Able Quote by Cornel West

For me, the most powerful form of music was gospel music. It led me to the blues.

— Susan Tedeschi

I would think, to me, growing up in the south, growing up with all the gospel music, singing in the church and having that…

— Jackie DeShannon

Gospel music was the thing that inspired me as a child growing up on a cotton farm, where work was drudgery and it was…

— Johnny Cash

Gospel, soul, jazz, and R&B were what I felt connected to as an artist.

— Raye

Christian music was such a huge foundation for me, even as a kid, and I grew to love Christian music not only because of…

— Jay DeMarcus

Since I was two years old, all I knew was gospel music. That music became such a part of my life it was as…

— Elvis Presley

As a child I always wanted to be a singer. The music my mother played in the house moved me - Aretha Franklin, Chaka…

— Mary J. Blige

My dad got into this group, Commission, with Fred Hammond, and that was my biggest gospel memory. I would hear that all the time,…

— Ro James

My brothers and I had a gospel quartet, and that was the only music people listened to. But I was already gravitating towards songs…

— Al Green

Being around people like Aretha Franklin and Gladys Knight, Dionne Warwick and Roberta Flack, all these greats, I was taught to listen and observe.

— Whitney Houston

A great influence in my life was the sanctified or Holiness churches...Everybody in there sang and they clapped and stomped heir feet and sang…

— Mahalia Jackson

As a kid, I was listening to Aretha Franklin, Etta James and hip-hop as well as music my parents were listening to, like Joni…

— Alanis Morissette