The myths just keep on comin’…

…and they’ll never stop, so why bother to try and stop them?

In this case, I’m not out to change anyone’s mind. I’m just posting the following to provide another point of view on an issue that comes up now and again on gospel music message boards.

It came up again this week on the Southern Gospel News message board…under the pretext of a class project. The question posed was very simple…Is George Younce the greatest bass singer of all time?

In a word, no.

My reasons for saying so are several and specific. It is all very well to love Younce for what he was, a kind, humble man who was a gifted singer, and one of the finest goodwill ambassadors gospel music ever saw. And of course, he was a major part of one of the finest gospel quartets of all time…and he entertained and blessed a LOT of people with his talents.

He was a bass singer that had a very pleasant voice that could anchor chords effectively, yet his upper register was such that he could probably sing most quartet lead lines as well…such versatility is QUITE uncommon in this day and age among gospel bass singers.

All that said, the claim of being the greatest of all time is a bit much. Do the people who so rabidly claim this for Younce aware that gospel quartet history spans over 80 YEARS, and includes a whole bunch of similarly gifted and talented bass singers? I seriously doubt it.

And leaving aside the obvious talents of great bass singers such as Arnold Hyles, Jim Waites, and Aycel Soward, does anyone seriously believe that Younce was the superior talent to men such as JD Sumner, London Parris, Jay Simmons, Herschel Wooten, Bill Lyles, Jim “Big Chief” Wetherington, Herman Harper, Bob Thacker, Armond Morales, Noel Fox, Billy Todd, Doug Jones, Gerald Williams, Brock Speer, or even Chalmers Walker?

Perhaps some of these men…but certainly not the majority of them. I would be willing to wager that most of the supporters of the idea that Younce is the greatest of all never even HEARD of most of those men. What basis, then, does someone have for making such a claim without the ability to make a fair comparison?

The answer is, they can’t…but that doesn’t stop them from trying in their zeal!

I contend further that the question of Younce’s greatness was never even an issue among gospel music fans until the Cathedral Quartet(of which he was arguably the key member)became the #1 quartet in the gospel business.

And that was only after groups like the Blackwood Brothers and the Statesmen had passed from the scene, the Stamps had mostly become Elvis Presley’s backup group, the Imperials had moved on to CCM, and there was a dearth of competition in the quartet field.

When Younce really entered gospel music’s “big leagues” and joined the Blue Ridge Quartet in the late 1950s, he was in one of gospel’s most popular and visible quartets, and yet, despite his voice being at its’ arguable best, no one even thought of Younce as among the very best basses. The names mentioned most in that regard were JD, Chief, Morales, even Parris(from some!), but Younce was never ever regarded as the best. This despite the fact that he could probably do what he’s so adored for today as well(if not better)than he could at any time. He just was not seen in that light.

Younce maintained his skill level in the early Cathedral years that he possessed during his Blue Ridge years, and like everyone, saw it diminish gradually with time. It’s only my guess, but I would say that by the time the Cathedrals had reached the top of the quartet world, he was only 75%(at best)of the bass singer he was during the 1960s and 1970s. Now if no one noticed how good he might have been when his voice was at its best, how is he supposed to have become greater than all his predecessors after it had declined? You got me.

Now, if you want to make the case that Younce was a better bass than his contemporaries after the Cathedrals had reached the top of the field, I’d be more open to hearing you. After all, compared to the likes of Ray Dean Reese or Tim Riley, certainly Younce was preeminent.

But the greatest of all time? Spare me.

I don’t mean for a minute to say that Younce was not a very, very good bass singer. Certainly he was, and one of the finest men ever to sing gospel music to boot. I just don’t want him to be referred to as something he wasn’t…not to me, or to most of his peers.

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