Charles Davis Tillman | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 20 March 1861  |
| Died | 1943 (aged 81–82) |
Charles Davis Tillman (March 20, 1861, Tallassee, Alabama – September 2, 1943, Atlanta, Georgia)[citation needed] —also known as Charlie D. Tillman, Charles Tillman, Charlie Tillman, and C. D. Tillman—was a popularizer of the gospel song. He had a knack for adopting material from eclectic sources and flowing it into the mix now known as southern gospel, becoming one of the formative influences on that genre.[1]
The youngest son of Baptist preacher James Lafayette Tillman and Mary (Davis) Tillman, for 14 years prior to 1887 he painted houses, sold sheet music for a company in Raleigh, North Carolina, and peddled Wizard Oil.[2] In 1887 he focused his career more on his church and musical talents, singing first tenor in a church male quartet and establishing his own church-related music publishing company in Atlanta.[3]
- ^ See southern gospel and James David Vaughan.
- ^ For a description of Wizard Oil, see Hamlin's Wizard Oil Archived April 5, 2011, at the Wayback Machine and site tabs. Note its association with songbooks.
- ^ William Jensen Reynolds, Companion to Baptist Hymnal (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1976), p. 444, ISBN 0-8054-6808-0.