Gospel great DeLois Barrett Campbell dies

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Delois Barrett Campbell

Updated: August 2, 2011 3:59PM

DeLois Barrett Campbell--one of three sisters who made up Chicago’s legendary gospel trio the Barrett Sisters--died Tuesday.

She was in her 80s.

The Barrett Sisters began singing and harmonizing gospel music during the 1940s in a religious family of 10 children on the South Side of Chicago.

Their father, Lonnie, was a singer and deacon at the Morning Star Baptist Church here, where young Billie and DeLois Barrett Campbell first sang with a cousin, Jonnie Mae Hudson.

When Hudson died in 1952, sister Rodessa Porter joined the trio, creating the Barrett Sisters

During the formative years of the early 1950s, the Barrett Sisters were inspired and influenced by the rich harmony, detailed phrasing and expressive presence of the Roberta Martin Singers.

Campbell, who suffered from acute arthritis in both knees, was confined to a wheelchair in her later years.

Before spending her 71st birthday at Trinity United Church of Christ in 1997, she told the Sun-Times, “I’m doing pretty good, although I’m completely confined to a wheelchair. We just returned from doing 10 concerts in Switzerland. You just keep going. For 60 years, I’ve been singing nothing but gospel.”

Contributing: Dave Hoekstra