
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, February 10, 1991                   TAG: 9102100289
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES                                LENGTH: Short

`KING OF GOSPEL' DIES

The Rev. James Cleveland, revered by the music world as the "king of gospel" who taught a 9-year-old Aretha Franklin to sing gospel and inspired countless other artists, died Saturday. He was 59.

The three-time Grammy winner was hospitalized Thursday at Brotman Medical Center with respiratory problems and died of heart failure, said his manager, Annette Thomas.

Cleveland, a pianist, singer, composer, arranger and producer, was widely regarded as the world's foremost gospel musician.

He also was a Baptist minister and founding pastor of the Cornerstone Institutional Baptist Church in Los Angeles.

The baritone, who often described his voice as a fog horn, has been credited with writing and arranging more than 400 gospel songs, including "Everything Will Be All Right," "The Love of God" and "Peace Be Still."

Sixteen of his albums went gold. Cleveland is the first gospel artist to receive a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.

Cleveland had worked with Miss Franklin, Quincy Jones and Edwin Hawkins.

by CNB