Theodore R. Frye

FRYE, Theodore R. b. Fayette, Mississippi, 5 August 1900; d. Chicago, Illinois, 28 August 1963. Theodore Roosevelt Frye was an African American gospel singer, composer, and publisher who collaborated with several leading black composers, publishers, and performers during the mid-twentieth century. Though Horace Clarence Boyer* records his birth and death dates as 10 September 1899 and 26 August 1963, respectively, his grave marker in Vicksburg, Mississippi, lists the dates above. Receiving training in piano and voice in his hometown of Fayette, Mississippi, Frye established himself as a church musician, serving as a soloist and choir director. He moved to Chicago in 1927, a hub of the...