HICKS, GERTRUDE LILLIAN

Funeral services took place March 9 at Philemon Missionary Baptist Church, Newark, for Gertrude Lillian Hicks. She was born March 9, 1938, to Bishop Arbie and Georgiana Deadwyler in Brooklyn, N.Y. Her parents left Brooklyn to establish the Mount Olive Pentecostal Faith Church in Jersey City. Gertrude learned to play classical piano under the tutelage of a Miss Thompson. She joined Zion Hill Baptist Church in Newark and became a member of the Young People’s Choir. It was there she met Lawrence Roberts, who would ultimately serve as the choir’s accompanist and director. When he decided to form his own gospel group, the Gospel Chordettes, Roberts selected Young People’s Choir members Gertrude Hicks, Bernadine Greene Hankerson, Delores Roberts, Amy Best, Marjorie Raines, and Freda Roberts. The group achieved national recognition on gospel and R&B radio with its 1958 Savoy single, “I Can’t Believe It,” dubbed the “Sputnik Song” for its reference to the Russian space satellite. Hicks was also a member of Roberts’ Voices of Faith Choir, a community choir that became the official choir of First Baptist Church of Nutley. She was an accompanist for the Angelic Choir and Little Angels Youth Choir, at First Baptist and on the road. Angelic Choir made an album for John Daniels’ Jersey City-based Glori Records. The Voices of Faith were renamed the Angelic Choir in 1961 and recorded several albums on its own and with James Cleveland, the most significant being the 1963 Savoy release, “Peace Be Still.” It was the biggest-selling gospel album until 1972. Gertrude was the mother of Melvin, William, the late Renee, Raymond, Yvette, and Afeni; she was sister to the late Bessie Massey. She is also survived by a host of grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren, other relatives and friends. Services arranged by the Cotton Funeral Service, Jersey City.