Afro-Pentecostalism: Black Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity in History and Culture

7. Crossing Over Jordan: Navigating the Music of Heavenly Bliss and Earthly Desire in the Lives and Careers of Three Twentieth-Century African American Holiness-Pentecostal “Crossover” Artists

| 117 7 Crossing Over Jordan Navigating the Music of Heavenly Bliss and Earthly Desire in the Lives and Careers of Three Twentieth-Century African American Holiness-Pentecostal “Crossover” Artists Louis B. Gallien Jr. Introduction This chapter centers on the lives and relatively brief careers of three African American male “crossover” artists whose religious and musical roots were in the Holiness-Pentecostal church. The lives of Sam Cooke, Donny Hathaway , and Marvin Gaye are well chronicled in popular rock and roll, R&B, and soul musical literature. All three were versatile singers and songwriters, but perhaps their greatest gift was their ability to write and sing with conviction and spirit the songs they learned in church for secular audiences. Unlike their Pentecostal contemporaries, the iconic legends Jerry Lee Lewis and Lil’ Richard Penniman, neither of whom attempted to justify their long secular recording careers,1 at different phases of their careers, Cooke, Hathaway, and Gaye were clearly “tormented” by the dualistic appeal that gospel and secular music maintained over their lives. While their musical talents were crafted in Holiness-Pentecostal churches, all three struggled to reconcile their religious backgrounds and gospel music genesis with their desires to maintain successful secular careers. We explore how their secular and spiritual conflicts complicated and resurrected the depths of their pathos and ambivalence in singing for two cultures . Marvin Gaye, in particular, is viewed by scholars and ministers such as Rev. Michael Eric Dyson, as a transitional figure in both the black church and contemporary soul music.2 Dyson contends that Gaye was able to effectively influence both audiences without denying his faith—that he was, in reality, a true “soul” singer.3 In examining the life of Donny Hathaway, we find a 118 | Gender and Culture man who was both psychologically and spiritually disturbed. The ambivalence that he felt toward his career and music is palpable and even more complicated as he found even greater financial success in his recordings with the R&B legend Roberta Flack. In the 1970s their albums represented one of the more lucrative duo recording partnerships of that era. Finally, the soul, R&B, and contemporary music legend Sam Cooke exemplifies in many ways the complex nature of attempting to honor one’s roots in the church while delivering secular songs which have attracted the admiration and loyalty of people around the world. Cooke’s life and music, much like Lil’ Richard’s, held enormous attraction for white audiences that neither Gaye nor Hathaway would match. Their combined musical compositions, however, have been imitated (and even stolen) by more white artists (such as Pat Boone, the Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel) than any other musical scores of black artists in the past century.4 When we investigate the aggregate lives and impact of all three musicians on the shifting discourse between sacred and secular music, we can see more clearly how the discourse regarding the chasm between these two disparate musical genres began to close, especially as African Americans understood and experienced the marketability and commercial success of their musical heritages. All three were able to financially capitalize on their extensive gospel backgrounds and, in the mean time, gain approval from their local church communities based on a very pragmatic argument: they were able to shape a lucrative career that could positively impact both their immediate families and local congregations. While this argument did not assuage most sanctified folk, it made the men’s transition from gospel music to secular success a bit more palatable to the larger community. Before examining the lives of Cooke, Hathaway, and Gaye, we need to place their lives within the context of a Pentecostal cultural framework. The Crossover Appeal of Black Holiness-Pentecostal Church Culture Scholars have outlined at least four aspects of black Holiness-Pentecostal culture that have been identified as containing a broad crossover appeal into secular music: (1) integration of body and soul; (2) forms of worship that appeal to the head, heart, and hands; (3) songs based on freedom and hope; and (4) performance orientation. First, with regard to the aspect of body and soul, as Teresa Reed and other scholars have suggested, one of the roots of black Pentecostal music is the pre-Christian rites utilized among many African tribes.5 Most distinctly, Crossing Over Jordan | 119 worship styles that are centered on musical genres oriented toward drum beats, rhythms, shouts, clapping, and dancing—all integrated within the service—have a direct kinetic...