Clara Ward

Clara Mae Ward, born April 21, 1924, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was an American gospel singer, arranger, and Broadway performer who rose to prominence as the leader of the Famous Ward Singers during the 1940s and 1950s. She died on January 16, 1973.

Ward's mother, Gertrude Mae Ward, founded the group in 1931 as a family ensemble, initially known as the Consecrated Gospel Singers or the Ward Trio, comprising Gertrude, Clara, and elder daughter Willarene Mae Ward. Clara recorded her first solo song in 1940 while continuing to perform with the family group. The Ward Singers began touring nationally in 1943 following a notable appearance at the National Baptist Convention in Philadelphia that year. Henrietta Waddy joined the group in 1947, and the addition of Marion Williams shortly thereafter brought a singer of exceptional range to the ensemble, capable of reaching the highest soprano registers while also producing low, growling tones in the manner of a country preacher. Williams' presence contributed significantly to the group's national popularity when they began recording in 1948.

As musical director, Ward adopted the lead-switching style previously associated with male gospel quartets, allowing each member opportunities for improvisation and vamping while giving featured singers such as Williams the chance to take lead vocals. This approach produced recordings including "Surely, God Is Able," "How I Got Over," and "Packin' Up." The album Surely God Is Able by the Famous Ward Singers became the first gospel group album to surpass 500,000 units in sales, and "Surely, God Is Able" ranked among the first gospel recordings to sell one million copies.

The group's recording history moved through several labels. In 1949, the Ward Singers traveled from Philadelphia to California, appeared on national television, and recorded for the Miltone Record Company of Los Angeles. Those recordings were subsequently acquired by Gotham Record Company, which had relocated to Philadelphia. Gotham's Irv Ballen recorded additional Ward material, including "Surely God Is Able," and some of those recordings were transferred to Savoy Record Company in Newark, New Jersey to resolve a contract dispute. Savoy later contracted the Ward Singers for new recordings in the 1950s, primarily engineered by Rudy Van Gelder in Bergen County, New Jersey.

In 1950, Ward and the Ward Singers made their first Carnegie Hall appearance on a gospel program titled Negro Music Festival, produced by Joe Bostic, sharing the stage with Mahalia Jackson. They returned to the venue for Bostic's program in 1952. Gertrude Ward expanded the family's gospel enterprise during this period, establishing a booking agency, organizing tours under the name the Ward Gospel Cavalcade, founding a gospel music publishing house, and creating a second performing group called the Clara Ward Specials. Despite Ward's willingness to share the spotlight musically, she and her mother were reported to have kept the majority of the group's financial earnings, with other members including Williams and Frances Steadman receiving substantially lower pay and being charged rent for housing provided by the Wards. Williams departed in 1958 after her request for a raise and reimbursement for hotel expenses was refused. The remaining members — Henrietta Waddy, Esther Ford, Frances Steadman, and Kitty Parham — soon followed, forming a new group called the Stars of Faith.

The Ward Singers' move into secular venues including Las Vegas and nightclubs during the 1960s alienated a significant portion of their churchgoing audience. Ward nonetheless continued to build a varied career during this period. She became the first gospel singer to perform with a 100-piece symphony orchestra, and the Clara Ward Singers performed live in Philadelphia with the city's Symphony and the Golden Voices Ensemble. The group also recorded an album on the Verve label, The Heart, the Faith, the Soul of Clara Ward. Ward sang backup vocals, alongside her sister Willa's background group, on Dee Dee Sharp's 1962 hit "Mashed Potato Time," which reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100.

In 1963, Ward appeared on Broadway in Tambourines to Glory, Langston Hughes' play, serving as both performer and musical director for the production. She was the second gospel singer to perform gospel music on Broadway in that show, following her former group members the Stars of Faith, who had appeared in Hughes' earlier Broadway production The Black Nativity. Ward's Broadway credits also include The Jack Benny Show.

In 1968, Ward co-starred in the MGM film A Time to Sing alongside Hank Williams Jr., Shelley Fabares, and Ed Begley, playing a Nashville cafeteria waitress who encourages a young singer to pursue a career in country music. The film also featured several scenes of the Clara Ward Singers performing gospel songs. That same year, the Clara Ward Singers toured Vietnam at the request of the U.S. State Department and the USO, with their performances broadcast on U.S. Armed Forces Radio. The group narrowly escaped a hotel bombing in Vietnam that killed several other guests, and all members received special certificates of recognition from the U.S. Army. Ward returned to Vietnam in 1969 for additional USO performances.

Ward recorded prolifically across multiple labels in her later years. Her 1969 Capitol Records album Soul and Inspiration drew on songs from Broadway productions, Hollywood films, and pop repertoire. That same year she recorded Walk a Mile in My Shoes for the Philips label in Copenhagen, Denmark, which included pop material alongside gospel songs. Her MGM/Verve album Hang Your Tears Out to Dry incorporated country and western, blues, folk, pop, and an arrangement of the Beatles' "Help." Her 1972 United Artists album Uplifting, produced by Nikolas Venet and Sam Alexander, included an interpretation of Bill Withers' "Lean On Me" and a rearrangement of the Soul Stirrers' recording of "Thank You, Jesus." Also in 1972, while under exclusive contract to United Artists, Ward contributed vocals to the Canned Heat album The New Age, performing on the ballad "Lookin' For My Rainbow," which was also released as a single.