Cassietta George (January 23, 1929 – January 3, 1995) was an American gospel vocalist, and composer for many of the songs sung by The Caravans. George was a member of Queen of Gospel Albertina Walker's The Caravans, the most popular touring gospel group from the late 1950s to the mid-1960s. She later launched a successful solo career, recording over 16 albums in Los Angeles for Audio Arts Inc. Along the way, George wrote over a hundred songs, and was twice nominated for a Grammy in 1969 & 1979, for Best Soul Gospel Performance.[1] In 2017, she was inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame.
Life and career
Cassietta Baker was born in 1929 in Memphis, Tennessee, the daughter of Reverend Peter Baker and Cassietta. When she was four, she began singing in her father's church. She graduated from McKinley High School in Canton, Ohio, where she lived for a number of years.
After she finished school, she returned to Memphis and sang for a while with the Songbirds of the South, one of the many female quartets in Memphis during the 1940s and early 1950s. She later sang with the Brewster Ensemble. In the 1953 she moved to Chicago, and, in 1954, became a member of The Caravans, recording with them for States and Savoy.
Her most popular song with the Caravans was a spirited arrangement of "Somebody Bigger than You and I". George began composing while with The Caravans and wrote more than twenty-five songs for them, including "To Whom Shall I Turn?" and "I Believe in Thee."[2]
George died in Los Angeles in 1995, aged 65.
Selective discography
| Year | Title | Genre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | Walk Around Heaven | Gospel | Audio Arts |
| 1969 | This Time | Gospel | Audio Arts |
| 1979 | Cassietta in Concert | Gospel | Audio Arts |
Footnotes
- ↑ Grammy Awards Database: Cassietta George, Theenvelope.latimes.com
- ↑ Boyer, Clarence. The Golden Age of Gospel, University of Illinois Press, pg. 225, (2000); ISBN 0-252-06877-7