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

DATE: SATURDAY, September 24, 1994                   TAG: 9409270036
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: DETROIT                                 LENGTH: Short

MATTIE MOSS CLARK, GOSPEL GREAT, DIES

Mattie Moss Clark, a shining light of gospel music who directed choirs, wrote songs that became classics and turned her five daughters into a famed gospel group, has died after a long illness. She was 69.

Clark and her richly talented family gave the nation's gospel music three of its most important acts: First, Clark herself; then her brother and his family, Bill Moss and the Celestials; and most famous of all, her daughters, the Clark Sisters - Jackie, Denise, Elbernita (called Twinkie), Dorinda and Karen.

Among the gospel classics she wrote are ``Climbing Up the Mountain,'' ``I Thank You Lord (For Being So Good To Me),'' ``I'm Going to Heaven To Meet The King,'' ``He Abides'' and ``Salvation is Free.''

Three of her albums went gold: ``Salvation Is Free'' (1960), ``Wonderful, Wonderful'' (1964) and ``None But the Pure In Heart'' (1971).

Knight-Ridder/Tribune

by CNB