The Charles Fold Singers

Charles Fold organised a choir called the Charles Fold Singers, in Cincinnati, Ohio. The choir burst on the national scene when they teamed up with the Reverend James Cleveland on Jesus Is the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me. A gospel version of You’re the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me, written in 1971 by Jim Weatherly and immortalised in 1974 by Gladys Knight And The Pips, was the title track of a double album recorded live at Cincinnati’s Bible Way Church of God in Christ. Released in 1975 on Savoy Records, the album maintained a steady presence on Billboard’s Top Spiritual Albums chart and was named the top gospel album of the year on Billboard’s 1976 Talent in Action list. It was the first of several Savoy LPs featuring Cleveland and the Charles Fold Singers. Like the James Cleveland / Angelic Choir partnership of the 1960s, the James Cleveland / Charles Fold partnership provided music ministers with soulful performances and arrangements of songs that they could teach to their church choirs. Among their most memorable performances were Touch Me (1976), Tomorrow (1978), Never Will I Turn Back (1979) and Lord, Let Me Be an Instrument (1979). The latter song earned Cleveland and the Charles Fold Singers a Grammy Award in 1981 for Best Gospel Soul Performance, Traditional. For decades, Fold was an active member of James Cleveland’s Gospel Music Workshop of America, serving as president of the Cincinnati chapter, board member of the national organization and co-chairman of the international chapters. The Charles Fold Singers were inducted into the International Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2002.