The Golden Gate Quartet

The Golden Gate Quartet is the most successful of all of the African-American gospel music groups who sang in the jubilee quartet style. Founded as the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet in Norfolk, Virginia in 1934 by A. C. "Eddie" Gri

The Golden Gate Quartet is the most successful of all of the African-American gospel music groups who sang in the jubilee quartet style. Founded as the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet in Norfolk, Virginia in 1934 by A. C. "Eddie" Griffin, Robert "Peg" Ford, Henry Owens, and Bill Johnson, they began as a traditional jubilee quartet, combining the clever arrangements associated with barbershop quartets with rhythms borrowed from the blues and jazz.

The makeup of the group changed over the years, as some members were drafted during the war and new members were brought in to replace those who had retired or left to join other groups. William Langford joined the group when Griffin left in 1935 and Orlandus Wilson replaced Ford the same year. Clyde Riddick replaced Langford in 1938, Johnson left in 1948 to join "The Jubalaires" and Owens left the group later to become a preacher and solo artist. Riddick remained with the group until his retirement in 1995 and Wilson until his death in 1998.