(Hardcover Book And Accompanying 4 CD Music Collection From Malaco Records) Not since Thomas A. Dorsey had one individual introduced as many unforgettable songs to the gospel music songbook as he did. Nor had any single artist so skillfully and incrementally broadened the boundaries of church music while remaining faithful to its traditional foundation as Cleveland did. Most gospel stars—and many pop artists, for that matter—can trace some aspect of their artistic formation, directly or indirectly, to his influence as a songwriter, arranger, musician, singer, director, producer, and teacher. Malaco Music Group’s The King of Gospel Music assembles in one package some of Cleveland’s finest recordings spanning four decades—from his Janu - ary 1951 lead vocal with the Gospelaires to his final session in 1990, just months before his untimely passing in February 1991 at age 59. In between are samples of his solo work as well as collaborations with the Voices of Tabernacle, Gospel All Stars, Gospel Chimes, Angelic Choir, Caravans, Charles Fold Singers, Southern California Community Choir, Voices of Cornerstone, L. A. Gospel Messengers, and many others. Added to these are highlights from Savoy Records’ James Cleveland Presents series—several tracks appearing on CD for the first time. Robert M. Marovich, a gospel music historian and 2019 GRAMMY Award nominee, Best Album Notes, for The Gospel According to Malaco, traces Cleveland’s story from his humble beginnings in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood to his many achievements, including his work with Aretha Franklin on her 1972 double platinum Amazing Grace and founding the Gospel Music Workshop of America. The narrative is enriched by personal reflections from Cleveland’s family, friends, fellow singers and musicians, and others who walked alongside him as he shared his vision of Christianity with the world. The book contains rare photos and never-before[1]published insights into the man whose contributions to gospel music still reverberate more than thirty years after Robert M. Marovich is founder and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Gospel Music (www.journalofgospelmusic.com), and host of the award-winning weekly radio show “Gospel Memories” on Chicago’s WLUW-FM. He is author of A City Called Heaven: Chicago and the Birth of Gospel Music (University of Illinois Press, 2015) and Peace Be Still (University of Illinois Press, 2021). His work has been published in Chicago History, the Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) Journal, the Chicago Reader, Living Blues, The Voice, Blues & Rhythm: The Gospel Truth, and the New York Times.Marovich wrote the album notes for gospel music reissue CDs on Sallie and Cora Martin; the Gospelaires of Dayton, Ohio; Savoy Records; Halo Records; Specialty and Vee Jay Records (Jesus Rocked the Jukebox, Craft 2017); and contributed notes to the gospel section of Earwig Records’ award-winning boxed set, Cadillac Baby’s Bea and Baby Records. In 2019, he was nominated for a GRAMMY Award, Best Album Notes, for The Gospel According to Malaco.A graduate of the University of Notre Dame and Lake Forest Graduate School of Management, Marovich lives in Chicago with his wife, author and entrepreneur Laurel Delaney.