Jacqueline Smith Verdell was born November 5th, 1937 to the late Clarence and Pansy Smith in Camden, NJ. "Jac" as she was affectionately called. Due to the early death of her mother, she was raised by the late Mary and Reverend Barto Sharp. It was here that she would be introduced to holiness, An introduction that would change the course of her entire life.
At the age of 11 years she decided to give her life to Jesus. If you come by Faith Holy Temple years ago, you could see this pretty young girl singing on the choir or encouraging the Saints of God through the word of God. She love to talk about the Scriptures and she knew what she believed because she was taught in the Church of God in Christ under the late elder R. T. Morris and District Elder George "Pop" Miller. In 1953 she married Gene Verdell, and to this union no children were born.
Anyone who knew Jackie Verdell knows that she was warm, witty, classy, and sassy. With her quick wit and spontaneous humor, she could make an uncomfortable situation fit like an e-z chair. "Jac" was class personified. That was "Jackie".
In 1950, Jackie was a member of a singing group called the Echoes of Heaven. They were comprised of four very talented young people, all members of Faith Holy Temple Church of God in Christ.
At the age of 15 her talent was discovered by the famous Davis Sisters of Philadelphia. She became a member and traveled extensively throughout the United States and abroad . One of the most memorable performances was at the world reknown Apollo theater in New York City.
After several years of appearing with the Davis sisters, she relocated to Chicago, il and work very closely with the Reverend Jesse Jackson and Operation Push as the featured soloist. She made her Theatrical debut in Alex Bradford play "Black Nativity" and sang in the Broadway bound musical "Don't Cry Mary". Jackie appeared in the movie "Save the Children" and has recorded for many famous recording labels.
Anthony Heilbrit wrote of her exquisite talent and his book the gospel sound. She has made appearances on many programs along with Walter Hawkins and family, Edwin Hawkins, Dannibelle, Jessy Dixon and Andrae Crouch.
In 1979 she was nominated for a Grammy by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Science for her rendition of "Kum by ya". This was a high point in her career. When asked about this exciting event she replied "even if I don't win, it will be a thrill just to be there."
Due to failing health, she was unable to continue her career . Jackie fought until she couldn't fight anymore. In 1983 she made her last recording. It was entitled "Lay my burden down". That is exactly what she did on Saturday August 3rd 1991, Jackie Verdell laid her burden down.∼Jackie Verdell (1937–2002) was an American gospel singer, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
{Musical career}
After leaving high school, she joined the The Davis Sisters in 1955, at the start of their tenure with Herman Lubinsky and Ozzie Cadena's record label Savoy Records of Newark, New Jersey. How she came to sing with one of gospel's famous groups is a typical Golden Age gospel tale. Raised in the Church of God in Christ, she was a soloist in the choir of Faith Temple in New York, pastored by Bishop A.A. Childs (the church would later serve as the site of Malcolm X's last rites). Ruth Davis was attending a broadcast at which Jackie was singing and the rest is gospel history. Jackie Verdell possessed a powerful mezzo-soprano voice, and her performances on records such as "Lord Don't Leave Me", "Following Him", and "I Don't Know What I'd Do" made an impression on the young Aretha Franklin, amongst others. "I also considered Jackie Verdell of the Davis Sisters one of the best and most underrated female soul singers of all time" said Franklin in her 1999 autobiography Aretha: From These Roots. ""It was through Jackie that I learned the expression 'Girl, you peed tonight'--meaning you were dynamite. Several nights Jackie sang so hard she literally had a spot or two on her robe from peeing. Singing far too hard, I also peed here and there in the early days; I quickly realized no one should sing that hard." Verdell was second lead for The Davis Sisters between 1955 and 1960, featuring on many of their Savoy recordings.
