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Kenneth Morris

1917 - 1989 Author of "Yes, God Is Real" in Sing the Faith Kenneth Morris (b 28 Aug. 1917, Jamaica, NY | d 1 Feb. 1989, Chicago, IL), son of Ettuila White and John Morris, studied music at the Manhattan Conservatory of Music, initially drawn to jazz. His jazz band traveled to the World’s Fair in Chicago, and Morris stayed. He worked for the Lillian Bowles House of Music publishing firm (succeeding Charles H. Pace) and took the position of organist and choir director of First Church of Deliverance. Through the church’s radio ministry and recording sessions with Mahalia Jackson, Morris introduced the electric Hammond to gospel music. With Sallie Martin, he formed the Martin & Morris Music Studio (1940). He premiered many of his songs at National Baptist Convention annual meetings. As a publisher, he eventually acquired the catalogs of Lillian Bowles, Roberta Martin, and Theodore Frye. At the time of his death, his business was described as “the last black gospel music store still going in Illinois.” —Chris Fenner, Hymns & Devotions for Daily Worship: African American Edition (2025)

Evelyn Simpson-Curenton

b. 1953 Person Name: Evelyn Simpson-Curenton, b. 1953 Arranger of "GOD IS REAL" in African American Heritage Hymnal Evelyn Simpson Curenton (born 1953) is a leading African-American composer, pianist, organist, and vocalist. Simpson Curenton began piano lessons at age 5, began to perform with the Singing Simpsons of Philadelphia, a family group, and earned a B.M., Music Education and Voice from Temple University. She has been commissioned to write works for the American Guild of Organists, George Shirley, the late Duke Ellington, and her sister, the late Joy Simpson, arranged music for Kathleen Battle, Jessye Norman, and the Porgy and Bess Chorus of the New York Metropolitan Opera, and has performed with musical organizations such as Philadelphia's National Opera Ebony (later renamed Opera North). Based in the Washington, D.C., area, Curenton is Music Director of the Washington Performing Arts Society's Men and Women of the Gospel and an associate of the Smithsonian Institution. She has given lectures and participated in workshops on early 18th-century black religious music and the music of African-Americans during the Civil Rights era. --en.wikipedia.org

Horace Clarence Boyer

1935 - 2009 Person Name: Horace Clarence Boyer (b. 1935) Arranger of "[There are some things I may not know]" in Lift Every Voice and Sing II Horace Boyer (b. Winter Park, Flordia, July 28, 1935; d. Amherst, Massachusetts, July 21, 2009) was professor of music at the University of Massachussetts, Amhurst, editor of the African American hymnal Lift Every Voice and Sing, Lift Every Voice and Sing II, and author of How Sweet the Sound: The Golden Age of Gospel (Elliot & Clark, 1995). Sing! A New Creation