Consolers - Collection 1952-62

Acrobat has a significant catalogue of gospel collections by many of the leading quartets of the classic era in the immediate post-war decades, and this release adds a further dimension to that repertoire with the highly-regarded Miami-based husband and wife duo of Sullivan and Iola Pugh, who performed as The Consolers, Sullivan Pugh was born in Moorhaven, Florida in 1925. When his mother was killed in the 1926 Lake Okeechobee hurricane, Pugh and his five siblings were adopted by a family in the community of Punta Gorda. Pugh began singing as a child soloist at the First Born Church of the Living God in Miami. He met his wife Lola when she was singing with the Miami Gospel Singers. The couple married in 1950. In 1952 the pair decided to form a gospel trio with Pearl Nance-Rayford, and they called themselves the Miami Soul Stirrers. Their original repertoire was based on the traditional spirituals and songs of the Holiness Church. Early influences included other African American gospel groups such as the Soul Stirrers of Chicago (from which they took their name) and the National Gospel Twins of Delray Beach, Florida. In 1953, Nance-Rayford quit the trio and Sullivan and Lola took the name the Spiritual Consolers for their duet.