The Davis Sisters was a gospel group founded by Ruth ("Baby Sis") Davis and featuring her sisters Thelma, Audrey and Alfreda. Imogene Greene joined the group in 1950, and was later replaced by Jackie Verdell when Greene left to join the Caravans. They are not to be confused with the 1950s country music act also known as The Davis Sisters, which launched the career of Skeeter Davis.
Raised in the Fire-Baptized Holiness Church in Philadelphia, the Davis Sisters were one of the first female groups to sing "hard gospel" of the sort being pioneered by the Dixie Hummingbirds and other male quartets of the day. They achieved a big sound, managing to sound like a choir behind the lead singer by positioning themselves several steps behind the microphone.
Their fellow artists typically praised their singing as spirit-filled. Ruth Davis' solos were also overpowering in their own way; her recordings of songs such as "Lord Don't Leave Me" and "Too Close to Heaven" convey a desolate pain that few other gospel singers of the era could match.
The Davis Sisters also accompanied their singing with the sort of "acting out" that other singers, such as Dorothy Love Coates and the Ward Singers later made famous; the Davis Sisters were heavily influenced at this time by Gertrude Ward, the organizing spirit behind the Ward Singers. Ray Charles also modeled the sound of his backup group, the Raeletts, on groups such as the Davis Sisters and the Caravans.
The group organized in 1945, when Ruth was seventeen years old, her sister Thelma was fifteen, Audrey was fourteen and Alfreda was only ten. They began recording on Gotham Records in 1949, then moved to Savoy Records in 1955. After achieving success in the 1950s, the group was rocked by the death of Thelma Davis in 1963, then the passing of their accompanist Curtis Dublin in 1965, followed by Ruth Davis' death in 1970. The group never recovered from Ruth's death.
Further reading
- Boyer, Horace Clarence,How Sweet the Sound: The Golden Age of Gospel Elliott and Clark, 1995, ISBN 0252068777.
- Heilbut, Tony, The Gospel Sound: Good News and Bad Times Limelight Editions, 1997, ISBN 0879100346.
