Howard alumnus Rev. Richard L. Smallwood (B.A. ’71, M.Div ’04), an internationally renowned music composer and choral director, passed away on Tuesday, Dec. 30, at age 77.
Born in Atlanta and raised in the D.C. area, Smallwood’s musical origins trace back to his stepfather’s founding and pastorship of Union Temple Baptist Church in the district’s southeast quadrant during the 1950s. He began to play piano by ear at age five, started formal music training by seven, and formed his first gospel choir by 11. (Howard alumna Roberta Flack was Smallwood’s eighth-grade music instructor at the former Hugh M. Browne Junior High School.) As an undergraduate, Smallwood joined the university’s first gospel group, The Celestials, before becoming a founding member of the Howard University Gospel Choir. He would graduate cum laude in 1971 with dual degrees in classical vocal performance and piano.
Newly emboldened by his Howard education and experiences, Smallwood sought to contemporize the staid traditions of gospel music on a broader scale. As music director of Union Temple’s Young Adult Choir, Smallwood recorded and released his first two studio albums, 1974’s “Look Up and Live” and 1976’s “Give Us Peace.” Inspired by mentor, friend, and fellow music legend Edwin Hawkins, Smallwood formed the Richard Smallwood Singers in 1977. Their eponymous debut was released in 1982 and spent 87 weeks on Billboard magazine’s Top Gospel Albums chart; their second album, 1984’s “Psalms,” topped the chart and earned Smallwood his first Grammy Award nomination. The Richard Smallwood Singers would record seven albums before disbanding, recording their finale live at Howard University in April 1993.
1996 would prove to be a banner year for Smallwood. He reemerged in April with a new choir, Vision. Their inaugural project, “Adoration: Live in Atlanta,” features “Total Praise,” one of the compositions that came to define Smallwood’s career. Later that year, “I Love the Lord” — originally featured on Union Temple’s “Give Us Peace” album — was performed by Whitney Houston for her film “The Preacher’s Wife.” For Smallwood, this was not simply a high-profile placement; it affirmed his writing could move seamlessly from church pews to movie screens without losing its spiritual weight. The moment cemented Smallwood’s position as both a minister-musician and a mainstream songwriter who could bridge gospel’s tradition with its expanding global reach.
In 2005, Smallwood was ordained as a minister at D.C.’s Metropolitan Baptist Church and subsequently became the church’s Artist-in-Residence. He was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2006 and continued releasing new music into the 2010s, concluding his 16-album catalogue with 2015’s “Anthology Live.” Among Smallwood’s myriad plaudits are eight Grammy Award nominations, three Dove Awards, and seven Stellar Gospel Music Awards. On his 75th birthday in 2023, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser issued a proclamation declaring Dec. 1 “Richard Smallwood Day,” and United States President Joe Biden awarded him the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
In 1997, Howard University honored Smallwood with the Alumni Award for Distinguished Postgraduate Achievement, and in 2004, he earned his second degree, a Master of Divinity, from the institution. In April 2024, Howard’s School of Divinity and the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts co-presented a tribute to Smallwood and alumna and legendary gospel organist Elbernita “Twinkie” Clark, during which he received the university’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
“Howard is my home, my heart, and I’m ever grateful for all that this fine institution has done for me over the years,” Smallwood wrote in an appreciation post after the tribute. “From the bottom of my heart, thank you, Howard!”
“We mourn the loss and celebrate the life of highly esteemed musician, composer, pianist, arranger, and producer Rev. Richard L. Smallwood,” said Howard University School of Divinity Dean Kenyatta Gilbert. “We hold our dear brother, his relatives, and friends in the light and commend him to our Creator God as he joins the ancestral family of the faithful.”
“Through his music and ministry, Rev. Richard Smallwood invited listeners into moments of spiritual reflection, drawing them closer to God and offering peace, hope, and reassurance during life’s most difficult seasons,” said university Interim President and President Emeritus Wayne A. I. Frederick. “Howard University is profoundly proud to have played a role in his development as both a musician and a scholar, and we are grateful for the extraordinary global impact of a life lived in service through music.”