Danniebelle Hall: God Uses Ordinary People

Celebrating the release of this forerunning singer/songwriter's life story...and sharing my interview with her daughter, Cynthia Philpot.

One of my earliest memories is going to see Andraé Crouch & The Disciples (with Shirley Caesar and Ben Moore opening) at the Bayfront Center in March of 1978. I’m told that in my earliest months of life, the group’s Live at Carnegie Hall was the only 8-track I would go to sleep to. I loved the group, but I was most drawn to one member in particular.

My favorite member was Danniebelle Hall, who led some of their most memorable and enduring hits like “Tell Them,” “Soon and Very Soon,” and “Take Me Back.” She was already a Grammy-nominated solo artist in her own right, having, by that time, released four solo albums. She was riding high on the crest of 1977’s “Ordinary People,” a song that would become her signature—the first written by a Black woman to be nominated in the Song of the Year category at the Gospel Music Association’s Dove Awards.

Her flight was late that night and I remember her coming on stage mid-set to a whoosh of applause. Her smile was magnetic, her spirit even more so. Later that year, her own Live In Sweden with Choralerna came out. The album’s lead single, her rollicking version of Dottie Rambo’s “I Go To The Rock,” became a massive hit, resulting in her second Grammy nomination. (Her arrangement would also be the one that Whitney Houston would utilize on the soundtrack for The Preacher’s Wife twenty years later.)

Her output after that album was sporadic for reasons that were unknown to the public at the time. She didn’t record another solo album again until 1983—when she returned with the Grammy-nominated Unmistakably Danniebelle, a stunning effort that included arrangement contributions from Daryl Coley and Howard McCrary and produced hits like “Love Made Me Do It” and “I’m Not Here To Stay.” It was almost a decade before she would record again.

Her last two albums—1992’s Designer’s Original and 1995’s The Best Gets Better—reflected a consistent Danniebelle Hall. She remained introspective, full of faith, and, musically, far from bored. Cashbox heralded the album a “masterpiece,” praising her ability to bring “her patented blend of urban, inspirational and jazz to the 90s.”

As fate would have it, I met Danniebelle’s daughter, Cynthia, just after her mother’s death in December 2000. She was determined to see her mother’s work live on. Together, we co-produced a double disc set of her mother’s work on Sparrow Records and she mentioned that Danniebelle had left behind a manuscript and audio recordings telling her story. Cynthia was determined to finish it.

And she did!

Utilizing the manuscript and audio recordings along with her own interviews with family members, and Danniebelle’s friends and collaborators, Cynthia has created what she’s calling an autobiography/biography. It tells the story of this forerunning gospel artist who defied categorization, gendered, cultural and racial boundaries, and persisted in making music that reflected her life and faith on her terms.

God Uses Ordinary People: The Autobiography/Biography of Danniebelle Hall is now available for purchase and is currently the #1 new release in the Christian music category on Amazon.com! Click here to purchase!

I am honored to have contributed the cover copy/book description and to have been a small part of this labor of love and vital contribution to the scholarship of gospel music. Cynthia, thank you for your diligence to your mother’s life and for ensuring that her story was told!

Back in the mid-2000s, I hosted Out the Box with Tim Dillinger, a weekly radio show, and Cynthia was a guest on the show’s first season. We talked in depth about her memories of her mother and I am sharing that interview in its entirety here (which includes Danniebelle’s music) for the first time since it aired. I hope you enjoy every second!

If you want to contribute to the work that is happening here, I encourage you to either become a paid subscriber or contribute to the GoFundMe that I’ve set up for the New York Community Choir book! You can also contribute via CashApp. I am grateful for your support!