Talk:J. D. Sumner

Stamps after Sumner
I don't see any reason why an extensive list of people who passed through the groups Golden Covenant and the New Stamps after JD Sumner died is pertinent to this article about Sumner's life. He obviously did not control the direction of the group after his death and only Ed Enoch and a few of the early members of Golden Covenant ever sang with Sumner himself. I'll leave it to others to handle if it should be removed, but to me, it's just laughable that Wikipedia is so random when it comes to things like this.

Double Low C
Um... what is a double low C? Is that C1 or C0 or C-1? I've never heard of it before, maybe telling the reader what note it is compared with other notes would be better('# octaves below the lowest C on a piano' or just 'C(number here)' would do) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Fernoe (talk • contribs)


 * It's the bottom C on the piano. "Low C" is the next octave up (2 leger lines below the bass staff), which most deep basses can reach. I will never forget hearing "Way Down" on the radio in 1980, having no idea who sang that bass tag at the end. Over 20 years later I found a very low-quality version of it on the Internet, and the last several seconds were exactly as I remembered. Now, to be fair, he is doubled by the synth bass there, and if you listen at double speed you can hear that his voice doesn't quite reach that last C; it's somewhere between D and E-flat. But I won't quibble: he's breathing it, not growling, and at actual speed it's so low that the ear believes it. As for editing the article, I think the vague Guinness claim is best as it stands, because he didn't actually reach the note and because the record's been broken since. MJ 14:29, 15 August 2007 (UTC)

J.D did actually hit the note elsewhere, and one of those is where the record was achieved (Blessed Assurance I believe). I have a CD where he slides down an octave to the double low C on You'll Never Walk Alone (this was on K-tel a few years before he passed). There was another later CD where he tried to do a glissando (slide) from an A beneath middle C down to the double low C, but he missed it. He was approximately a half step off I believe. I still admired the effort, but my ears caught that it was off. I used a hi speed dub cassette deck at the time to raise it an octave and it was much more obvious then. Quartet-man 06/21/10 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Quartet-man (talk • contribs) 19:45, 21 June 2010 (UTC)

What My Eyes Saw Of J.D
Hello, In 1972 I worked setting up gospel concerts for JD and the stamps, I traveled ahead of them to sell tickets to their shows, and set up everything, At that time I had to have atleast 15,000 dollars to pay them when they showed up for their show, The show was aimed at drug abuse of children, we would use the name of art linkletter, to help sell tickets, as arts son died of drug overdose, after the concert was over, the guys in the band would pass out litterature, on drugs, and talk with some of the guests, THEY DID GREAT ON STAGE, AND THEY REALLY SOUNDED GREAT, then after the shows were over, we woild all head back to one of the rooms or the tour bus, and thats where , I decided after seeing what goes on behind the scenes, that this was so wrong, how could these guys be preaching about God, singing gospel music, and then after the show, bring in the girls for sex, bring out the booze and drugs, Its party time, OOOh by the way how much did we make tonight? JD would say. anyone want to chat on this? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.167.40.180 (talk) 18:34, 5 October 2008 (UTC)

The Stamps and The Jordanaires
Ok, I've looked at both articles, one about the Jordanaires and one about J.D.Sumner. Both claim to be the back up group for Elvis Presley. My guess is the Jordanaires were the first back up group, and the Stamps with J.D.Sumner took their place in the 70s, although there may have been some more work done with the Jordanaires as well? Does anyone know the story of how the one group took the place of the other, etc.? -Lang 1/8/2010  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.60.67.82 (talk) 16:27, 8 January 2010 (UTC)

The Jordanaires were the first. They became more and more in demand and popular at the time. Rumor has it that they raised their price (which might have been due to the increased demand) and Elvis was upset and decided not to use them anymore. Also be in mind that if they could demand the price (with the market) they were within their rights, but Elvis I think felt betrayed. Also, they were likely very busy and either didn't need Elvis or maybe even had trouble working him in even though he helped put them on the map. After the Jordanaires, Elvis used the gospel group The Imperials. His hero, Jake Hess had started the group, but his health made him have to quit before Elvis used them I believe. The Imperials also sang backup with Jimmy Dean and there came a time when both Jimmy and Elvis needed them and they couldn't do both. For whatever reason, they went with Jimmy and Elvis got the Stamps with his hero, J.D. Sumner (who wasn't going to sing with the rest of the Stamps until Elvis insisted) So, both he and bass Richard Sterban (later and current bass with the Oak Ridge Boys) both sang bass. Quartet-man 06/21/10

Copyright problem removed
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Wow, there's no picture
I can't see why someone hasn't added a picture to this article long ago since there are many pictures of him online (some of which have been released into the public domain), and yet, this article has not even one photograph of him. Interesting. Gigogag (talk) 19:32, 6 October 2011 (UTC)

Lowest note
I created a new section about his actual lowest note. It was not the C1 that he fried in "Blessed Assurance", but it was a G0, one note below the lowest key on the piano, that he sang at a 1977 Elvis concert - in full voice. I added an external link to the recording of this feat on Youtube in the "External Links" section of this article. Gigogag (talk) 15:42, 12 January 2012 (UTC)

Just a few suggestions for changes to the page.

- the website listed is no longer available -instead of having his whole career in one section maybe divide it up into each of groups(i.e. Blackwood, masters, stamps, Gaither) -Add a picture -Try to add more biographical information

Thanks, 3faith.hope.love (talk) 02:31, 29 January 2013 (UTC)

External links modified
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Hits With Other Artists?
Isn't it notable that Sumner sang bass on Olivia Newton John' hits "Let Me Be There" & "If You Love Me Let Me Know" and Elvis's "Way Down"? Should there be a section for his studio work like that? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.101.20.4 (talk) 06:09, 18 April 2019 (UTC)


 * He did not sing with Olivia Newton John. 2607:FB91:1607:831A:844C:985D:1A34:E0CB (talk) 04:59, 9 August 2023 (UTC)
 * That was Mike Sammes. 2607:FB91:1607:831A:844C:985D:1A34:E0CB (talk) 05:02, 9 August 2023 (UTC)