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Jake Hess
On Sunday, January 4, 2004 the gospel music
world lost one of its most beloved artists, Jake Hess. He was
also one of Elvis Presley's favorite singers and had a great
influence on him.
Jake Hess was born W. J. Hess in Mt. Pisgah, Alabama
on Christmas Eve 1927. He was the youngest of twelve
children born to Stovall and Lydia Hess. He wasn't given names
to go with the initials until he registered for the military draft
as an adult in Lincoln, Nebraska, when they dubbed him William
Jesse. It was John Daniel, a fellow gospel singer, who started
calling him Jake.
Jake Hess' family were sharecroppers and they moved a
great deal from farm to farm, always taking their old pump organ
with them. Jake's father and older brothers sang and taught in
singing schools, so it was natural when Jake also started singing.
His first solo was at age five. He said his father had taught
him that singing was talking on key and the most important part of
singing gospel music was the words. He studied harmony at the
Stamps-Baxter school and organized vocal groups in Alabama.
By 1948 he was making a living with his singing as
part of The Melody Masters. It was then that Hovie Lister
began the Statesmen and asked Jake Hess to sing lead with the
group. Jake married a fellow singer, Joyce McWaters, in
October 1952 and the couple had three children - daughter Becky
(named after Sam Phillips' wife Becky because Sam had encourage Jake
as a youth) and sons Chris and Jake, Jr.
When Elvis was growing up in Tupelo, Missisippi Jake
Hess became an influence on him. Elvis would ask Jake many
questions after a concert about his style and how he got started.
Jake was known for his energy and his facial expressions when
singing, his precise enunciation and phrasing. Later
when his hair receded, Jake also became known for his trademark
hairpieces. Another member of the Statesmen, James "Big Chief"
Wetherington, with his own unique swaggering leg movements on stage,
is also credited with influencing Elvis's performance moves.
Jake Hess formed the group The Imperials and Elvis
included them along with The Jordanaires and Millie Kirkham as
vocalists on his classic "How Great Thou Art" album. The
Imperials had a big impact in changing the sound of gospel
music by adding drums, electric guitar and bass and taking gospel
music to a younger contemporary audience. Also,
it was Jake Hess who sang "Known Only to Him" at Elvis's funeral in
August of 1977.
By 1967 Jake was plagued with a series of health
problems that forced him to leave The Imperials and stop touring.
For the rest of his life he battled cancer, diabetes, heart disease
and other severe health problems. Jake came to call these
problems "isms" and he said, "I go into these churches and
auditoriums, and people say, 'Well, Jake, how are you doin'?'
And if I told them all my 'isms' - which takes quite a spell - I'd
have to hear all their 'isms.' So I've been saying 'nothin'
but fine' about 40 years, just to conserve time, and it's
become such a habit that I can't give anybody a straight answer
anymore!" With the saying "nothin' but fine" as his anthem,
Jake recorded an album and wrote his autobiography using that title.
Jake's health couldn't keep him down for long.
In 1981 he returned to group singing with fellow legends James
Blackwood, J.D. Sumner, Hovie Lister and Rosie Rozell -
performing as The Masters V. They disbanded in 1988 due to the
poor health of several members.
It was once written of the five "...there were enough bypasses in
the group to build an expressway..."
It was Bill Gaither and his "Homecoming" shows that brought
Jake out of retirement again in 1996 and he had been touring with
them up until his heart attack in December.
It was J. D. Sumner who said of four-time Grammy
winner Jake Hess, "...(he) took gospel music from the dirt road,
paved it, and broadened it into a four-lane highway...." Jake
Hess once told Ed Enoch of The Stamps Quartet that when singing he
tried to envision the splinters and the cleansing drops of blood on
the cross. He also said,
"A lot of people look at this as show business for
God-fearing people. But I feel that God called
me to sing, just like He called my two brothers to preach.
I
think I'm doing what God would have me do."
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