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Gospel Great Charles Johnson

album cover for the sensational nightingales
Universal Special Products

For more than two decades, Charles Johnson was the lead singer for the Durham-based gospel quartet The Sensational Nightingales. His hit single, “It’s Gonna Rain” spent dozens of weeks on the Billboard gospel charts. The album of the same name reportedly sold one million copies.

Later in his career Johnson broke away to form his own gospel group. Last year The Sensational Nightingales were inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame. Johnson’s son, Joseph Johnson Ham, joins host Frank Stasio to talk about his father’s life on the road, his friendship with Sam Cooke and his passion for baseball. He will share stories of a very private man who loved music but loved his wife even more. It was a love so strong that his father later gave up his career for his wife.

Ham will be at the Stafford L. Warren Library in Durham on Sunday, May 13 at 3 p.m for a discussion called "Another River to Cross: Charles Johnson Gospel Messenger.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVHSbVQxLkM

Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
Dana is an award-winning producer who began as a personality at Rock 92. Once she started creating content for morning shows, she developed a love for producing. Dana has written and produced for local and syndicated commercial radio for over a decade. WUNC is her debut into public radio and she’s excited to tell deeper, richer stories.
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