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The Dixie Hummingbirds are an influential American gospel music group, spanning more than 75 years from the jubilee quartet style of the 1920s, through the "hard gospel" quartet style of Gospel's golden age in the 1940s and 1950s, to the eclectic pop-tinged songs of the present era.

Formed in 1928 in Greenville, South Carolina, by James B. Davis and his classmates, they sang in local churches until they finished school, then started touring throughout the South.

Lead singer Ira Tucker joined the group in 1938 at age 13, and they signed with Decca Records. In addition to his formidable vocal skills, Tucker introduced the energetic showmanship - running through the aisles, jumping off stage, falling to his knees in prayer - copied by many quartets that followed. Tucker also took the lead in the stylistic innovations adopted by the group, combining gospel shouting and subtle melismas with the syncopated delivery made popular by The Golden Gate Quartet, as well as adventuresome harmonies, which the group called "trickeration", in which Paul Owens or another member of the group would pick up a note just as Tucker left off. The group relocated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the 1940s.

During the years, a number of talented singers starred in the group--their bass, William Bobo, baritone Beachy Thompson, James Walker, who replaced Owens, and Claude Jeter, who went on to star for The Swan Silvertones. The Hummingbirds added a guitarist, Howard Carroll, who added even more propulsive force to their high-flying vocals.

The Hummingbirds absorbed much from other artists as well, performing with Lester Young in the 1940s and sharing Django Reinhardt records with B.B. King in the 1950s. Tucker and the Hummingbirds inspired a number of imitators, such as Jackie Wilson and James Brown, who adapted the shouting style and enthusiastic showmanship of hard gospel to secular themes to help create soul music in the 1960s.

The group recorded for a number of different labels over the years, while touring the circuit of black churches and gospel extravaganzas. They occasionally came to the attention of white listeners--at Café Society, the integrated New York nightclub favored by jazz cognoscenti, in 1942, at the Newport Folk Festival in 1966, and as backup for Paul Simon on the single "Loves Me Like A Rock" . The group now consists of Ira Tucker (lead vocals), William Bright (vocals), Cornell Mcknight (backup vocals), James Williams (backup vocals), Torrey Nettles (drums/vocals), Willie Coleman (bass), and Lyndon B. Jones (guitar).

The Hummingbirds won a Grammy Award in the category of Best Soul Gospel Performance for their version of "Loves Me Like A Rock" in 1974. The Dixie Hummingbirds were inducted into The Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2000. They were nominated for a Grammy in 2007 for their album Still Keeping It Real. In 2007 they were inducted into the Christian Music Hall of Fame.

• Boyer, Horace Clarence, How Sweet the Sound: The Golden Age of Gospel Elliott and Clark, 1995, ISBN 0-252-06877-7.
• Heilbut, Tony, The Gospel Sound: Good News and Bad Times Limelight Editions, 1997, ISBN 0-87910-034-6.
• Zolten, Jerry, Great God A' Mighty! : The Dixie Hummingbirds - Celebrating The Rise Of Soul Gospel Music Oxford University Press, 2003, ISBN 0-19-515272-7.

• MP3 of the Dixie Hummingbirds' "Beaming From Heaven" from the Field Recorders' CD of that group
• 'The Dixie Hummingbirds' Vocal Group Hall of Fame Page.
• James B Davis Sr obit & Dixie Hummingbirds downloads
• Recording of Dixie Hummingbirds performing "Jesus is Coming Soon" in Orlando in 1985, made available free for public use by the State Archives of Florida