Reverend Cleavant Derricks (May 13, 1910 in

Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

– April 14, 1977) was a

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

and choir director at a number of black Baptist churches. He studied at Cadek Conservatory of Music in Chattanooga, A & I State University and American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville. At age 21, he directed a gospel choir of more than 100 voices in Washington, D.C. at the Vermont Avenue Baptist Church. Cleavant Derricks counted among his friends many well-known artists, one of which was

Mahalia Jackson Mahalia Jackson ( ; born Mahala Jackson; October 26, 1911 – January 27, 1972) was an American gospel singer, widely considered one of the most influential vocalists of the 20th century. With a career spanning 40 years, Jackson was integral to t ...

. He pastored churches throughout Tennessee at Dayton, Knoxville and Jackson; also in Beloit, Wisconsin and Washington, D.C. Mr. Derricks has many outstanding credits: pastor, church builder, choir director, poet, musician, and composer of note, having written more than 300 songs and several song books. Among his more famous songs are the much-recorded and performed "

Just a Little Talk with Jesus "Just a Little Talk with Jesus" is a gospel music song published by Stamps-Baxter Music Company on January 1, 1937, written by Cleavant Derricks. In 1936, he sold the song to Stamps-Baxter in exchange for fifty songbooks, which he then sold for ...

," "When God Dipped His Love In My Heart," "We'll Soon Be Done With Troubles and Trials," and "When He Blessed My Soul." He was inducted into the

Gospel Music Hall of Fame The Gospel Music Hall of Fame, created in 1972 by the Gospel Music Association, is a Hall of Fame dedicated exclusively to recognizing meaningful contributions by individuals and groups in all forms of gospel music. Inductees This is an incompl ...

in 1984. He is the father of twin actor sons Cleavant Derricks and Clinton Derricks-Carroll.

References

1910 births 1977 deaths African-American songwriters Gospel music composers 20th-century American composers 20th-century African-American musicians {{US-songwriter-stub