The Dixie Hummingbirds

The Dixie Hummingbirds
The Dixie Hummingbirds in 2004
Background information
Also known as	The Sterling High School Quartet
Origin	Greenville, South Carolina, U.S.
Genres	Gospel
Years active	1928–present
Labels	Decca, MCA, Peacock
Members	Carlton Lewis III Torrey Nettles Roy Smith Troy Smith
Past members	James B. Davis Ira Tucker Barney Parks Wilson Baker Jimmy Bryant William Bobo Beachy Thompson Howard Carroll Paul Owens Carl Davis Joe Williams James Williams Lyndon Baines Jones Enoch Webster Frank Frierson Abraham Rice Willie Coleman Barney Gipson J.B. Matterson Claude Jeter William Henry William Bright Ernest James James Walker Cornell McKnight Jimmy Brown

The Dixie Hummingbirds (formerly known as The Sterling High School Quartet) are an influential American gospel music group, spanning more than 80 years from the jubilee quartet style of the 1920s, through the "hard gospel" quartet style of gospel's golden age in the 1940s and 1950s, to the eclectic pop-tinged songs of today. The Hummingbirds inspired a number of imitators, such as Jackie Wilson and James Brown, who adapted the shouting style and enthusiastic showmanship of hard gospel to secular themes to help create soul music in the 1960s.