{"id":4049,"date":"2024-04-11T14:43:44","date_gmt":"2024-04-11T14:43:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/foreverinourhearts\/?p=4049"},"modified":"2024-04-11T18:55:05","modified_gmt":"2024-04-11T18:55:05","slug":"remembering-the-life-of-gospel-artist-and-pastor-sandra-crouch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/foreverinourhearts\/2024\/04\/remembering-the-life-of-gospel-artist-and-pastor-sandra-crouch.html","title":{"rendered":"Remembering the Life of Gospel Artist and Pastor Sandra Crouch"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sandra Crouch, the collaborator and twin sister of gospel music legend Andra\u00e9 Crouch, died in March after an illness, her publicist said. Crouch, 81, will be honored with a musical tribute and funeral at New Christ Memorial Church in San Fernando, California, set for April 16\u201317, according to an announcement. She died in a California hospital after having complications from treatment for a noncancerous lesion in her brain.<\/p>\n

Though her brother\u2019s name is more widely known, Crouch was influential in both ministry and music within and beyond the gospel genre. She co-wrote \u201cJesus Is the Answer\u201d with her brother, a 1970s hit on both Black gospel and white gospel radio stations. In the 1980s, she composed, produced, and sang the lead on \u201cWe Sing Praises,\u201d for which she won a Grammy in 1984 for best soul gospel performance by a female, helping keep Light Records out of bankruptcy. The label has continued to feature many other gospel acts, including The Winans, Walter Hawkins and the Hawkins Family, and Commissioned, as noted by jazz and folk singer-songwriter Dara Starr Tucker in a social media post paying tribute to Sandra Crouch.<\/p>\n

Tucker said, \u201cIf you grew up with gospel music in the \u201970s, \u201980s, and \u201990s, then this label itself is iconic for you. For those reasons and so many more, Sandra Crouch was a hugely influential figure in the world of gospel music,\u201d adding that Crouch also played the tambourine on hits for the Jackson 5. At the time of her death, Crouch was senior pastor of New Christ Memorial, after her twin brother took the controversial step in 1998 of ordaining her as copastor of the Pentecostal church started by their parents decades earlier.<\/p>\n

The ordination went against the ban of the Church of God in Christ, with which the congregation in the Los Angeles suburbs was affiliated. The Crouch siblings renamed the church, originally known as Christ Memorial Church of God in Christ, after her ordination.<\/p>\n

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@darastarrtucker<\/a> #greenscreenvideo<\/a> #greenscreen<\/a> #sandracrouch<\/a> #andraecrouch<\/a> #gospelmusichistory<\/a> #gospelmusic<\/a> #thewinans<\/a> #winansfamily<\/a> #walterhawkins<\/a> #thehawkins<\/a> #ralphcarmichael<\/a> #lightrecords<\/a> #sweetcomfortband<\/a> #bryanduncan<\/a> #rebarambo<\/a> #commissioned<\/a> #womenwhochangedmusic<\/a> \u266c Completely Yes – Sandra Crouch<\/a><\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n