Virgil Oliver "V.O." Stamps

A series of significant events in the 1920s launched a legendary name in United States in gospel music. It all started in 1924 when VO Stamps formed the VO Stamps School Of Music. Stamps' brother Frank formed the first Stamps Quartet around the same time. Then in 1926, VO partnered with JR Baxter to form the Stamps-Baxter Music and Printing Company. They would become the most successful publisher of shape note hymn books in the United States. VO Stamps also formed a quartet of his own.

In 1927, the Frank Stamps Quartet signed a recording contract with RCA Victor records, making them the first southern gospel quartet to sign on a major label. They also had the first ever southern gospel hit single with "Give The World A Smile." In addition to their recordings, they were introducing innovative practices for the time. When Dwight Brock (brother to Lena "Mom" Speer) joined the group at the piano, he was one of the first to introduce instrumental "turnarounds" between the verses. This move also established the now revered "four guys and a piano" configuration for male quartet singing.

Groups using various versions of the Stamps name were active until VO's death in 1940. At one point, he even sued his brother Frank for using a duplicate (or nearly duplicate) name. The groups served a purpose that ultimately benefited from all the sharing, though. The Stamps-Baxter Company published songbooks, and selling them was a key source of revenue for the groups and for the company in turn. Over 100 groups used the word “Stamps” in their name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stamps_Quartet

---------------------------------------------------------------

Singer, writer, publisher, and gospel music pioneer. Stamps founded the V.O. Stamps Music Company in 1924 in Jacksonville, Texas and soon published "Harbor Bells", his first songbook. Two years later, he merged the company with J. R. Baxter, Jr. to form the Stamps-Baxter Music Company, based in Dallas, Texas. He sang bass with the Stamps Quartet. He arranged the music of "When the Saints Go Marching In" in 1937. Mr. Stamps is a member of the Texas Gospel Music Hall of Fame and was inducted into the Southern Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1997.

______________________________________________________

Findagrave: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=stamps&GSfn=v...

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=will_stam...