Richard Smallwood, Gospel Composer and Choral Leader, Dies at 77

Richard Lee Smallwood, a classically trained composer and gospel choral leader whose songs were recorded by artists including Whitney Houston, Stevie Wonder and Destiny’s Child, died on Tuesday in Sandy Spring, Md. He was 77. His publicist, Bill Carpenter, said the death, in a rehabilitation facility, was from complications of kidney failure.

Mr. Smallwood emerged in the late 1970s as the head of the Richard Smallwood Singers and blended Baroque and other classical influences with traditional gospel. The group's 1982 debut, "The Richard Smallwood Singers," spent 87 weeks on the Billboard gospel charts. He wrote and arranged the music, played piano and sang baritone; he was nominated for eight Grammy Awards and received four Dove Awards.

Whitney Houston included his song "I Love the Lord" on her 1996 soundtrack for The Preacher’s Wife, and that album sold nearly three million copies, the article said. He spoke openly about clinical depression and wrote one of his best-known songs, "Total Praise," after months caring for his aging mother and for a friend dying of cancer; he told The Washington Post in 2015 that he felt "left by God" and that the song became a praise song.

Born on Nov. 20, 1948, in Atlanta, he moved to Washington at 10, studied music at Howard University (graduating in 1971) and later earned a Master of Divinity in 2004.

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Culture, Richard Smallwood, Richard Smallwood Singers, Whitney Houston, Howard University, Sandy Spring