they co-founded Martin and Morris Music Company, the nation's oldest continuously running black gospel music publishing company, which operated from 1940 until 1989.
[2] In 1940, Morris arranged and published for the first time the well-known version of "Just a Closer Walk with Thee" after gospel musicians Robert Anderson and RL Knowles listened to William B. Hurse sing it in Kansas City and brought it to Morris' attention.