Inducted 2011

Benefactor: Friends Of The SGMA
 

Doris Akers, born in Brookfield, Missouri, on May 21, 1923, was one of ten children.  She learned to play the piano by ear at age six and by age ten had composed her first song.  By the time she was twelve, she had organized a five-piece band that played music of the 1930s.  When she was only 22 years of age, she moved to Los Angeles, where she encountered a thriving gospel music community.  She met several outstanding musicians, such as Eugene Douglas Smallwood, who greatly influenced the gospel music career of this young African-American lady.  A year later, Doris joined the Sallie Martin Singers as pianist and singer.  Two years later, with Dorothy Vemell Simmons, she formed the Simmons–Akers Singers and also launched a publishing firm called Akers Music House.  Many artists, including the Stamps–Baxter Quartet, Bill Gaither, Statesmen, and Mahalia Jackson, have recorded Akers’ songs.  Countless other Southern Gospel Music groups still record and sing her music.  Millions of church members have sung her songs, which have long been published in many hymnals.  She was a recording artist, music arranger, choir director, and songwriter and was awarded Gospel Music Composer of the Year for both 1960 and 1961.  She was honored by the Smithsonian Institution, which labeled her songs and records “National Treasures”.  Her most noted composition, without a doubt, is Sweet, Sweet Spirit.  She was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2001.  Until the end of her earthly life, Doris Akers believed that God wanted His children to pray.  Her songs have circled the globe, aiding Christians of all nationalities in their worship of the heavenly Father.  She passed away on July 26, 1995, in Minneapolis.