Legendary Dixie Hummingbirds Mark A Milestone

It is a celebration 90 years in the making. The legendary Dixie Hummingbirds are marking a milestone anniversary this year and it all kicked off with a news conference at the African American Museum in Philadelphia.

Ira Tucker, Jr., whose father the late Ira Tucker, Sr. became the lead singer for the group in 1938, got some help in kicking off the "90th Anniversary Celebration: The Magnificent Flight of the Dixie Hummingbirds" from multi-award winning singer, songwriter, producer and entertainer Stevie Wonder. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer called into the press conference from Atlantic City to say he used to listen to the Dixie Hummingbirds while he was growing up in Detroit. Wonder said he was influenced by their music noting that the artists were responsible for leaving its mark on American music, including rock and rhythm and blues.

The legendary gospel group had its humble beginnings in 1928 in Greenville, South Carolina, signing with
Decca Records ten years later. Their singles included "Soon Will Be Done with the Troubles of This World," "Little Wooden Church," and "Joshua Journeyed to Jericho," where they were propelled onto the national music scene, ushering in the hard-singing style of gospel music's 1940's and 1950's golden age.

In 1942 the Hummingbirds spread their wings and relocated to Philadelphia when founding member James B. Davis bought a home near 23rd and Girard Avenue and used it for rehearsal space.

As part of their yearlong party, the Dixie Hummingbirds will stage a free but capacity-filled concert at World Cafe Live on August 29th. They will be in concert on September 16th at the Oak Grove Baptist Church in North Philadelphia and will be front and center at a gospel breakfast tribute by Mighty Writers at Girard College on September 30th.

The band will also reissue their 2011 CD "Gospel Praise Songs – Powered by Quartets." They will also be honored with a 2019 touring stage production of "From Streetlight to Spotlight," featuring the story and music of the Dixie Hummingbirds.

In their adopted hometown the group has been honored over the past years with a mural at 15th and Poplar Streets, a plaque on the Philadelphia Music Walk of Fame along South Broad Street's Avenue of the Arts in
1988 and a historical market from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the City of Philadelphia at 23rd and Girard the site of their onetime rehearsal space.

Their 1946 rendition of "Amazing Grace" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2000 and the group was deemed a “national treasure” by the National Endowment for the Arts the same year.

Many people may be familiar with the Dixie Hummingbirds for their melodious voices from when they backed up Paul Simon on his 1973 hit "Love Me Like a Rock," and their own version of the song recorded at
Philadelphia's legendary Sigma Sound Studios with Stevie Wonder and Paul Simon. That single went on to win the Hummingbirds a GRAMMY for Best Soul Gospel Performance. The group was also the subject of the
critically-acclaimed 1995 film, "We Love You Like a Rock," directed by Ashley James.