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Created page with "{{Infobox musician | name = The Hemphills: Joel and LaBreeska | origin = Bastrop, Louisiana, USA | genre = Go..."
{{Infobox musician
| name = The Hemphills: Joel and LaBreeska
| origin = Bastrop, [[Louisiana]], USA
| genre = [[Gospel music]]
| years_active =
| label =Canaan Records<br>
Heartwarming Records
| associated_acts = Happy Goodman Family<br>The McKeithens
| instrument =[[Piano]], [[lead guitar]], [[steel guitar]], drums
| website =
| current_members = Inactive
| past_members = Joel Hemphill, Sr. (lead singer), LaBreeska Hemphill (alto), Joel "Joey" Hemphill, Jr. (drums), Trent Hemphill (bas and pianos), Candy Hemphill Christmas (soprano), Tim McKeithen (baritone), Dixie McKeithen (soprano), Gary Smith (piano), Jerry Burnside (lead guitar), Mike Allen (drums), and Glen Paul (steel guitar)
}}
'''The Hemphills''' were a family [[gospel music]] group active in mostly the [[Southern United States|American South]] from 1968 to 1990. The group resurfaced in 1998 as a husband-and-wife duo.
==Background==
The group was founded in Bastrop in Morehouse Parish, [[[Louisiana]], by the [[Pentecostalism|Pentecostal]] pastor Joel Hemphill, Sr. (born 1939) and his [[Alabama]]-born wife, the former LaBreeska Rogers (1940-2015). Joel Hemphill is a native of West Monroe, Louisiana, and himself the son of a pastor, William Tillmon Hemphill (1892-1981), and the father's second wife, the former Beatrice Brown (1918-2008).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/shreveporttimes/obituary.aspx?pid=167028322|title=Verba Hemphill Spillers (Half sister of Joel Hemphill, Sr.)|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''|date=September 19, 2013|accessdate=May 16, 2016}}</ref>
Joel was the lead singer; LaBreeska sang alto. The couple wed in 1957 and relocated in 1972 to [[Nashville]], [[Tennessee]], to be near the center of the [[country music]] industry. Their three children, Joel, Jr. (drums), Trent (bass and pianist), and Candy Hemphill Christmas (soprano), sang with the group until 1990, when all left to follow their own paths. There were also non-family member musicians employed for the band. In the early years, Tim McKeithen (baritone), a nephew of Joel Hemphill, and Tim's wife, Dixie (soprano), filled the spots prior to the arrival of the Hemphill children.<ref name=allmusic>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-hemphills-mn0000088220/biography|title=The Hemphills Artist Biography|publisher=allmusic.com|accessdate=May 17, 2016}}</ref> Tim and Dixie later formed their own group, The McKeithens.<ref name=sghistory/>
==Career==
Before they went on tour, The Hemphills negotiated their first recording contract in 1966 as a duet with Canaan Records, a division of Word, then the largest gospel music company.<ref name=labreeza/> In time, they were particularly known for "Sweetest Words He Ever Said (I Forgive)", "I’ll Soon Be Gone", and "I Came On Business For The King."<ref name=allmusic/>
Having won eight Gospel Music Association Dove Awards, The Hemphills excelled on the music charts in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s,<ref name=labreeza/> with multiple albums under, first, Canaan Records, and then mostly the Heartwarming Records label. Their 1967 album is ''The Country-Gospel Style of The Hemphills''. More recent albums are ''Band of Light'' (1989) and ''Walking in the Light'' (2003). <ref name=sghistory>{{cite web|url=http://sghistory.com/index.php?n=H.Hemphills|title=The Hemphills: History|publisher=sghistory.com|accessdate=May 16, 2016}}</ref> A reviewer for ''[[The Washington Post]]'' described one of The Hemphills concerts held at DAR Constitution Hall in [[Washington, D.C.]], accordingly: "Mrs. Hemphill has a powerful and convincing voice, and The Hemphills do not have one sit-still song in their repertoire.”<ref name=labreeska/>
