The legendary Golden Gate Quartet, GGQ for short, is the oldest and most successful, still active Gospel "Jubilee quartet" in the world. The quartet was formed in 1934 in Norfolk, Virginia, as the Golden Gate Jubilee Singers by students Willie Johnson (baritone), William Langford (tenor), Henry Owens (second tenor), and Orlandus Wilson (bass). Inspired by the Mills Brothers, the quartet was trying its hand at popular music styles early on. Many appearances in churches and especially a regular radio show made the group known regionally. The first recordings were made in 1937, when the group recorded fourteen songs in only two hours! They also came to the ears of jazz- and concert-producer John Hammond, who organized the first "From Spirituals to Swing"- concert at New York's Carnegie Hall in 1938, presenting – alongside the GGQ – Blues musician Big Bill Broonzy, early jazz by Sidney Bechet and Boogie Woogie with Albert Ammons and James Pete Johnson as forerunners of the jazz stars of the time, especially Count Basie, Lester Young and Benny Goodman.
Frenetically welcomed by New Yorkers, the GGQ soon became a fixture in the program of Café Society, the hottest music club in the Big Apple. The quartet was also the first black group ever to be invited to perform at the White House where they performed at the inauguration ceremony of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Constitutional Hall in 1941 – with many more presidential invitations to follow. Recordings for Columbia, appearances in Hollywood movies and highly popular tours overseas, kept increasing their fame until the end of World War II. The young Elvis was a fan of the group and remained loyal to them even later, when he had become a star and could often be seen in the audience at their concerts. From the mid-1950s on the GGQ conquered concert stages around the world and, with a new cast, continues to delight its audience in the 21st century.
