Editing Roberta Martin

{{Short description|American gospel musician and choral organizer (1907–1969)}}
{{More citations needed|date=December 2007}}
{{Infobox musical artist <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Musicians -->
| name            = Roberta Martin
| image           = Roberta Martin.jpg
| background      = solo_singer
| birth_name      = Roberta Evelyn Martin
| alias           = 
| birth_date      = {{Birth date|1907|2|12}}
| birth_place     = [[Helena, Arkansas]], U.S.
| death_date      = {{Death date and age|1969|1|18|1907|2|12}} 
| death_place     = Mercy Hospital, [[Chicago, Illinois]], U.S.
| instrument      = [[Piano]]
| genre           = [[Gospel music]]
| occupation      = [[Vocalist]], [[composer]]
| years_active    = 1930s&ndash;1969
| label           = [[Apollo Records (1944)|Apollo]], [[Savoy Records|Savoy]]
| past_member_of  = [[The Roberta Martin Singers]]
| website         = 
}}
'''Roberta Evelyn Martin''' (February 12, 1907 – January 18, 1969) was an American [[Gospel music|gospel]] composer, singer, pianist, arranger and choral organizer, helped launch the careers of many other gospel artists through her group, '''The Roberta Martin Singers'''.<ref>Young Alan. ''Woke Me Up This Morning: Black Gospel Singers and the Gospel Life'', University Press of Mississippi (1997), page xiv; {{ISBN|0-87805-944-X}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/contemporaryblac0058unse_c7n8 |title=Contemporary Black biography: profiles from the international Black community ; Volume 58 |date=2007 |publisher=Thomson Gale |isbn=978-0-7876-7930-9 |editor-last=Pendergast |editor-first=Sara |series=Gale eBooks |location=Detroit, Mich |pages=105–107 |editor-last2=Pendergast |editor-first2=Tom |editor-last3=Gale (Firm)}}</ref>

==Early years==
{{More citations needed|section|date=June 2023}}
Born in [[Helena, Arkansas]], on February 12, 1907, Martin moved to [[Chicago]] with her family in 1917, where she studied [[piano]].<ref name=":0" /> Although a high school teacher inspired her to dream of becoming a concert pianist, her future course was changed after accompanying the Young People's Choir at [[Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church (Chicago)|Ebenezer Baptist Church]]. She came into contact with [[Thomas A. Dorsey]], known as the Father of Gospel Music, through her work as the pianist for the youth choir. With Dorsey's help, she and Theodore Frye organized the Martin-Frye Quartet, a youth group consisting of Eugene Smith, Norsalus McKissick, Robert Anderson, James Lawrence, Willie Webb and Romance Watson, in 1933. Martin renamed the group the Roberta Martin Singers in 1936 and added Bessie Folk, Myrtle Scott and Delois Barrett Campbell to the group in the 1940s. The group set the standard for the gospel choir and mixed group, and had an extremely successful recording career, featuring such hits as "Only A Look," and "Grace."<ref>Wimbush, Vincent L. ''African Americans and the Bible: Sacred Texts and Social Structures'', Continuum International Publishing Group (2001), pg. 471; {{ISBN|0-8264-1376-5}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=McNeil |first=W. K. |title=Encyclopedia of American Gospel Music |date=October 18, 2013 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9781135377007 |pages=242}}</ref>

Most of these songs were published by Roberta Martin Studio of Music, a publishing house in [[Chicago]] that she incorporated in 1939, and would eventually publish outstanding compositions by gospel artists ranging from [[Alex Bradford|Professor Alex Bradford]] to [[James Cleveland]]. Her first composition, "Try Jesus, He Satisfies," was an immediate hit in 1943.<ref>Darden, Bob. ''People Get Ready!: A New History of Black Gospel Music'', Continuum International Publishing Group (2004), pg. 190; {{ISBN|0-8264-1436-2}}</ref>

==Musical career==
{{Unreferenced section|date=June 2023}}
The theme song of the Roberta Martin Singers is "Only A Look."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Greer |first=Ronald L. |title=Only a Look: A Historical Look at the Career of Mrs. Roberta Martin and the Roberta Martin Gospel Singers of Chicago, Illinois |date=September 17, 2015 |publisher=WestBow Press |isbn=9781512708981}}</ref> It was always sung at the opening of their concerts, at their annual Anniversary Program in Chicago, and was recorded on the [[Apollo Records (1944)|Apollo]] label with Bessie Folk with Delois Barrett as lead soloists and later on the Savoy label with Delois Barrett as lead vocalist.

