Whatever Happened to Lois Snead?
This former Clara Ward Singer, Davis Sister and Dorothy Norwood Singer opens up about her fifty+ year career in gospel music.
When I was a teenager in St. Petersburg, Florida I dreamed of being a gospel artist. Our musical community didn’t have many examples of soloists, groups or choirs that broke out of the city and established a local presence. We did, of course, have the Florida Mass Choir in Tampa, but, beyond that, the name that always came up in terms of someone who 'made it’ was Lois Snead. By the time I came along in the early 90s, Lois had been out of St. Petersburg for almost thirty years, but the gospel community there always hailed her as an example of someone who’d become a national figure and done St. Petersburg proud.
Very few artists can boast having been a part of so many of the seminal groups in gospel—but Lois was a Clara Ward Singer, a Davis Sister, part of Rosie Wallace’s ensemble and choir, and a Dorothy Norwood Singer, eventually established her own career as a soloist and actress.
I recently had the opportunity to talk with Lois about her intensive gospel history, life on the gospel highway and her body of work and I’m excited to finally share this interview with you! Her sister-friend Evangelist Minnie Porter, a musician & former radio announcer and promoter, joined us as well, as you’ll see in the last two clips.
The Beginning
Lois and I talked about her childhood experiences in the religious community of St. Petersburg, Florida, the legendary 16th Street Middle School gospel programs, and how she came to join the Clara Ward Singers in 1961.
Rosie Wallace & Love, Faith & Deliverance Choir
When she left The Clara Ward Singers, Lois met Rosie Wallace and would soon be introduced to the world on Wallace’s 1963 album, God Cares with “I’ll Be Alright.” In the segment below, Lois shares the comical story of how she and Evangelist Wallace connected.
Dorothy Norwood Singers
Shortly thereafter, Lois became an integral part of the Dorothy Norwood Singers, an affiliation that that would begin in 1967 and continue through Norwood’s recordings in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. In the segment below, we discuss her time with the Davis Sisters, her output with the Norwood Singers, memories of recording for Savoy Records, and their tour with the Rolling Stones (which included a young Dottie Peoples (aka Dorothy Pearson) in the Norwood Singers). Beneath the interview segment, you’ll hear/see two examples of the dynamic work that Lois did during this incredibly prolific period.
On The Road
Lois’ sister-friend Evangelist Minnie Porter, a former radio personality and promoter, joined us in conversation. She and Lois recall memories of life on the gospel highway and discuss Lois’ break from the music industry in the early 1980s.
“I Love To Call You” is from Lois’ overlooked 1977 solo debut A Great New Feeling. Her only solo endeavor prior to this was a 1973 mainstream single on Capitol, “This Little Woman,” which charted on Billboard’s Hot Soul Singles chart.
A Great New Feeling found itself in the awkward position of several of the albums I’ve focused on here—-it was considered “too black” for CCM radio (where it would have been a good fit) and “too contemporary” for Black gospel radio. It gives a glimpse into Lois’ musical diversity and the strength of her pen—she wrote every composition on the album.
Her second solo release, God Is Good, with the Atlanta Interdenominational Mass Choir, was released on Savoy Records in 1982—her last until 1990. Billboard declared the album “one of the clearest, most sprightly mass vocal albums of recent history…with Snead performing excellent leads.”
Lois’ 1998 release Somebody “Must Be The Lord” broke the Top 10 of Billboard’s Top Gospel chart alongside Kirk Franklin’s Nu Nation Project, Fred Hammond’s Pages of Life and CeCe Winans’ Everlasting Love, one of the few showings of traditional gospel on the chart at the time. “The Lord Is My Shepherd” from that project pays homage to Evangelist Rosie Wallace’s arrangement of the 23rd Psalm.
The New Music
In the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, Lois went in the studio and began working on new music—some of which is now available. She and Minnie talk about their hopes for the project. Welcome Almighty God is now available on all streaming platforms. To connect with Lois on social media, click here! She is still going strong and available for bookings.
What an in depth and breadth portrait of a woman of huge heart, talent, and humor. The interviews are wonderful. You did an amazing job interspersing music and archival materials with the engaging conversations. You are both great storytellers.