Richard Smallwood, the celebrated gospel composer, arranger, and recording artist whose music shaped contemporary gospel for more than five decades, has died. According to official details from Brooke Grove Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Sandy Spring, Maryland, Smallwood passed away on Tuesday, December 30, 2025, at 12:36 a.m. due to complications from kidney failure. He was 77. His death was confirmed through verified statements connected to his care facility, marking the end of a singular career that bridged classical training, Black church traditions, and modern gospel expression.
Richard Smallwood’s Life, Education, and Rise as a Gospel Music Innovator
Born on November 30, 1948, in Atlanta and raised primarily in Washington, D.C., Smallwood was immersed in faith and music from an early age under the guidance of his mother, Mabel, and his stepfather, Reverend Chester Lee “C.L.” Smallwood, longtime pastor of Union Temple Baptist Church. He began playing piano by ear at five, entered formal training by seven, and organized his own gospel group by age eleven. His academic path led him to Howard University, where he graduated cum laude with a music degree and helped establish both the university’s first gospel choir and its pioneering gospel ensemble, the Celestials. During this period, he studied under future soul icon Roberta Flack and formed lifelong connections with classmates including Donny Hathaway, Debbie Allen, and Phylicia Rashad.
After briefly teaching music at the University of Maryland, Smallwood founded the Richard Smallwood Singers in 1977, inspired by a live performance from the Edwin Hawkins Singers. The group introduced a progressive, contemporary gospel sound that resonated with younger, college-educated audiences and stood apart from traditional gospel acts of the era. Signed to Onyx Records in 1982, their debut album remained on Billboard’s Spiritual Albums chart for 87 weeks, while the 1984 release Psalms reached No. 1 and earned a Grammy nomination. Their later work, including Textures and the enduring ballad “Center of My Joy,” expanded Smallwood’s reach into broader Christian music communities and led to historic international performances, including a late-1980s concert tour in the Soviet Union.
