Years active 1934 (1934)–present | ||
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Also known as The Pilgrim JubileesPilgrim Jubilee Singers Members Cleve GrahamClay GrahamBobby McDougalBen ChandlerMichael AtkinsEddie GrahamFred Price Past members Elgie GrahamWillie JohnsonTheophilles GrahamMonroe HatchettLeonard BrownleeMajor RobersonKenneth MaddenRichard "Rufus" CrumePercy ClarkRoosevelt English Albums In Revival, The Year Of Jubilee, Trouble In The Street Record labels Similar The Jackson Southernaires, Sensational Nightingales, Mighty Clouds of Joy, Willie Banks, The Violinaires | ||
The Pilgrim Jubilees, also known as The Pilgrim Jubilee Singers, are an American traditional black gospel music group originally from the cities of Jackson, Mississippi and Chicago, Illinois, where they were established by Elgie Graham and Willie Johnson, in 1934. The group have released twenty-five albums with six record labels Nashboro Records, Peacock Records, Savoy Records, Malaco Records, MCA Records, and Benson Records. They had five of those albums chart on the Billboard magazine charts.
Contents
Background
The Mississippi and Illinois-based traditional black gospel group, The Pilgrim Jubilees were established in 1934 by Elgie Graham and Willie Johnson, as a duo at that time in Houston, Mississippi, while they would add three more members to the duo in 1946, Theophilles Graham, who is Elgie's brother, Monroe Hatchett and Leonard Brownlee. The Graham family would settle in Chicago, Illinois, in 1950, where they would add, Major Roberson, Kenneth Madden and two more of Elgie's brothers, Cleve and Clay Graham, alongside Richard "Rufus" Crume, Percy Clark, and Roosevelt English. Elgie left the group in 1955, so he could retire and do other ministry. Madden and Crume also left the group during the 1960s, while they added Bobby McDougal in the late-1960s, Ben Chandler and Michael Atkins in the early-1970s to the group. They would gain two more members during the 1990s Eddie Graham, a cousin, and Fred Price. The group is currently Cleve and Clay Graham, Bobby McDougal, Ben Chandler, Michael Atkins, Eddie Graham and Fred Price.
History
The group has released 25 albums with six labels from 1952 until present day, and those labels were the following: Nashboro Records, Peacock Records, Savoy Records, Malaco Records, MCA Records, and Benson Records. Their first recording contract was with Nashboro Records, where they made singles, and this gained them enough revenue to be an operable band, while they were originating out of two barbershops owned by Cleve and Clay. Dave Clark heard the group in Atlanta, Georgia, during the late 1950s, while he was a disc jockey for Peacock Records, the first label to release an album by the group, after they signed them in 1961. Their first studio album, Walk Out, released in 1961 sold more than 100,000 copies, while soon thereafter Rufus Crume left the group becoming a member in The Soul Stirrers. They released 24 more albums, with five of those charting on the Billboard magazine Gospel Albums chart, Gospel Roots at No. 19, Back to Basics at No. 28, Family Affair at No. 18, I'm Getting Better All the Time at No. 37, and In Revival at No. 31.
Members
Songs
Don't Let Him DownDon't Let Nobody Turn You Around · 1996
Church SongIn Revival · 1994
God's Been Good To MeDon't Let Nobody Turn You Around · 1996