Martin complemented her group's performance with her piano accompaniment, which often dictated the rhythm and pace of the song or commented on it by responding to or accenting a singer's performance. Martin's piano style reflected the influence of Holiness artists such as [[Arizona Dranes]] and her classical training.

The other musical signature of the Roberta Martin Singers was the accompaniment of [[Lucy Smith Collier|"Little" Lucy Smith]] on the Hammond organ. Her droning introductory chord and unique "passes" using the bass pedals set the tone for a meditative experience and became a recognized  trademark of a "Roberta Martin gospel song".
 
Martin briefly retired from music in the 1960s due in part to her battle with cancer, but came back to record her final album ''Praise God (from whom all blessings flow)'', and her vocal recording, "I Have Hope", which was written by her friend Jessie Jimerson (aka Jessie Jimerson-Phillips).

Her group disbanded upon her death in 1969, but the surviving members continued to perform as a group in reunion concerts into the 21st century. Many of the members later had solo careers, such as Delois Barrett and Gloria Griffin, who was the composer of the classic gospel song "God Specializes", made famous by the Roberta Martin Singers in concerts and recordings.

==Death and legacy==
{{More citations needed|section|date=June 2023}}
Roberta Martin died of [[cancer]] on January 18, 1969, at the age of 61, at Mercy Hospital, Chicago. Her funeral  attracted over 50,000 mourners.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Carney Smith |first=Jessie |title=Notable Black American Women: Book 2 |publisher=Gale Research |year=1992 |isbn=9780810391772 |pages=436}}</ref>

During her lifetime, she had composed about seventy songs, arranged and published 280 gospel songs, and reached and inspired thousands of listeners selling sheet music. Her compositions include "He Knows Just How Much We Can Bear," and "God Is Still on the Throne" (1959), "Let It Be" (1950), and "Just Jesus and Me" (1966). Martin earned six Gold records.<ref>Ruether, Rosemary Radford. ''Encyclopedia of Women And Religion in North America'', Indiana University Press (2006), pg. 991;  {{ISBN|0-253-34687-8}}</ref>

The Roberta Martin Singers sang at Gian-Carlo Menotti's Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds in [[Spoleto]], Italy, in 1963. She helped develop a distinctive gospel-piano style which had a  special sound that integrated, for the first time, men and women into the gospel chorus during the mid-1940s.<ref>Southern, Eileen. ''The Music of Black Americans: A History'' W. W. Norton & Company (1997), pg. 462;  {{ISBN|0-393-03843-2}}</ref>

On July 15, 1998, the [[United States Postal Service]] issued a 32 cent commemorative stamp honoring Martin's influence. The stamp was one of four honoring gospel women. The other women honored were [[Mahalia Jackson]], [[Clara Ward]], and [[Sister Rosetta Tharpe]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=32c Roberta Martin single |url=https://postalmuseum.si.edu/object/npm_1998.2014.55 |access-date=2024-03-11 |website=postalmuseum.si.edu |language=en}}</ref>

==Footnotes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* Tony Heilbut, ''The Gospel Sound: Good News and Bad Times'' Limelight Editions (1997), {{ISBN|0-87910-034-6}}
* Horace Clarence Boyer, ''How Sweet the Sound: The Golden Age of Gospel'' Elliott and Clark (1995) {{ISBN|0-252-06877-7}}
* Bernice Johnson Reagon, ''We'll Understand It Better By And By: Pioneering African-American Gospel Composers'' Smithsonian Institution (1992), {{ISBN|1-56098-166-0}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Roberta}}
[[Category:American gospel singers]]
[[Category:Singers from Arkansas]]
[[Category:Savoy Records artists]]
[[Category:People from Helena, Arkansas]]
[[Category:1907 births]]
[[Category:1969 deaths]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in Illinois]]
[[Category:Apollo Records artists]]
[[Category:20th-century American composers]]
[[Category:20th-century American women composers]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American women singers]]
[[Category:20th-century American women singers]]
[[Category:20th-century American singers]]
[[Category:Gospel music composers]]
[[Category:African-American history in Chicago]]
[[Category:Gospel music pianists]]