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The Mighty Clouds of Joy was formed in 1959 in Los Angeles as a tradition-based style group. It wasn't until 1961 as the group became famous, they added bass, drums, and keyboards to the standard guitar backup and developed a funky sound that split the difference between gospel and rhythm and blues.
At the age of 14, he visited an uncle in Los Angeles and decided to stay. He enrolled at Thomas Jefferson High School, and in 1955, he started the group Mighty Clouds of Joy. [6] Ligon recalled in 1985 that he was inspired to form the group after seeing Rev. Julius Cheeks, of the Sensational Nightingales, perform at a concert in Los Angeles. [8]
He became a member of the Mighty Clouds of Joy gospel group, before joining the Santa Monica Soul Seekers as a tenor singer. In 1955, the Soul Seekers approached Maxwell Davis at Modern Records for a recording deal, and he persuaded them to concentrate on secular R&B music.
Despite hiding his identity, he was still found out and asked to leave the Mighty Clouds of Joy as a result. [ 3 ] His later life is obscure, although it is believed that he did perform occasionally as a member of the Mighty Clouds of Joy before leaving the music industry in the late 1960s.
Billy Joe Thomas was born in Hugo, Oklahoma, on August 7, 1942.He was the son of Geneva and Vernon Thomas. [3] [4] Thomas grew up both in and near Houston; he graduated from Lamar Consolidated High School in Rosenberg, Texas.
In 1956 he became a founding member of the gospel group The Mighty Clouds of Joy in Los Angeles, with Little Johnny Taylor and others. His younger brother, Walter Hammond, became a member of vocal group The Olympics. [1]
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As a teenager, Edwards joined a gospel vocal group called The Mighty Clouds of Joy, and studied piano and musical composition at the Detroit Conservatory of Music. [2] After learning that Sam Cooke had switched from gospel to secular music, he organized his own soul/jazz group, Dennis Edwards and the Firebirds in 1961.