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Part one of two parts.

Back in 2007, my cousin Frederick “Buster” Johnson and his wife, Lynn, called me from Orlando, Fla., excited about a gospel singing group they had just heard of called the Tommietts.

They were attending the national meeting of the Gospel Music Workshop of America, and the Tommietts’ name — and the fact they were from High Point — came up during a presentation of the history of the organization.

Turns out the Tommietts were very supportive when founder, the Rev. James Cleveland, was trying to get the organization off the ground.

The Rev. Norma Jean Pender of Detroit, who provided the history sketch, told the Johnsons that the Tommietts were among Cleveland’s favorites, and he always lined the group up last on the program because they were guaranteed to bring the house down and have folks dancing in the aisles. 
 

Buster Johnson wanted me to tell him more about the Tommietts.

I had no clue, but it sounded like something I needed to know.  Once I got off the phone, I asked my wife if she knew anything about the group.

Right away, she explained that Aislee Moore, the deceased mother of Bernice Bennett, her business partner at Cha-Ben Ladies Clothing, sang with the group at one time.    

 It has taken me two years to get the facts I needed for this story.  Thanks to Bennett and one of the original group founders, Tom Hailey, I have enough information to make all High Pointers proud of this gospel group.
I began looking through a series of documents that Bennett  shared with me, but something just didn’t seem right. One document said the group was founded in 1961 and named its members. I remembered searching the Tommietts on the Internet and finding a record titled “It Must Be the Lord” on a Copeland label dated 1959.

Two dates meant someone was wrong.  My wife suggested I call Willie Ulmer, who might know the whereabouts of Hailey.

Sure enough, Ulmer gave me Hailey’s cell phone number, and now I could talk with the man for whom the group was named and get the truth. By the way, Tom Hailey is known around town as Tommy.

Hailey said all of the members of the original group were members of Emmanuel Baptist Church on Leonard Street and  sang in a gospel group called the Golden Voices. They had the rhythm of their ancestors and voices of angels that could bring tears to the eyes of those who heard them sing.

Hailey said they enjoyed performing with the Golden Voices, but something was missing.  J.W. Curtis was the manager of the Golden Voices, and he wanted to go on the road only about four times a year, while Hailey and some others wanted to travel more. They decided to form their own group.

The organizational meeting of the Tommietts took place at the home of Aislee Moore on Kivett Drive about 1958 or 1959. As soon as they decided to form the group, Moore took Hailey’s name and added the “ietts” to create Tommietts. The original members of the group were Bertha Beachump, Aislee Moore, Danny Charles Baker, Mary Lee Roger, Sallie Mae Wilson, Louise Roseboro and the man on guitar, Hailey.

Hailey used Copeland Recording to press their first song, “It Must Be the Lord,” in 1959.  However, Hailey wanted his own record label, so he created Hailey’s Recording Service. Unlike a lot of folks, such as John Coltrane, he made sure his records had “High Point” prominently displayed on both sides.

Pressing your own records was expensive, so the Tommietts would then sing and record the songs to a master tape and send it to the Sounds of Music in Nashville, Tenn., which would press the records and mail them back to High Point.

The Tommietts sold most of their records when they performed to help defray expenses.

By 1963, the Tommietts had recorded five records. In the package of information that Bennett shared with me is a 45-rpm record bearing the label “Hailey’s/Hailey’s Recording Service, High Point, N.C.”  On one side, the song is “What Kind of Man” with Bertha Beachump as the lead singer, and on the other side “Have You Been Through the Water” with Louise Roseboro as the lead singer.

Hailey can also remember recording “It Must Be the Lord,” “He’s My Rock,” Feed Me Jesus Till I Want No More” and “Seeing Is the Blame.”

I also found two original pieces of sheet music­ “It Must Be the Lord” and “Have You Been Through the Water,” composed by the Tommietts, in that same package of information.

Another document reads, “As the years went by, God took care of them over the dangerous highways, through the storms, snow, and rain.  God was with them, and he blessed them with five more members.”
New members added to the group were Sadie Cobb, Mary Rogers, Jessie Wear, Annie Rogers and Mary Rogers. Faced with the loss of members for various reasons, the group never lost faith, and their prayers were answered with the addition of Mackel Bennett, lead guitar; Larry Bullock, bass guitar; Jimmie Wear, drums; and Kate Atkins.

Glenn Chavis researches and writes about High Point’s black history. Contact him at Storytime40@aol.com.