By Rev. Dorothy S. Boulware
(WIB) – The sounds of Watch Night services in Black churches have long begun or culminated with “Total Praise” — one of many proofs of the musical genius of gospel music composer, singer, choir director and worshipper Richard Smallwood.
After worship leaders shook themselves from the news that Smallwood, 77, had died on Dec. 30, they altered and enhanced their worship plans to include his music to help end 2025 and usher in 2026 in hybrid services around the country.
“Richard was so dedicated to music, and that was the thing that kept him alive all these years,” Bill Carpenter, Smallwood’s representative, said in the announcement of Smallwood’s passing. “Making music that made people feel something is what made him want to keep breathing and keep moving and keep living.”
A Musical Prodigy Rooted in the Church
Born Nov. 30, 1948, in Atlanta and raised in Washington, D.C., Smallwood showed musical promise early, playing piano by ear at age 5 and forming his first gospel group by 11. He graduated cum laude from Howard University with a degree in music, where he helped launch the school’s first gospel ensemble and gospel choir.
Smallwood had been one of the mainstays of gospel music since his college days at Howard University. Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III recalled that shift during Trinity United Church of Christ’s year-end service, noting how Smallwood’s presence permanently altered the sound — and spirit — of Black worship when he and Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright began the revolution to include gospel music with the traditional hymns and anthems usually sung in Rankin Chapel in those days.
Smallwood is additionally well known for songs such as “The Center of My Joy,” “My Everything,” “His Mercy Endureth Forever,” “Angels,” and “Bless the Lord.” His first album, “Richard Smallwood Singers” was released in 1982.
His arrangement of “I Love the Lord” was made even more famous when sung by Whitney Houston in “The Preacher’s Wife.” Like all his music, it remains a high point of worship in churches worldwide.
You can go into any kind of church — a Black church, a white church, a nondenominational church — and you might hear that song,” Carpenter said of “Total Praise.”
“Somehow it found its footing throughout the whole Christian world. If he never wrote anything else, that would have put him in the modern hymn book.”
Tributes From the Music World
Singer and songwriter Chaka Khan paid tribute on social media, writing on Facebook that Smallwood “opened up my whole world of gospel music.” “His music didn’t just inspire me, it transformed me,” she wrote. “He is my favorite pianist, and his brilliance, spirit, and devotion to the music have shaped generations, including my own journey.”
His legacy will live on through every note and every soul he touched,” Khan wrote. “I am truly looking forward to singing with you in heaven.”
Gospel artist and composer Donald Lawrence called Smallwood “ a genius, a musical genius, a prodigy from a child up. He was very, very, very giving. Just a great friend.”
Smallwood also ministered music at Metropolitan Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. Metropolitan’s pastor, Rev. George L. Parks Jr. said, “He blessed us in so many distinct ways by just sliding in on the piano, playing for our historic communion services and also with our choir,” and said Smallwood’s legacy would continue to be felt worldwide.
That sentiment was echoed by the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses, founded by Dr. Thomas A. Dorsey, which described Smallwood as “a gospel music giant whose influence will be felt through generations to come.”