Sister wynona carr biography

Biography.
Wynona Merceris Carr (August 23, 1923 – May 11, 1976) was an American gospel, R&B and rock and roll singer-songwriter, who recorded as Sister Wynona Carr.
Wynona Merceris Carr was an American gospel, R&B and rock and roll singer-songwriter, who recorded as Sister Wynona Carr when performing gospel material.

•

Wynona Carr

Wynona Carr

Birth name	Wynona Merceris Carr
Also known as	Sister Wynona Carr
Born	(1923-08-23)August 23, 1923 Cleveland, Ohio, United States
Died	May 11, 1976(1976-05-11) (aged 52) Cleveland, Ohio, United States
Genres	Gospel, R&B, rock and roll
Occupation(s)	Singer, songwriter

Musical artist

Wynona Merceris Carr (August 23, 1923 – May 11, 1976)^[1] was an American gospel, R&B and rock and rollsinger-songwriter, who recorded as Sister Wynona Carr when performing gospel material.

Biography

Carr was born in Cleveland, Ohio, where she started out as a gospel singer, forming her own five-piece group The Carr Singers around 1945 and touring the Cleveland/Detroit area. Being tipped by the Pilgrim Travelers, who shared a bill with Carr in the late 1940s, Art Rupe signed her to his Specialty label, giving Carr her new stage name "Sister" Wynona Carr (modelled after pioneering gospel singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe) and cutting some twenty sides with her from 1949 to 1954,^[2] including a couple

•

Wynona Carr

Cleveland, 1930s - early 1970s

1959 ad, back in Cleveland

Wynona Carr seems to be almost completely forgotten in the discussions of Cleveland music history. There's not even any mentions of her in the Plain Dealer or the Call and Post after the late 1960s, not even an obituary. The biographical info online is often wrong and repetitive.

We'll try and give a brief bio and maybe someone will be inspired to dig deeper and give her the respect she deserves.

In the 1930s, barely in her teens, she was already a leading gospel singer in Cleveland. She performed in Rev Lucas' radio choir, then in the Turner Singers, before forming her own group, the Carr sisters, with her family. Word spread quickly about her talent and she was appearing, as legend has it, at the New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, at the behest of Rev. C.L. Franklin. Among the audience was the Reverend's daughter Aretha.

1951

She was scouted by Specialty Record in Los Angeles, at the time one of the leading labels for Black gospel artists. Her first recordings were in 1949, as Specia

•

Wynona Carr was born and raised in Cleveland, where she grew up singing in church. She began singing on the radio at the age of thirteen, and performed with and directed several gospel groups in the region, including the Turner Singers, the Carr Singers, and the Wings Over Jordan Choir. At twenty-one, she led a Detroit-based Baptist chorus that included Aretha Franklin and Della Reese. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, she received increasing recognition as a solo singer and was billed as “Sister Wynona Carr.”

Carr was also a songwriter, and she expressed a desire to record as much of her own material as possible. Several of her singles were her own compositions, and she wrote for other gospel performers as well. She collaborated on songwriting efforts with J. W. Alexander, best known for his work with the Pilgrim Travelers and for his role in launching Sam Cooke’s career. Alexander in turn helped her to secure a recording contract with Art Rupe’s Specialty Records. “The Ball Game,” which makes an analogy between avoiding sin and playing baseball, gained some national attention