1. Clara Mae Ward was an American gospel singer who achieved great artistic and commercial success during the 1940s and 1950s, as leader of the Famous Ward Singers.
19 Facts About Clara Ward
1. 2.
Clara Ward recorded her first solo song in 1940, and continued accompanying the Clara Ward Gospel Trio, thereafter.
3.
The Clara Ward Singers began touring nationally in 1943, following a memorable appearance at the National Baptist Convention held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, earlier that year.
4.
In 1949, the Clara Ward Singers toured from Philadelphia to California in their new Cadillac, appeared on national television programs, and recorded for the Miltone Record Company of Los Angeles.
5.
Gotham's Irv Ballen recorded some new Clara Ward material, including "Surely God Is Able", and some of the Clara Ward Singers' Gotham recordings were transferred to Savoy Record Company in Newark, New Jersey to settle a contract dispute.
6.
Gertrude Clara Ward created a booking agency for gospel acts, sponsored tours under the name "the Clara Ward Gospel Cavalcade", established a publishing house for gospel music, and wrote an instructional manual for churches, detailing how to promote gospel programs.
7.
Clara Ward was the first gospel singer to sing with a 100-piece symphony orchestra in the 1960s.
8.
The Clara Ward Singers recorded an album together on the Verve label, V-5019, The Heart, the Faith, the Soul of Clara Ward, and the Ward Singers performed their music live in Philadelphia with the city's Symphony and the Golden Voices Ensemble.
9.
In 1969, Clara Ward recorded an album for Capitol Records, Soul and Inspiration, consisting of pop songs from Broadway plays, Hollywood movies and the Jimmy Radcliffe song of hope "If You Wanna Change the World".
10.
In 1968, the Clara Ward Singers toured Vietnam at the request of the US State Department and the USO.
11.
Clara Ward co-starred in the Hollywood movie A Time to Sing, starring Hank Williams, Jr.
12.
Clara Ward was cast as a waitress in a Nashville cafeteria who inspires a young singer, played by Williams, to pursue his dream of becoming a country recording artist.
13.
The Clara Ward Singers toured in Australia, Japan, Europe, Indonesia, and Thailand during the late-1960s through the early-1970s.
14.
Clara Ward continued to perform at her mother's church, the Miracle Temple of Faith for All People in Los Angeles, California, as well as at Victory Baptist Church.
15.
Clara Ward collapsed while performing at the Castaways Lounge in Miami Beach, Florida in May 1966.
16.
Clara Ward suffered a series of strokes prior to her death.
17.
Clara Ward died on January 16,1973 at age 48 as a result of the strokes.
18.
Clara Ward is interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.
19.
In 1977, Clara Ward was honored posthumously at the Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York City and her surviving sister, Willa, accepted the award in her honor.