The Davis Sisters
Raised in the Fire-Baptized Holiness Church in Philadelphia, the Davis Sisters were one of the first female groups to sing "hard gospel" of the sort being pioneered by the Dixie Hummingbirds and other male quartets of the day.
During this time her musical and creative instincts came to the forefront of her personality and the nurturing of her artistic side conflicted with the strict military discipline required of WAC's.
While she wanted to do her part to rid the world of the Axis evil and minimize Holocaust casualties, she was discharged by the military to Philadelphia in 1945 before the untimely demise of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Germany's capitulation.
This experience initially startled her as she thought she was dreaming or in a daze like someone intoxicated, but then the Holy Spirit fell on her and made her realize that this was the answer to her prayer—to have a new purpose in life: to spread the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ in song.
In 1945, immediately after the rain incident, Ruth rushed home and formed all her sisters into a religious singing group with her playing the piano.
Disclose the glory of her instrument, a huge, wide ranging metallic Contralto of great beauty and extraordinary power and force in squalling.
The Davis Sisters' attire was usually plain choir robes and in the early days they were only accompanied by piano played by Curtis Dublin.
The Famous Davis Sisters were involved in the movement of the Capella quartet sound into female group singing with instrumental accompaniment.
The loss of Curtis Dublin was a crushing blow to the group but they were spiritually resilient and continued their mission to spread the gospel of Christ in song.
The Davis Sisters started out during World War II and kept their group together with its original sound and recorded for four decades while maintaining the highest level of popularity on the gospel circuit.
In the 1970s, after Ruth, who was affectionately called Baby Sis, had passed, their agent booked the group into Washington Temple COGIC in Brooklyn, New York for a concert.
Then a miraculous intervention occurred: not only were they not ticketed, but the State Troopers escorted their car into New York City to the concert location in Brooklyn!
Another notable recording on Gotham was "Get Away Jordan" in which Curtis Dublin sings lead vocal and plays piano.
The Davis Sisters' perpetual hit and theme song: "Twelve Gates To The City", the title of their first album issued on Savoy as MG-14000, still sells today.
Herman Lubinsky, their record producer at Savoy, caught wind of this breach and smelled an opportunity to take advantage of this family spat.
The album was issued as "The Davis Sisters Sing Authentic Southern Style Gospel - Recorded In Live Performance", RCA Victor LSP-2851, and had a color photograph on the cover of the Famous Davis Sisters in their choir robes singing around a microphone, reminiscent of the format of Savoy MG-14000, their first album which was issued almost ten years previously with much less professional photography and graphics.
"An Afternoon With the Famous Davis Sisters of Philadelphia", live broadcast, WNAP - Gospel Highway Eleven, 2311 Old Arch Road, Norristown, PA 19401; Precious Memories Program.
