Glenn Sessions was born in the little country town of Kerans, Texas. Like many of our Texas music heroes, his love for music began in childhood, so in his teenage years he started singing with a male quartet from Weatherford. Then around 1939 he joined the Smile A While Quartet with a man named Deacon Utley from Macon, Georgia. In 1942 he moved to Detroit, Michigan to sing in a family group with his future father-in-law, Kelly Campbell. His involvement there was short, because that same year he joined the Air Force and served until 1944.
Following his military service he married Wilma Campbell in Detroit and returned to Dallas in 1946. Soon he was asked to sing with the Stamps-Baxter Menís Quartet and also began working in the bindery for Stamps-Baxter Music Company.
In the early 1950ís Glenn formed the Big State Quartet in Dallas – a very good menís quartet that gained an early following. But, in 1953 Glenn was asked to sing lead for the Rangers Quartet, a well-established group that had become very popular all across the South. Glenn eventually returned to the Stamps Menís Quartet to finish out the 50ís.
From 1983 until his death in 2001 Glenn sang with a very popular group in the North Texas area – the Gospel Lights. Headed up by pioneer, Cecil Pollock, the group had a passion for traditional four part harmonies and sang traditional classic quartet music as well as, new songs with a classic style
Frank Stamps, one of gospel music’s foremost singers, recording artists, music publishers, broadcasters, masters of ceremony, and through the Stamps Quartet School of Music, educators. In 1936, he was a founding father of the National Singing Convention, an organization which has convened annually ever since. “Mister Frank”, as he was affectionately called, traveled the length and breadth of the United States promoting gospel music, participating in gospel singings – local, county, state, and on the national level. Truly the Lord’s ambassador whose heart and voice had wings.
Bob L. Wills was born November 24, 1938, in Hall County, Texas. Bob and his twin sister, Betty, were destined to sing gospel music as 1938 was the year Pop Wills founded the Wills Family Quartet with the older brothers and sisters – Rene, Calvin, and Lou. Bob & Betty (the twins) began singing as part of the Wills Family in 1948 with Pop, Calvin, Lou, and Bill. Baby sister, Norma Jo, joined the family in the early fifties, and the brothers and sisters became nationally known as the Singing Wills Family.
Aaron Burr “Pop” Wills [1899 – 1971] was already involved in Gospel Music during the 1920’s and 30’s when he and his dear wife Leah began having children. By the time the first three siblings were old enough: Eva Rene, Calvin and Lou began to travel with A. B. and sing for Singing Conventions and churches throughout Texas.
Virgil O. Stamps [1892 – 1940] was the older brother to Frank, and the first to inspire and promote southern-style gospel singing across America. Though he was a noted singer, writer, publisher, and pioneer recording artist, his greatest accomplishment was spreading gospel music through the “glory days” of radio. For several years his company counted many salaried quartets and more than 100 affiliated quartets on radio stations nationwide. After working for the Vaughan Music Company from 1915 into the early 1920s, Stamps launched out on his own in 1924 and founded the V.O. Stamps Music Company in Dallas, Texas. Two years later, Stamps merged the company with J. R. Baxter, Jr. to form the Stamps-Baxter Music and Printing Company. By the late 1930s, it was the most successful publisher of shaped-note songbooks in America. The company’s annual Stamps-Baxter School of Music, that began in the mid-1920s, stood as the largest developer of gospel singers in Texas and throughout the South for more than four decades.
Lee Graves has been in Texas Gospel music since 1950, when he joined the Biron Dyes Quartet from Joaquin, Texas, as their tenor. He sang for about a year with this group, then was called up to serve in the Korean War. Following his military service, he sang with the Joint Heirs Quartet of Shelby County.
Lester George Beasley was born in Crockett Texas in August 1928. As the son of a preacher he began singing in church at an early age – and especially loved the style of four part harmony music. His family lived in Texas most of his childhood until moving to Arkansas shortly before Les joined the Marines in the early 50ís. Following military duty that included involvement in the Korean War, Les joined the Gospel Melody Quartet in 1955 and soon renamed the group The Florida Boys. He has managed this very popular gospel quartet for over forty years – they still have many, many fans in Texas!