LaBreeska Rogers Hemphill was born to Walter Erskine Rogers and the former Gussie Mae Goodman, later Gussie Rudd (1923-1990), in Flat Creek in populous Jefferson County near [[Birmingham, Alabama|Birmingham]], Alabama. She first sang at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville at the age of nine with her group, the Happy Goodman Family. Her uncle, Howard "Happy" Goodman (1921-2002), originated the family group<ref>{{cite web|url=
http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Hemphill&GSfn=LaBreeska&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSob=n&GRid=155845845&df=all&|title=LaBreeska Rogers Hemphill|publisher=Findagrave.com|accessdate=May 16, 2016}}</ref> and had his own gospel singing group as well.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7068302|title=Howard Goodman|publisher=Findagrave.com|accessdate=May 16, 2016}}</ref> Young LaBreeska performed during a monthly all-night gospel sing at the Ryman. As she progressed in her singing career, she became known for "I Claim The Blood," "Grandma's Rocking Chair," and "Unfinished Task".<ref name=labreeska/>
In 2011, Joel and LaBreeska Hemphill were inducted into the Louisiana Delta Music Hall of Fame in Ferriday.<ref name=labreeska>{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thenewsstar/obituary.aspx?pid=176855835|title=LaBreeska Hemphill|publisher=''The Monroe News-Star''|location=[[Monroe, Louisiana]]|date=December 13, 2015|accessdate=May 16, 2016}}</ref>
Late in 2015, LaBreeksa Hemphill died at the age of seventy-five in Nashville, Tennessee, after a two-year struggle with brain cancer. She is interred at Hasley Cemetery in West Monroe, Louisiana.<ref name=labreeza/>
Joel Hemphill in two books ''To God Be the Glory'' (2006) and ''Glory to God in the Highest'' (2010) espouses a non-[[Trinity|Trinitarian]] doctrine that [[Jesus Christ]] is not [[God]]. Hemphill claims that Christians should not pray to Jesus, an act he calls idolatry. Instead, he calls the created Jesus a "new man manifested in a flesh-like body. He is not flesh as humans have flesh because he was not made of the earth. Jesus is some kind of phantom having a physical body, but he is not flesh as we know it. He claims God the Father (uncreated but pre-existing) is the only God, and Jesus was a non-human being created by the Father but is not God."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jesus-messiah.com/html/hemphill-doctrine.html|title=Joel Hemphill Doctrine: Hemphillism Jesus is Not God|publisher=jesus-messiah.com|accessdate=August 17, 2016}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hemphills, The}}
[[Category:Music]]
[[Category:Louisiana People]]
[[Category:Alabama]]
|Category:Tennessee]]
[[Category:Pentecostals]]
| name = The Hemphills: Joel and LaBreeska
| origin = Bastrop, [[Louisiana]], USA
| genre = [[Gospel music]]
| years_active =
| label =Canaan Records<br>
Heartwarming Records
| associated_acts = Happy Goodman Family<br>The McKeithens
| instrument =[[Piano]], [[lead guitar]], [[steel guitar]], drums
| website =
| current_members = Inactive
| past_members = Joel Hemphill, Sr. (lead singer), LaBreeska Hemphill (alto), Joel "Joey" Hemphill, Jr. (drums), Trent Hemphill (bas and pianos), Candy Hemphill Christmas (soprano), Tim McKeithen (baritone), Dixie McKeithen (soprano), Gary Smith (piano), Jerry Burnside (lead guitar), Mike Allen (drums), and Glen Paul (steel guitar)
}}
'''The Hemphills''' were a family [[gospel music]] group active in mostly the [[Southern United States|American South]] from 1968 to 1990. The group resurfaced in 1998 as a husband-and-wife duo.
