In the 1970s, the Stovall Sisters were a gospel trio of recording artists consisting of Lillian, Netta, and Joyce Stovall. Definitive works include the album “The Stovall Sisters” (Reprise Records

Reprise Records

Reprise Records is an American record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operated through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:...

 1970, Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies...

) which included the now funk/soul classic “Hang on in There.” They are also the featured background vocalists on the rock classic “Spirit In The Sky

Spirit in the Sky

"Spirit in the Sky" is a song written and originally recorded by Norman Greenbaum and released in 1969. The single sold two million copies in 1969 and 1970 and reached number three in the U.S. Billboard chart, as well as number one on the UK, Australian and Canadian charts in 1970. Rolling Stone...

” (Norman Greenbaum, producer, Eric Jacobson).

Biography

Born in Kentucky and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana, the Stovall Sisters, now known as Nettie Stovall, Lillian Jackson, and Rejoyce Moss, were three of the exceptionally large family of twenty-two children of James and Della Stovall, and grew up touring with the family gospel group in the Midwest and the South.
Their mother, Della Stovall, started each child singing around the age of two. The first Stovall family singing group was known as the Four Loving Sisters and consisted of the four eldest sisters: Dorothy, Billie, Frances, and Georgia. The group name was later changed to the Valley Wonders. Eventually the younger siblings, Wayne, Nettie, and Lillian, would join, followed by Joyce, Donald, and Jeanie. Prior to joining the Valley Wonders, Wayne, Nettie, Lillian, and Joyce performed in a separate family act known as God's Little Wonders. (A cousin, Evelyn Crosby, also performed with the group for a short time.)

In the latter part of the 1950s, the family migrated to Oakland, Calif., where Lillian, Nettie, and Joyce would eventually form the Stovall Sisters (for a brief period the Stovall Sisters included the family's youngest sister, Jeanie Stovall). The Stovall Sisters performed and recorded songs in the genre that consisted of a gospel/R&B fusion and maintained a successful career as professional studio and touring backup singers for an impressive list of well-known artists that include The Staple Singers

The Staple Singers

The Staple Singers were an American gospel, soul, and R&B singing group. Roebuck "Pops" Staples , the patriarch of the family, formed the group with his children Cleotha , Pervis , Yvonne , and Mavis...

, The Caravans

The Caravans

The Caravans is a Jubilee Gospel group that was started by Albertina Walker . The group reached its peak popularity during the 1950s and 1960s, launching the careers of a number of artists, including: Delores Washington, Albertina Walker, Bessie Griffin, Cassietta George, Dorothy Norwood, Inez...

, Bobby Womack

Bobby Womack

Robert Dwayne "Bobby" Womack is an American singer-songwriter and musician. An active recording artist since the early 1960s where he started his career as the lead singer of his family musical group The Valentinos and as Sam Cooke's backing guitarist, Womack's career has spanned more than 40...

 & The Womack Brothers, Al Green

Al Green

Albert Greene , better known as Al Green, is an American gospel and soul music singer. He reached the peak of his popularity in the 1970s, with hit singles such as "You Oughta Be With Me", "I'm Still In Love With You", "Love and Happiness", and "Let's Stay Together"...

 & The Green Brothers, Ray Charles

Ray Charles

Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...

 & The Blind Boys, The Harmonizing Four

The Harmonizing Four

The Harmonizing Four was an American black gospel quartet organized in 1927 and reaching peak popularity during the decades immediately following World War II....

, The Soul Stirrers

The Soul Stirrers

One of the most popular and influential gospel groups of the 20th century, the Soul Stirrers were pioneers in the development of the quartet style of gospel and, without intending it, in the creation of soul music, doo wop, and motown sound, some of the secular music that owed much to gospel.The...

,The Salem Travelers,The Pilgrim Jubiees and{ Sylvester, The Davis Sisters

The Davis Sisters

The Davis Sisters was an American gospel group founded by Ruth Davis and featuring her sisters Thelma, Audrey and Alfreda. Imogene Greene joined the group in 1950, and was later replaced by Jackie Verdell when Greene left to join the Caravans....

 and The Highway Q.C's, BB King, Big Mama Thornton

Big Mama Thornton

Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton was an American rhythm and blues singer and songwriter. She was the first to record the hit song "Hound Dog" in 1952. The song was #1 on the Billboard R&B charts for seven weeks in 1953. The B-side was "They Call Me Big Mama," and the single sold almost two million...

, Etta James

Etta James

Etta James is an American blues, soul, rhythm and blues , rock and roll, gospel and jazz singer. In the 1950s and 1960s, she had her biggest success as a blues and R&B singer...

