Bill Spivery / Friendly Brothers / Sons of Truth

Cleveland, late 1950s-1980s

Bill Spivery is best remembered for a record that was atypical of his long music career, a folk/pop recording thay paid tribute to assassinated President John F. Kennedy. His musical milieu was gospel and he recorded a number of records in that style by himself and as a member of a group.

He started as a gospel singer as a teenager in the alter 1940s while living in Alabama, where we was born. He moverd to Cleveland around 1954. A few years later he had joined the Friendly Brothers gospel group, who were usually listed as a quartet, contradicting the picture of the group. The Friendly Brothers performed all over the area and had a show on WABQ during 1960.

The Friendly Brother recorded two 45s for Vee Jay, both issued under VJ's gospel catalog series. Bill wrote the songs. The first 45 "Operator" was a moderate hit and has stayed in the gospel songbook for other artists.

In February 1964 Bill appeared on the Gene Carroll show and sang "Mr. John", his Kennedy tribute.  According to news reports the song blew up the show's response lines (phone and postal mail, and maybe some telegrams) and became an overnight sensation. Bill recorded the song with help from Jimmy Testa and Carl Maduri, and they got it placed on Tahoe records, a folk subsidiary of London records. The record was a huge local hit and sold a number of copies across the US. The record made the Cashbox magazine "Up and Coming", meaning records that were a few slots short of their top 100 45s.

A couple months later Bill recorded another secular 45 in folk-pop style, for Sunburst. The record was not a hit, and Bill returned to the gospel scene. He led a group called the Sons of Truth from the 1966 (May 12th, as listed on the LP cover) into the mid 1970s. They recorded a number of 45s and one LP for the Cleveland gospel label Dee-Jay records. The group members listed on the LP are Bill, James Morris, Alphonso "Smity' Smith, Albert Lewis, and Earnest Smith (Alphonso's son). The LP cover also lists John Holloway as a former member, and David Holloway, his brother, as a new member.

Bill lead another group from the late 1970s into the 1980s, Bill Spivery and the Operators. That group had a 45 on Dee-Jay and an LP on Savoy. For a gospel group in 1978, an LP on Savoy was like signing a rock band to Columbia records, the big time. 

The Savoy LP is the last recording we could find by Bill. He passed away in 2004.

There is a Friendly Brothers 45 on Bounty from 1965 that does not seem to have Bill as a member.

Discography:
Operator / You Can't Thumb A Ride - Vee Jay 884, 1959
Need Jesus On My Journey / You Can't Win - Vee Jay 890, 1959
Mr. John / Envy, Falsehood, and Pride - Tahoe 2538, Feb 1964
Honey-Do / Honest Bill - Sunburst 102, fall 1964
I Am The Way / Operator - Dee-Jay no # (Rite 21031/2), 1968
The Non-Violet Man / I Can't Throw No Stones - Dee-Jay no # (Rite22725/6), 1968
How Great Thou Art / Sunday Saint - Dee-Jay no # (Rite 24871/2), 1969
God Will Take Care Of You / The Non-Violent Man (Part 2) - Dee-Jay no # (Rite 27757/8), 1970
LP- The Best Of The Sons Of Truth - Dee-Jay no # (Rite 29229/30), 1972
People Are Thinking About Watergate (Version #1) / People Are Thinking ABout Watergate (Version #2) - Dee-Jay no # (Rite 32289/90) 1973
Man (Can't Do Nothing Without God) / A Long Ways To Go - Dee-Jay no # (Rite 33913/4), 1974
Operator / I Am The Way - Dee-Jay no # (Rite 34871/2), 1975
Get Out Of The Way (And Let God Fight Your Battle) / I Surrender All  - Dee-Jay 41941, 1977
LP - Trouble With The Operator - Savoy 14482, 1978

(Friendly Brothers without Bill Spivery) - Jobe / Near The Cross - Bounty 5592, 1965