- Good friends with Mahalia Jackson and Dorothy Norwood.
- She was awarded the 1995 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album for "Songs of the Church; Live in Memphis".
- She was inducted into the 2001 Gospel Music Hall of Fame.
- She was honored for her contributions to gospel music in a White House ceremony by President George W. Bush in Washington, D.C. (2002).
- She began singing at four years old with the youth choir of the West Point Baptist Church under the direction of Pete Williams. She would later perform with the Williams Singers. At 17 years old, she was singing with Robert Anderson and His Gospel Caravan with Elyse Yancey, Nellie Grace Daniels and Ora Lee Hopkins. She formed the Caravans in 1951 and remained with them until 1970 when she went solo.
- She was the youngest of nine children.
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