According to Wikipedia, The first National Quartet Convention was held in 1957.[1] J. D. Sumner, Cecil Blackwood and James Blackwood of The Blackwood Brothers were the founders of the famous National Quartet Convention formerly held in Memphis, Tennessee. The National Quartet Convention featured all the major gospel groups at a three-day event at the Ellis Auditorium in Memphis, Tennessee. After the first couple of years, the NQC was moved to Birmingham, Alabama in 1959 and Atlanta, Georgia in 1960. It returned to Memphis in 1961 and was drawing annual crowds of 20,000 by the mid-1960s. Sumner bought the convention in 1971 and moved it to Nashville, Tennessee in 1972, where it remained until 1993. After 1993, it was moved to a new home, Louisville, Kentucky. In 2014 the convention moved to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
Did you witness any of these events?
1999: Glen Payne made his final public performance via telephone from his hospital room at Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee. He performed “I Will Not Have to Cross Jordan Alone” at the request of George Younce his singing partner from The Cathedral Quartet. Glen died one month later.
‘2005: Lauren Talley, Jason Crabb, and several other young Southern Gospel vocalists joined together to record an album called “The Torch”. “The Race”, a song from the album, was voted #1 on some local charts in late 2005.
2007: Ivan Parker became the first soloist to take the Convention stage in 25 years.
2013: Tracy Stuffle of The Perrys joined his wife Libbi Perry-Stuffle on stage via FaceTime on her iPhone. Tracey had been unable to attend in person following a stroke suffered January 21, 2013. In a pre-recorded video message he stated he planned to attend the 2014 NQC in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
2013: Brazilian Christian group Quarteto Gileade, based in Rio Verde, Goiás, sang Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus in Portuguese, becoming the first non-American group to perform at the main stage of the NQC. Many foreign groups have attended the convention over the years, some also sang in the showcase afternoons, but none had made it to the main stage until then. In the following year, they performed again at the main stage, singing Gold City’s “I Get Down” in English with some verses in Portuguese, being joined after by Gold City themselves.
Do you have a favorite photo taken at any NQC? I couldn’t narrow it down to one so I posted a few of mine above. Post your’s here………. Excitement is in the air. it wont be long now.
See ya’ll Next week. Stop by Booth 615 and say hello.
Rob Patz