, Jimmy McCracklin

Jimmy McCracklin

Jimmy McCracklin is an American pianist, vocalist, and songwriter. His style contains West Coast blues, Jump blues, and R&B. Over a career that has spanned seven decades, he says he has written almost a thousand songs and has recorded hundreds of them...

, Bobby Bland

Bobby Bland

Robert Calvin Bland better known as Bobby "Blue" Bland, is an American singer of blues and soul. He is an original member of the Beale Streeters, and is sometimes referred to as the "Lion of the Blues"...

, Charles Brown

Charles Brown

Charlie Brown is the principal character in the comic strip Peanuts.Charlie or Charles Brown may also refer to:-Athletes:* Charlie Brown from Dumfries who played for home town club Queen of the South...

, Sugar Pie DeSanto

Sugar Pie DeSanto

Sugar Pie DeSanto is an American rhythm and blues singer of the 1950s and 1960s.-Early life:...

, Earth Wind & Fire, Jackie Wilson

Jackie Wilson

Jack Leroy "Jackie" Wilson, Jr. was an American singer and performer. Known as "Mr. Excitement", Wilson was important in the transition of rhythm and blues into soul. He was known as a master showman, and as one of the most dynamic singers and performers in R&B and rock history...

, Joe Tex

Joe Tex

Joseph Arrington, Jr. , better known as "Joe Tex", was an American Southern soul singer-songwriter, most popular during the 1960s and 1970s...

, Joe Simon, Parliament-Funkadelic

Parliament-Funkadelic

Parliament-Funkadelic is a funk, soul and rock music collective headed by George Clinton. Their style has been dubbed P-Funk. Collectively the group has existed under various names since the 1960s and has been known for top-notch musicianship, politically charged lyrics, outlandish concept albums...

, Sam Cooke

Sam Cooke

Samuel Cook, , better known under the stage name Sam Cooke, was an American gospel, R&B, soul, and pop singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur. He is considered to be one of the pioneers and founders of soul music. He is commonly known as the King of Soul for his distinctive vocal abilities and...

, Cannonball Adley, Creedence Clearwater Revival

Creedence Clearwater Revival

Creedence Clearwater Revival was an American rock band that gained popularity in the late 1960s and early 1970s with a number of successful singles drawn from various albums....

 and Norman Greenbaum

Norman Greenbaum

Norman Greenbaum is an American singer-songwriter. He was raised in a traditional Jewish household and went to Hebrew school. His initial interest in music was sparked by Southern blues music and the folk music that was hugely popular in the late 1950s and early 1960s...

. They also toured with Redd Foxx

Redd Foxx

John Elroy Sanford , better known by his stage name Redd Foxx, was an American comedian and actor, best known for his starring role on the sitcom Sanford and Son.-Early life:...

 and Demond Wilson

Demond Wilson

Grady Demond Wilson is an American actor, author, and pastor. He is best known for his role opposite Redd Foxx as Fred Sanford's long-suffering son, Lamont Sanford, in the 1970s’ NBC-TV sitcom Sanford and Son....

 of Sanford & Son and briefly performed as the Ikettes with Ike & Tina Turner

Ike & Tina Turner

Ike & Tina Turner were an American rock & roll and soul duo, made of the husband-and-wife team of Ike Turner and Tina Turner in the 1960s and 1970s. Spanning sixteen years together as a recording group, the duo's repertoire included rock & roll, soul, blues and funk...

, 1967.

Eventually, under contract with Warner/Reprise, they would record and release their sole gospel/R&B crossover album, “The Stovall Sisters” (producer, Eric Jacobson) which featured the now-considered classic funk/soul single “Hang On In There” (written by Rejoyce Moss).

The Stovall Sisters would go on to record unreleased tracks for an album with Earth, Wind & Fire’s Philip Bailey

Philip Bailey

Philip Irvin Bailey is an American R&B, soul, gospel and funk singer, songwriter, percussionist and actor, best known as one of the longtime members of Earth, Wind & Fire. Together with Verdine White, B. David Whitworth, and Ralph Johnson he forms the heart of the current EWF line-up on...

 and Maurice White

Maurice White

Maurice White is a Grammy Award–winning American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, arranger. He is the older brother of Verdine White and Fred White and the leader and founder of the band Earth, Wind & Fire...

but would disband before its release. After several years of separate and solo projects the sisters reunited in 2007 to continue to perform as the Stovall Sisters in numerous live performances and as studio backup singers, adding their unique gospel soul/funk signature sound to a new generation of music. The Stovall Sisters currently reside in Oakland, Calif.

Discography

Song Bird Records:

• The Lord's Prayer
• The Twenty Third Psalms
• Troubled Heart
• God's Gonna Move His Hands (Lion Publishing Co. Inc.)

Avant Records:

• Time Is Winding Up and I'm Going On With Jesus

Warner/Reprise:

• 1970 “The Stovall Sisters” album