Like Franklin, she left the gospel field in 1960 and began singing pop, her voice having deepened to a contralto and losing the upper register. She signed with Houston-based Peacock Records, releasing three singles between 1961 and 1964. None of them charted, but her own composition, "Why Not Give Me A Chance", produced by Dinah Washington's former producer Clyde Otis, seems to have attained a small level of popularity, being covered in later years by soul singers O.V. Wright on Peacock's subsidiary Back Beat Records in the late 1960s, and by Ruby Wilson on Malaco Records in the early 1980s. The Davis Sisters' recording session information in Gospel Records 1943 - 1969 suggests that Verdell was absent from the group during 1960 and 1961, returned in 1962 for further recordings on Savoy, was absent again in 1963, and then returned again in 1964 for more recordings on Savoy and RCA Records, apparently departing for good around 1966. Some television appearances with The Davis Sisters and Brother Joe May which were posted to YouTube in 2006 and 2007 appear to date from 1964.
After further unsuccessful pop singles on Decca Records (US) and its Coral Records subsidiary, the late 1960s and early 1970s found her contributing background vocals (along with Cissy Houston, Judy Clay, and other members of The Drinkard Singers or The Sweet Inspirations) to records by Wilson Pickett ("Cole, Cooke & Redding"), Dee Dee Warwick (Turning Around), Van Morrison (Moondance), Clarence Wheeler & The Enforcers, Horace Silver, and Martha Veléz, as well as a further solo single for Stax Records' Gospel Truth and Respect labels under the name of Jacqui Verdell. Her only solo album, Lay My Burden Down, produced by former soul singer Joe Simon, and including Houston & Warwick on background vocals, was released on Spring Records in 1983, and on CD by Ace Records (UK) in 1993. Viv Broughton's 1985 book Black Gospel: An Illustrated History Of The Gospel Sound stated, "Whereas Aretha Franklin lives in fabulous, if troubled, luxury - Jackie Verdell, who made the same move at the same time made nothing at all and is now back singing gospel to a faintly suspicious audience" (paperback edition, page 107). She once complained to gospel maven Anthony Heilbut: "I'd like to be an evangelist, but these crooked promoters won't pay my money". In 1988, she sang in the choir on the Carman album Live: Radically Saved. She died in 2002 without receiving the acclaim or financial remuneration she felt was due in either the pop or gospel fields.
At the age of 11 years she decided to give her life to Jesus. If you come by Faith Holy Temple years ago, you could see this pretty young girl singing on the choir or encouraging the Saints of God through the word of God. She love to talk about the Scriptures and she knew what she believed because she was taught in the Church of God in Christ under the late elder R. T. Morris and District Elder George "Pop" Miller. In 1953 she married Gene Verdell, and to this union no children were born.
Anyone who knew Jackie Verdell knows that she was warm, witty, classy, and sassy. With her quick wit and spontaneous humor, she could make an uncomfortable situation fit like an e-z chair. "Jac" was class personified. That was "Jackie".
In 1950, Jackie was a member of a singing group called the Echoes of Heaven. They were comprised of four very talented young people, all members of Faith Holy Temple Church of God in Christ.
At the age of 15 her talent was discovered by the famous Davis Sisters of Philadelphia. She became a member and traveled extensively throughout the United States and abroad . One of the most memorable performances was at the world reknown Apollo theater in New York City.
After several years of appearing with the Davis sisters, she relocated to Chicago, il and work very closely with the Reverend Jesse Jackson and Operation Push as the featured soloist. She made her Theatrical debut in Alex Bradford play "Black Nativity" and sang in the Broadway bound musical "Don't Cry Mary". Jackie appeared in the movie "Save the Children" and has recorded for many famous recording labels.
Anthony Heilbrit wrote of her exquisite talent and his book the gospel sound. She has made appearances on many programs along with Walter Hawkins and family, Edwin Hawkins, Dannibelle, Jessy Dixon and Andrae Crouch.
In 1979 she was nominated for a Grammy by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Science for her rendition of "Kum by ya". This was a high point in her career. When asked about this exciting event she replied "even if I don't win, it will be a thrill just to be there."
