In February 1972, one of the members of Andraé Crouch and the Disciples, Sherman Andrus broke the “color barrier” in gospel music when he was brought in as the first African-American lead singer of a “mainstream” gospel group, the Imperials.  Adopting the famous slogan of Star Trek, Andrus joked that he would “boldly go where no black man had gone before”.  

The Imperials (no relation to Little Anthony’s group) were started in 1963 by Jake Hess after he left the venerable Statesmen Quartet.  From 1966 to 1971, the Imperials recorded with Elvis Presley and appeared on two of his gospel albums, How Great Thou Art and He Touched Me.  In 1969, Elvis hired the Imperials to perform with him as well after his previous background singers, the Jordanaires (also a gospel group) declined to accompany him to Las Vegas and other far-flung places. 

(July 2014)