Overview
- His family announced his death on Instagram, while publicist Bill Carpenter confirmed complications from kidney failure at Brooke Grove Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Maryland.
- He was an eight-time Grammy nominee whose songs such as Total Praise and I Love the Lord became standards recorded by artists including Whitney Houston and Destiny’s Child.
- Smallwood founded the Richard Smallwood Singers in 1977; their 1982 debut spent 87 weeks on Billboard’s Spiritual Albums chart before he later formed the choir Vision.
- He earned multiple Dove and Stellar Awards and was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2006, capping a career that blended classical training with contemporary gospel.
- In recent years he faced health setbacks, including mild dementia, and he is survived by siblings, nieces, nephews, and several godchildren after never marrying.