Due to failing health, she was unable to continue her career . Jackie fought until she couldn't fight anymore. In 1983 she made her last recording. It was entitled "Lay my burden down". That is exactly what she did on Saturday August 3rd 1991, Jackie Verdell laid her burden down.∼Jackie Verdell (1937–2002) was an American gospel singer, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
{Musical career}
After leaving high school, she joined the The Davis Sisters in 1955, at the start of their tenure with Herman Lubinsky and Ozzie Cadena's record label Savoy Records of Newark, New Jersey. How she came to sing with one of gospel's famous groups is a typical Golden Age gospel tale. Raised in the Church of God in Christ, she was a soloist in the choir of Faith Temple in New York, pastored by Bishop A.A. Childs (the church would later serve as the site of Malcolm X's last rites). Ruth Davis was attending a broadcast at which Jackie was singing and the rest is gospel history. Jackie Verdell possessed a powerful mezzo-soprano voice, and her performances on records such as "Lord Don't Leave Me", "Following Him", and "I Don't Know What I'd Do" made an impression on the young Aretha Franklin, amongst others. "I also considered Jackie Verdell of the Davis Sisters one of the best and most underrated female soul singers of all time" said Franklin in her 1999 autobiography Aretha: From These Roots. ""It was through Jackie that I learned the expression 'Girl, you peed tonight'--meaning you were dynamite. Several nights Jackie sang so hard she literally had a spot or two on her robe from peeing. Singing far too hard, I also peed here and there in the early days; I quickly realized no one should sing that hard." Verdell was second lead for The Davis Sisters between 1955 and 1960, featuring on many of their Savoy recordings.
Like Franklin, she left the gospel field in 1960 and began singing pop, her voice having deepened to a contralto and losing the upper register. She signed with Houston-based Peacock Records, releasing three singles between 1961 and 1964. None of them charted, but her own composition, "Why Not Give Me A Chance", produced by Dinah Washington's former producer Clyde Otis, seems to have attained a small level of popularity, being covered in later years by soul singers O.V. Wright on Peacock's subsidiary Back Beat Records in the late 1960s, and by Ruby Wilson on Malaco Records in the early 1980s. The Davis Sisters' recording session information in Gospel Records 1943 - 1969 suggests that Verdell was absent from the group during 1960 and 1961, returned in 1962 for further recordings on Savoy, was absent again in 1963, and then returned again in 1964 for more recordings on Savoy and RCA Records, apparently departing for good around 1966. Some television appearances with The Davis Sisters and Brother Joe May which were posted to YouTube in 2006 and 2007 appear to date from 1964.
After further unsuccessful pop singles on Decca Records (US) and its Coral Records subsidiary, the late 1960s and early 1970s found her contributing background vocals (along with Cissy Houston, Judy Clay, and other members of The Drinkard Singers or The Sweet Inspirations) to records by Wilson Pickett ("Cole, Cooke & Redding"), Dee Dee Warwick (Turning Around), Van Morrison (Moondance), Clarence Wheeler & The Enforcers, Horace Silver, and Martha Veléz, as well as a further solo single for Stax Records' Gospel Truth and Respect labels under the name of Jacqui Verdell. Her only solo album, Lay My Burden Down, produced by former soul singer Joe Simon, and including Houston & Warwick on background vocals, was released on Spring Records in 1983, and on CD by Ace Records (UK) in 1993. Viv Broughton's 1985 book Black Gospel: An Illustrated History Of The Gospel Sound stated, "Whereas Aretha Franklin lives in fabulous, if troubled, luxury - Jackie Verdell, who made the same move at the same time made nothing at all and is now back singing gospel to a faintly suspicious audience" (paperback edition, page 107). She once complained to gospel maven Anthony Heilbut: "I'd like to be an evangelist, but these crooked promoters won't pay my money". In 1988, she sang in the choir on the Carman album Live: Radically Saved. She died in 2002 without receiving the acclaim or financial remuneration she felt was due in either the pop or gospel fields.
