Clara Ward

Clara Mae Ward (April 21, 1924 – January 16, 1973) was an American gospel artist who achieved great artistic and commercial success during the 1940s and 1950s, as leader of The Famous Ward Singers. A gifted singer and arranger, Ward adopted the lead-switching style, previously used primarily by male gospel quartets, creating opportunities for spontaneous improvisation and vamping by each member of the group, while giving virtuoso singers such as Marion Williams the opportunity to perform the lead vocal in songs such as "Surely, God Is Able" (among the first million-selling gospel hits), "How I Got Over" and "Packin' Up".

Career

Ward's mother, Gertrude Mae Ward (née Murphy;[11901–1981), founded the Ward Singers in 1931 as a family group, then called, variously, The Consecrated Gospel Singers or The Ward Trio, consisting of herself, her youngest daughter Clara, and her elder daughter, Willarene Mae ("Willa"). Ward recorded her first solo song in 1940, and continued accompanying the Ward Gospel Trio, thereafter.