A Choir is Born

Taken from an article that appeared in the January edition of LDS Living Magazine - by Cheryl Stewart Osborn

The seed to create a church choir was first planted in Gladys Knight’s heart when she was invited to speak at the 2002 Women’s Conference at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. Gladys yearned to incorporate music into her speech, so she organized a small ensemble of young women to sing with her.

One of those young women is the daughter of Laurie and Sullivan Richardson, members of Gladys Knight’s congregation.

So afterwards when her congregation needed a special musical fireside event, Sullivan approached Gladys with the opportunity to organize a choir. With the help of the Richardsons, Gladys turned to her fellow church members to form a special choir for this event.

“I heard about an audition for Gladys Knight’s choir through a friend, and even though I didn’t believe it was real, I went anyway,” said choir member Temanuata Hunkin. “I couldn’t believe it when Gladys pulled up at the church. After the audition, I called every minority singer I knew to join in this wonderful opportunity.”

Tema’s phone tree eventually made it to Whitney and Losa Teo, who live in Los Angeles, Calif.

“I knew who she was and I knew her story of joining the church, I just wanted to see her,” said Whitney, who immediately caught a flight to Las Vegas to audition.

Whitney is now a choir soloist in the CD song "Uphold Me."

Within a few weeks, Gladys had a full choir. To reflect her idea of Latter-day Saints of many cultures all singing as one, she named the group Saints Unified Voices and began teaching them how to sing gospel music as one voice.

For assistance, Gladys turned to her show’s professional crew at the Flamingo Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. Her long-time pianist John Fluker, who is not LDS, agreed to play for the choir and assist with directing. He is now featured on the choir’s CD in an inspirational duet with Sister Knight titled "Did You Know?"

Kelly Eisenhower, who was then a backup singer for Gladys and had coincidently joined the church the same year as Gladys, also volunteered as an assistant director.

After each show at the Flamingo, Kelly and John worked with Gladys to create gospel-type arrangements for the hymns the choir would sing, such as “Because I Have Been Given Much” and “I Need Thee Every Hour” with short staccato punches mixed with long drawn-out phrasing.

It wasn’t long before two more members of her professional crew volunteered to join the choir as musicians, even though neither are LDS. Scott Cannady, who plays bass and percussion, said he joined not only to help Gladys, but also to praise the Lord.

“I also do it for the friends I’ve made in the choir,” he said. “I like the people of the LDS Church and the love that they have for everybody.”

Organist Matthew Pittman agreed. “I enjoy playing music to praise the Lord and this is one way for me to give back to Him the musical gifts He has given me,” he said. “Working with this choir is a pleasure.”

During Saturday morning rehearsals at an LDS church in the Las Vegas area, the choir members began practicing the songs without any sheet music. They were given only the words typed in paragraph form. This created a unique challenge for choir members who lacked the experience of singing without sheet music.

“There is so much more than notes to this music,” said choir member Todd Orme. “The small nuances and inflections and timings are so small, yet very critical. Because they can make or break a song, it requires much practice to get it right.”

Less than three months later, the choir presented its first stake in August 2002, which coincidently was Sister Knight’s five-year anniversary of joining the church. It was a hot night ­ literally.

For those who stood in line for hours in the sweltering heat of a Las Vegas summer, and then squeezed into the stifling filled-to-capacity church, the evening proved to be an extraordinary event.

“It was inspiring, moving and fun,” says President David Rowberry, counselor in the Green Valley Stake presidency. “You could feel the marvelous spirit.”

Word about Sister Knight’s unique fireside spread quickly. By year-end of 2004, the Saints Unified Voices had presented its program at four Las Vegas stake firesides, at two of Deseret Book’s Time Out for Women in Las Vegas and Phoenix, and at the Tabernacle on Temple Square. Several stake firesides and performances are scheduled nationwide in 2005 & 2006. Check our website for frequent calendar updates.