Jacqueline Smith Verdell was born November 5th, 1937 to the late Clarence and Pansy Smith in Camden, NJ. "Jac" as she was affectionately called. Due to the early death of her mother, she was raised by the late Mary and Reverend Barto Sharp. It was here that she would be introduced to holiness, An introduction that would change the course of her entire life.
At the age of 11 years she decided to give her life to Jesus. If you come by Faith Holy Temple years ago, you could see this pretty young girl singing on the choir or encouraging the Saints of God through the word of God. She love to talk about the Scriptures and she knew what she believed because she was taught in the Church of God in Christ under the late elder R. T. Morris and District Elder George "Pop" Miller. In 1953 she married Gene Verdell, and to this union no children were born.
Anyone who knew Jackie Verdell knows that she was warm, witty, classy, and sassy. With her quick wit and spontaneous humor, she could make an uncomfortable situation fit like an e-z chair. "Jac" was class personified. That was "Jackie".
In 1950, Jackie was a member of a singing group called the Echoes of Heaven. They were comprised of four very talented young people, all members of Faith Holy Temple Church of God in Christ.
At the age of 15 her talent was discovered by the famous Davis Sisters of Philadelphia. She became a member and traveled extensively throughout the United States and abroad . One of the most memorable performances was at the world reknown Apollo theater in New York City.
After several years of appearing with the Davis sisters, she relocated to Chicago, il and work very closely with the Reverend Jesse Jackson and Operation Push as the featured soloist. She made her Theatrical debut in Alex Bradford play "Black Nativity" and sang in the Broadway bound musical "Don't Cry Mary". Jackie appeared in the movie "Save the Children" and has recorded for many famous recording labels.
Anthony Heilbrit wrote of her exquisite talent and his book the gospel sound. She has made appearances on many programs along with Walter Hawkins and family, Edwin Hawkins, Dannibelle, Jessy Dixon and Andrae Crouch.
In 1979 she was nominated for a Grammy by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Science for her rendition of "Kum by ya". This was a high point in her career. When asked about this exciting event she replied "even if I don't win, it will be a thrill just to be there."
Due to failing health, she was unable to continue her career . Jackie fought until she couldn't fight anymore. In 1983 she made her last recording. It was entitled "Lay my burden down". That is exactly what she did on Saturday August 3rd 1991, Jackie Verdell laid her burden down.∼Jackie Verdell (1937–2002) was an American gospel singer, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
{Musical career}
After leaving high school, she joined the The Davis Sisters in 1955, at the start of their tenure with Herman Lubinsky and Ozzie Cadena's record label Savoy Records of Newark, New Jersey. How she came to sing with one of gospel's famous groups is a typical Golden Age gospel tale. Raised in the Church of God in Christ, she was a soloist in the choir of Faith Temple in New York, pastored by Bishop A.A. Childs (the church would later serve as the site of Malcolm X's last rites). Ruth Davis was attending a broadcast at which Jackie was singing and the rest is gospel history. Jackie Verdell possessed a powerful mezzo-soprano voice, and her performances on records such as "Lord Don't Leave Me", "Following Him", and "I Don't Know What I'd Do" made an impression on the young Aretha Franklin, amongst others. "I also considered Jackie Verdell of the Davis Sisters one of the best and most underrated female soul singers of all time" said Franklin in her 1999 autobiography Aretha: From These Roots. ""It was through Jackie that I learned the expression 'Girl, you peed tonight'--meaning you were dynamite. Several nights Jackie sang so hard she literally had a spot or two on her robe from peeing. Singing far too hard, I also peed here and there in the early days; I quickly realized no one should sing that hard." Verdell was second lead for The Davis Sisters between 1955 and 1960, featuring on many of their Savoy recordings.