==Background==
The group was founded in Bastrop in Morehouse Parish, [[[Louisiana]], by the [[Pentecostalism|Pentecostal]] pastor Joel Hemphill, Sr. (born 1939) and his [[Alabama]]-born wife, the former LaBreeska Rogers (1940-2015). Joel Hemphill is a native of West Monroe, Louisiana, and himself the son of a pastor, William Tillmon Hemphill (1892-1981), and the father's second wife, the former Beatrice Brown (1918-2008).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/shreveporttimes/obituary.aspx?pid=167028322|title=Verba Hemphill Spillers (Half sister of Joel Hemphill, Sr.)|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''|date=September 19, 2013|accessdate=May 16, 2016}}</ref>
Joel was the lead singer; LaBreeska sang alto. The couple wed in 1957 and relocated in 1972 to [[Nashville]], [[Tennessee]], to be near the center of the [[country music]] industry. Their three children, Joel, Jr. (drums), Trent (bass and pianist), and Candy Hemphill Christmas (soprano), sang with the group until 1990, when all left to follow their own paths. There were also non-family member musicians employed for the band. In the early years, Tim McKeithen (baritone), a nephew of Joel Hemphill, and Tim's wife, Dixie (soprano), filled the spots prior to the arrival of the Hemphill children.<ref name=allmusic>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-hemphills-mn0000088220/biography|title=The Hemphills Artist Biography|publisher=allmusic.com|accessdate=May 17, 2016}}</ref> Tim and Dixie later formed their own group, The McKeithens.<ref name=sghistory/>
==Career==
Before they went on tour, The Hemphills negotiated their first recording contract in 1966 as a duet with Canaan Records, a division of Word, then the largest gospel music company.<ref name=labreeza/> In time, they were particularly known for "Sweetest Words He Ever Said (I Forgive)", "I’ll Soon Be Gone", and "I Came On Business For The King."<ref name=allmusic/>
Having won eight Gospel Music Association Dove Awards, The Hemphills excelled on the music charts in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s,<ref name=labreeza/> with multiple albums under, first, Canaan Records, and then mostly the Heartwarming Records label. Their 1967 album is ''The Country-Gospel Style of The Hemphills''. More recent albums are ''Band of Light'' (1989) and ''Walking in the Light'' (2003). <ref name=sghistory>{{cite web|url=http://sghistory.com/index.php?n=H.Hemphills|title=The Hemphills: History|publisher=sghistory.com|accessdate=May 16, 2016}}</ref> A reviewer for ''[[The Washington Post]]'' described one of The Hemphills concerts held at DAR Constitution Hall in [[Washington, D.C.]], accordingly: "Mrs. Hemphill has a powerful and convincing voice, and The Hemphills do not have one sit-still song in their repertoire.”<ref name=labreeska/>
LaBreeska Rogers Hemphill was born to Walter Erskine Rogers and the former Gussie Mae Goodman, later Gussie Rudd (1923-1990), in Flat Creek in populous Jefferson County near [[Birmingham, Alabama|Birmingham]], Alabama. She first sang at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville at the age of nine with her group, the Happy Goodman Family. Her uncle, Howard "Happy" Goodman (1921-2002), originated the family group<ref>{{cite web|url=
http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Hemphill&GSfn=LaBreeska&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSob=n&GRid=155845845&df=all&|title=LaBreeska Rogers Hemphill|publisher=Findagrave.com|accessdate=May 16, 2016}}</ref> and had his own gospel singing group as well.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7068302|title=Howard Goodman|publisher=Findagrave.com|accessdate=May 16, 2016}}</ref> Young LaBreeska performed during a monthly all-night gospel sing at the Ryman. As she progressed in her singing career, she became known for "I Claim The Blood," "Grandma's Rocking Chair," and "Unfinished Task".<ref name=labreeska/>
In 2011, Joel and LaBreeska Hemphill were inducted into the Louisiana Delta Music Hall of Fame in Ferriday.<ref name=labreeska>{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thenewsstar/obituary.aspx?pid=176855835|title=LaBreeska Hemphill|publisher=''The Monroe News-Star''|location=[[Monroe, Louisiana]]|date=December 13, 2015|accessdate=May 16, 2016}}</ref>
Late in 2015, LaBreeksa Hemphill died at the age of seventy-five in Nashville, Tennessee, after a two-year struggle with brain cancer. She is interred at Hasley Cemetery in West Monroe, Louisiana.<ref name=labreeza/>
Joel Hemphill in two books ''To God Be the Glory'' (2006) and ''Glory to God in the Highest'' (2010) espouses a non-[[Trinity|Trinitarian]] doctrine that [[Jesus Christ]] is not [[God]]. Hemphill claims that Christians should not pray to Jesus, an act he calls idolatry. Instead, he calls the created Jesus a "new man manifested in a flesh-like body. He is not flesh as humans have flesh because he was not made of the earth. Jesus is some kind of phantom having a physical body, but he is not flesh as we know it. He claims God the Father (uncreated but pre-existing) is the only God, and Jesus was a non-human being created by the Father but is not God."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jesus-messiah.com/html/hemphill-doctrine.html|title=Joel Hemphill Doctrine: Hemphillism Jesus is Not God|publisher=jesus-messiah.com|accessdate=August 17, 2016}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hemphills, The}}
[[Category:Music]]
[[Category:Louisiana People]]
[[Category:Alabama]]
|Category:Tennessee]]
[[Category:Pentecostals]]