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Widely regarded as the father of gospel music, Thomas A. In actual fact, his first musical impact was as a blues stylist as both writer and performer. Dorsey, one of 10 children. When he was eight years old, the family moved to Atlanta where he soon was working part time selling ginger ale at a local theater, halfway between a pool hall and a barber shop.

His arrival in Chicago at 17 led to an immersion in the nourishing Windy City blues scene, where he attended music classes and worked day jobs and as a blues singer and player in prohibition era speakeasies at night. Still traveling the blues circuit, he began having his gospel songs printed in sheet music form and selling them for 10c apiece to musicians and pastors.

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He also found time to marry Nettie Harper, a church girl. In the winter of , while on the road performing, he received word of the death of his wife, Nettie, in childbirth, with the newborn dying the next day. In the next years, Dorsey spent much of his time on tour and became a successful Black music publisher. Later, in , he married Kathryn Mosely, a union that was blessed with two children.

King, among many others. During the s, he was honored so often with honorary doctorates that he came to be known as Dr. Thomas A. He died in at the ripe old age of 94, but the memory of his wonderful songs, both gospel and blues, will live on and on.