Like Franklin, she left the gospel field in 1960 and began singing pop, her voice having deepened to a contralto and losing the upper register. She signed with Houston-based Peacock Records, releasing three singles between 1961 and 1964. None of them charted, but her own composition, "Why Not Give Me A Chance", produced by Dinah Washington's former producer Clyde Otis, seems to have attained a small level of popularity, being covered in later years by soul singers O.V. Wright on Peacock's subsidiary Back Beat Records in the late 1960s, and by Ruby Wilson on Malaco Records in the early 1980s. The Davis Sisters' recording session information in Gospel Records 1943 - 1969 suggests that Verdell was absent from the group during 1960 and 1961, returned in 1962 for further recordings on Savoy, was absent again in 1963, and then returned again in 1964 for more recordings on Savoy and RCA Records, apparently departing for good around 1966. Some television appearances with The Davis Sisters and Brother Joe May which were posted to YouTube in 2006 and 2007 appear to date from 1964.
After further unsuccessful pop singles on Decca Records (US) and its Coral Records subsidiary, the late 1960s and early 1970s found her contributing background vocals (along with Cissy Houston, Judy Clay, and other members of The Drinkard Singers or The Sweet Inspirations) to records by Wilson Pickett ("Cole, Cooke & Redding"), Dee Dee Warwick (Turning Around), Van Morrison (Moondance), Clarence Wheeler & The Enforcers, Horace Silver, and Martha Veléz, as well as a further solo single for Stax Records' Gospel Truth and Respect labels under the name of Jacqui Verdell. Her only solo album, Lay My Burden Down, produced by former soul singer Joe Simon, and including Houston & Warwick on background vocals, was released on Spring Records in 1983, and on CD by Ace Records (UK) in 1993. Viv Broughton's 1985 book Black Gospel: An Illustrated History Of The Gospel Sound stated, "Whereas Aretha Franklin lives in fabulous, if troubled, luxury - Jackie Verdell, who made the same move at the same time made nothing at all and is now back singing gospel to a faintly suspicious audience" (paperback edition, page 107). She once complained to gospel maven Anthony Heilbut: "I'd like to be an evangelist, but these crooked promoters won't pay my money". In 1988, she sang in the choir on the Carman album Live: Radically Saved. She died in 2002 without receiving the acclaim or financial remuneration she felt was due in either the pop or gospel fields.
At the age of 11 years she decided to give her life to Jesus. If you come by Faith Holy Temple years ago, you could see this pretty young girl singing on the choir or encouraging the Saints of God through the word of God. She love to talk about the Scriptures and she knew what she believed because she was taught in the Church of God in Christ under the late elder R. T. Morris and District Elder George "Pop" Miller. In 1953 she married Gene Verdell, and to this union no children were born.
Anyone who knew Jackie Verdell knows that she was warm, witty, classy, and sassy. With her quick wit and spontaneous humor, she could make an uncomfortable situation fit like an e-z chair. "Jac" was class personified. That was "Jackie".
In 1950, Jackie was a member of a singing group called the Echoes of Heaven. They were comprised of four very talented young people, all members of Faith Holy Temple Church of God in Christ.
At the age of 15 her talent was discovered by the famous Davis Sisters of Philadelphia. She became a member and traveled extensively throughout the United States and abroad . One of the most memorable performances was at the world reknown Apollo theater in New York City.
After several years of appearing with the Davis sisters, she relocated to Chicago, il and work very closely with the Reverend Jesse Jackson and Operation Push as the featured soloist. She made her Theatrical debut in Alex Bradford play "Black Nativity" and sang in the Broadway bound musical "Don't Cry Mary". Jackie appeared in the movie "Save the Children" and has recorded for many famous recording labels.
Anthony Heilbrit wrote of her exquisite talent and his book the gospel sound. She has made appearances on many programs along with Walter Hawkins and family, Edwin Hawkins, Dannibelle, Jessy Dixon and Andrae Crouch.
In 1979 she was nominated for a Grammy by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Science for her rendition of "Kum by ya". This was a high point in her career. When asked about this exciting event she replied "even if I don't win, it will be a thrill just to be there."
