FULLER UP HOME GRIM REAPER PAGE CAUSES OF DEATH SEARCH BY NAME GET IN TOUCH SHAMEFUL DISCLAIMER    Fuller Up The Dead Musician Directory    Brock Speer Brock Speer Unknown Cause March 29, 1999 Age 78 OBITUARY  BIOGRAPHY   LINKS

OBITUARY 

NY TIMES   Brock Speer            NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Brock Speer, patriarch of the singing            Speer Family and former president, chairman of the board and            permanent board member of the Gospel Music Association, died            Monday. He was 78.             Speer started singing with his parents and siblings in 1925 and stayed            with them until an interruption caused by World War II.             The Speer Family moved to Nashville in 1946. Over the course of their            career, the family recorded for a number of labels including Bullet,            Columbia, RCA, Benson, HeartWarming and Homeland.             Country singer Chet Atkins used Speer and his brother, Ben, as backing            vocalists on recording sessions during the '50s.             Speer was inducted into the Gospel Music Association's Hall of Fame in            1975. The Speer Family was inducted into the GMA Hall of Fame in            1998, the first year groups were allowed to join, and they are the only            group to receive the GMA's Lifetime Achievement Award.

 

 

BIOGRAPHY

The Speer Family was established in 1921. The original members included G.T. (Dad) Speer, Lena (Mom) Speer, Dad Speer's sister and brother-in-law. When the original group was formed, Dad Speer taught in Singing Schools, upholding his infamous   image for being a "stickler" for singing every note exactly correct! By the 1930's, Mom and Dad Speer were traveling as a family group with their own children. As the children would mature, their duties would change: Brock became the bass, Mary Tom sang alto, Ben took the lead and Rosa Nell served as pianist. Over the years the sisters left the group to, as Brock always says, "have kids and raise husbands." After the sisters left the group, Dad Speer had to look outside of the family for female vocalists. Many great talents would join The Speers over the years, such as Jeanne Johnson, Ann (Sanders) Downing, and Sue (Chenault) Dodge, all principles of the Gaither Homecoming Videos. After the deaths of Dad and Mom Speer in the mid 60's, Brock took over management of the group. When Dad Speer died, The Speers needed tenor singers and there has been a talented line of tenors who have sung with the group, such as Harold Lane and Charles Yates. Throughout their career, The Speers have continued the tradition of excellence that Mom and Dad Speer started so many years ago. Mom and Dad were among the very first to be inducted into the GMA Hall of Fame. The Speers, as a group, are recipients of 8 Dove Awards for Best Mixed Group of the Year. They have won such awards as the GMA Lifetime Achievement Award, along with numerous song of the year awards, for hits such as "Saved to the Uttermost" and "He's Still In the Fire." As The Speers continue to sing, even after 75 years of ministry through Gospel Music, the overwhelming feeling is "THE BEST IS YET TO COME!!!" ~From the Speer Family Homepage

 

 LINKS

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