Inducted 2009

Benefactor: Gospel Harmony Boys

In 1952, Harold formed the Gospel Harmony Boys, This part time West Virginia quartet was on par with many of the top groups of the 1950s and 1960s. Harold’s writing and arranging made a great impact on the Gospel Harmony Boys' style. In 1953, the Gospel Harmony Boys began one of America ’s first Gospel Music TV shows that played every Sunday for over 17 years on WSAZ-TV in Huntington , West Virginia . In April 1956, Harold Lane ’s Gospel Harmony Boys sang to America on the Today Show with host, Dave Garroway. 

Harold left the Gospel Harmony Boys in 1956 to spend a short stint with Conner Hall and the famous Homeland Harmony Quartet, only to return to the Gospel Harmony Boys in 1957. He began writing early in his music career and authored many songs sung by the great quartets of the day including the Statesmen, Blackwoods, Wally Fowler and the Oak Ridge Quartet and many others. 

In 1967, Harold left the Gospel Harmony Boys to join the Speer Family replacing the family’s famous patriarch, Dad Speer. Harold became renowned for his arranging while with the Speers.  Some of Harold’s best known compositions are, “I’m Standing on the Solid Rock”, which was in the Top 20 Songs of the Year in 1978 by the Speers and the Florida Boys. “What Sins Are You Talking About” reached an esteemed level of notoriety as the theme song for a National Network TV show, “The Hitchhiker” during the 1990’s. 

For many years, Harold wrote a series of articles for Singing News magazine to help interested young artists learn the rudiments of music theory. He also edited a number of church hymnals and songbooks. Harold published a series of six books title “500 Hymns for Instruments”.