Due to failing health, she was unable to continue her career . Jackie fought until she couldn't fight anymore. In 1983 she made her last recording. It was entitled "Lay my burden down". That is exactly what she did on Saturday August 3rd 1991, Jackie Verdell laid her burden down.∼Jackie Verdell (1937–2002) was an American gospel singer, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
{Musical career}
After leaving high school, she joined the The Davis Sisters in 1955, at the start of their tenure with Herman Lubinsky and Ozzie Cadena's record label Savoy Records of Newark, New Jersey. How she came to sing with one of gospel's famous groups is a typical Golden Age gospel tale. Raised in the Church of God in Christ, she was a soloist in the choir of Faith Temple in New York, pastored by Bishop A.A. Childs (the church would later serve as the site of Malcolm X's last rites). Ruth Davis was attending a broadcast at which Jackie was singing and the rest is gospel history. Jackie Verdell possessed a powerful mezzo-soprano voice, and her performances on records such as "Lord Don't Leave Me", "Following Him", and "I Don't Know What I'd Do" made an impression on the young Aretha Franklin, amongst others. "I also considered Jackie Verdell of the Davis Sisters one of the best and most underrated female soul singers of all time" said Franklin in her 1999 autobiography Aretha: From These Roots. ""It was through Jackie that I learned the expression 'Girl, you peed tonight'--meaning you were dynamite. Several nights Jackie sang so hard she literally had a spot or two on her robe from peeing. Singing far too hard, I also peed here and there in the early days; I quickly realized no one should sing that hard." Verdell was second lead for The Davis Sisters between 1955 and 1960, featuring on many of their Savoy recordings.
Like Franklin, she left the gospel field in 1960 and began singing pop, her voice having deepened to a contralto and losing the upper register. She signed with Houston-based Peacock Records, releasing three singles between 1961 and 1964. None of them charted, but her own composition, "Why Not Give Me A Chance", produced by Dinah Washington's former producer Clyde Otis, seems to have attained a small level of popularity, being covered in later years by soul singers O.V. Wright on Peacock's subsidiary Back Beat Records in the late 1960s, and by Ruby Wilson on Malaco Records in the early 1980s. The Davis Sisters' recording session information in Gospel Records 1943 - 1969 suggests that Verdell was absent from the group during 1960 and 1961, returned in 1962 for further recordings on Savoy, was absent again in 1963, and then returned again in 1964 for more recordings on Savoy and RCA Records, apparently departing for good around 1966. Some television appearances with The Davis Sisters and Brother Joe May which were posted to YouTube in 2006 and 2007 appear to date from 1964.
After further unsuccessful pop singles on Decca Records (US) and its Coral Records subsidiary, the late 1960s and early 1970s found her contributing background vocals (along with Cissy Houston, Judy Clay, and other members of The Drinkard Singers or The Sweet Inspirations) to records by Wilson Pickett ("Cole, Cooke & Redding"), Dee Dee Warwick (Turning Around), Van Morrison (Moondance), Clarence Wheeler & The Enforcers, Horace Silver, and Martha Veléz, as well as a further solo single for Stax Records' Gospel Truth and Respect labels under the name of Jacqui Verdell. Her only solo album, Lay My Burden Down, produced by former soul singer Joe Simon, and including Houston & Warwick on background vocals, was released on Spring Records in 1983, and on CD by Ace Records (UK) in 1993. Viv Broughton's 1985 book Black Gospel: An Illustrated History Of The Gospel Sound stated, "Whereas Aretha Franklin lives in fabulous, if troubled, luxury - Jackie Verdell, who made the same move at the same time made nothing at all and is now back singing gospel to a faintly suspicious audience" (paperback edition, page 107). She once complained to gospel maven Anthony Heilbut: "I'd like to be an evangelist, but these crooked promoters won't pay my money". In 1988, she sang in the choir on the Carman album Live: Radically Saved. She died in 2002 without receiving the acclaim or financial remuneration she felt was due in either the pop or gospel fields.
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