Fisk Jubilee Singers

The Fisk Jubilee Singers are an African-American a cappella ensemble, consisting of students at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. The first group was organized in 1871 to tour and raise funds for college. Their early repertoire consisted mostly of traditional spirituals, but included some songs by Stephen Foster. The original group toured along the Underground Railroad path in the United States, as well as performing in England and Europe. Later 19th-century groups also toured in Europe.

Fisk Jubilee Singers

A cappella

1871 (1871)–present

In 2002, the Library of Congress honored their 1909 recording of "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" by adding it in the United States National Recording Registry.^[1] In 2008 they were awarded a National Medal of Arts.

1996, the honored the Singers with a Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award.^[21]

National Arts Club

2000, the singers were inducted into the .^[21]

Gospel Music Hall of Fame

2006, the group was honored on the .^[21]

Music City Walk of Fame

2004, the song "Poor Man Lazarus" on the Singers' 2003 recording In Bright Mansions was honored with a .^[21]

Dove Award

In Bright Mansions also was nominated for a that year in the Best Recording Package category.^[30]

Grammy Award

2008, the group was awarded the .^[21]

National Medal of Arts

2009, Fisk Jubilee Singers, with , released the song "I Believe" on the compilation album Oh Happy Day: An All-Star Music Celebration,^[31] and received a Grammy nomination for Best Gospel Performance.^[32]

Jonny Lang

2021: Their album Celebrating Fisk! The 150th Anniversary Album was nominated for a in the Best Roots Gospel Album category.The album won the Grammy - the first for the Fisk Jubilee Singers.

Grammy Award

I Want to Be Ready (2021)

Celebrating Fisk: the 150th Anniversary Album (2020), which was awarded "Best Roots Gospel Album" at the 63rd Grammy Awards in 2021.

Roll Jordan Roll (2015)

Fisk Jubilee Singers (2011)

Gospel Music Hall of Fame Series - The Fisk Jubilee Singers (2009), a remastered collection of recordings from the early 1980s

Sacred Journey (2007)

The Fisk Jubilee Singers: Singing Our Song (2007), produced by the Tennessee Arts Commission

In Bright Mansions (2003)

Fisk Jubilee Singers Vol. 3 (1924-1940) (1997)

Fisk Jubilee Singers Vol. 2 (1915-1920) (1997)

Fisk Jubilee Singers Vol. 1 (1909-1911) (1997)

Spirituals (1958)

The Gold and Blue Album (1955)

The Fisk Jubilee Singers have produced vast numbers of recordings over their 150-year history. For example, the Discography of American Historical Recordings lists 82 master recordings just from the period 1909 - 1927, made for four major early record companies (Victor, Columbia, OKeh, and Edison). The group's releases since then include:

; Spottswood, Dick (2004). Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890-1919. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-02850-2. JSTOR 10.5406/j.ctt2jcc81. Retrieved March 1, 2021.

Tim Brooks

Jubilee Songs: as sung by the Jubilee Singers, of Fisk University, New York: Biglow & Main, 1872, 23408895M

OL

Bruce Makoto Arnold, Roland W. Mitchell, and , "Massified Illusions of Difference:Photography and the Mystique of the American Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)", in Journal of American Studies of Turkey, 41 (2015): 69–94. Massified Illusions of Difference: Photography and the Mystique of the American Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)

Noelle W. Arnold

Spirituals and the Birth of a Black Entertainment Industry, University of Illinois Press, 2018.

Sandra Jean Graham

official website

Fisk Jubilee Singers

from the Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara Library.

Fisk Jubilee Singers cylinder recordings

from the Discography of American Historical Recordings created and maintained by the University of California, Santa Barbara Library.

Fisk Jubilee Singers