Dorothy Love Coates

Dorothy Love Coates ( McGriff; January 30, 1928 – April 9, 2002) was an American gospel singer, composer and songwriter, and a civil rights activist.

Family Dorothy McGriff was born on January 30, 1928, in Birmingham, Alabama, as one of seven children. Her early years were hard (she later described them as "the same old thing"). Her father, Lillar McGriff, a minister, left the family when she was six, divorcing her mother thereafter. then known as the Gospel Harmoneers, in the early 1940s. She said of this time: "on weekdays I worked for the white man. On weekends I sang for the people."

On September 9, 1944, she married Willie Love of The Fairfield Four, one of the most popular quartets of the early years of gospel, but divorced him shortly thereafter. On September 24, 1959, she married Carl Coates, bassist and guitarist of the Sensational Nightingales. Coates was also a notable composer, writing songs such as "You Can't Hurry God (He's Right On Time)", "99 and a Half Won't Do", and "That's Enough". She worked at voter registration drives, She regarded jail as an honour, and as she was fond of telling church audiences, "The Lord has blessed our going out and our coming in. He's blessed our sitting in, too."

While many other gospel artists were slow to address political issues head-on, Coates spoke out against the Vietnam War, racism and other evils. She was just as plainspoken when criticizing the exploitative treatment that she and other gospel singers received from gospel promoters, both White and Black.

Return to music She re-formed the Harmonettes in 1961, and when that group disbanded later in the decade, she continued touring with a group known as the Dorothy Love Coates Singers, featuring her sister Lillian McGriff. In her song "The Hymn," released in 1964, she sang: "When the president was assassinated, the nation said, 'Where is God?' When the little children lost their lives in the church bombing, the nation cried, 'Where is God?' I got the answer for you today: God is still on the throne."

Coates recorded, both individually and with her group, on Savoy Records, Vee-Jay Records and Columbia Records in the 1960s and made occasional appearances, but no recordings, after 1980. She appeared in the films The Long Walk Home and Beloved, leading a chorus of formerly enslaved singers, at the end of her career.

Death Coates died in a hospital in her native Birmingham, Alabama on April 9, 2002, of heart disease, at the age of 74.

Legacy

While Coates vigorously rejected all offers to cross over to pop or soul music, a number of artists, including Little Richard, imitated her sanctified singing style. Other secular songwriters drew on her songs for inspiration, sometimes simply taking the title, as in the case of Wilson Pickett's wholly different soul tune "99 and a Half Won't Do", and sometimes adapting both lyrics and title, as in the case of the Supremes's hit "You Can't Hurry Love". The Jerry Garcia Band recorded her "I'll Be with Thee" on Cats Under the Stars, and performed "Strange Man" in concert. Singer Mavis Staples has stated that Dorothy Love Coates was an influence on her vocal style.