The powerful vocalist died of complications from kidney failure on Tuesday.

Richard Smallwood, Grammy-nominated gospel singer and pianist, dies at 77

The powerful vocalist died of complications from kidney failure on Tuesday.

By Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2025. Her work has previously appeared on *Entertainment Tonight* and Popsugar.

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December 30, 2025 2:45 p.m. ET

Richard Smallwood performs onstage during BET Celebration of Gospel 2014. Credit:

Jason Kempin/Getty

Richard Smallwood, the renowned Grammy-nominated gospel singer-songwriter whose music has been covered by Destiny's Child and Whitney Houston, has died. He was 77.

Smallwood's death was announced by his family in an Instagram post on Tuesday. "We are saddened to announce the passing of world-renowned artist, songwriter, and musician, Richard Smallwood," the post's caption read. "The family asks that you respect our privacy during this difficult time, while helping to celebrate the legacy he leaves behind and the gifts he unselfishly shared with the world."

A rep for Smallwood confirmed to ** that the musician died of complications from kidney failure Tuesday morning at the Brooke Grove Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Maryland.

Born in Atlanta on Nov. 30, 1948, Smallwood was raised by his mother, Mabel, who worked odd jobs, and his stepfather, Chester, a pastor who later established the Union Temple Baptist Church in Washington after the family moved when Smallwood was 10.

Richard Smallwood on April 13, 2016.

Paul Morigi/Getty

Smallwood began playing piano by ear at age five and formed his own gospel group by 11. He studied under future music legend Roberta Flack as an eighth-grader at Browne Junior High before attending a precollege training program at Howard University that offered him a classical grounding in piano. He went on to graduate cum laude from Howard — studying alongside other budding musical greats like Donny Hathaway — earning a dual B.A. degree in classical vocal performance and piano in 1971 and returned to get a master's in ethnomusicology and piano.

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While at Howard, he was a founding member of the university's first gospel choir and a member of the Celestials, the first gospel group to perform at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. When he graduated, Smallwood founded the group the Richard Smallwood Singers, which released their debut album in 1982. They received their first Grammy nomination for their 1984 album *Psalms*, and continued to release five more records.

He later formed the group Vision in 1995, with which he released several albums into the 2010s. He was nominated for seven more Grammy Awards, scoring his final nod for Best Gospel Song with "Trust Me" from his 2022 album *Promises.*

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As a songwriter, Smallwood was best known for merging traditional gospel, contemporary gospel, and classical influences. He wrote some of the most acclaimed songs of the gospel music genre, including "I Love the Lord," which was remade by Whitney Houston and the Georgia Mass Choir for the soundtrack of the classic 1996 holiday film *The Preacher's Wife* starring Houston, Denzel Washington, and Courtney B. Vance; and "Total Praise," which was covered by Destiny's Child on their 2007 acapella track "Gospel Medley."

Richard Smallwood during Grammy Salute to Gospel Music in 2006.

Rick Diamond/WireImage

Smallwood won top honors in gospel music throughout his decades-long career, including several Dove and Stellar Awards. He performed for three presidents — Richard M. Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton — and became the rare gospel artist to tour the Soviet Union. In 2006, he was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

​In 2019, he published his autobiography *Total Praise*, in which he opened up about his struggles with grief and depression. In the final years of his life, the musician battled mild dementia and other health issues that prevented him from recording new music.

​Smallwood, who never married, is survived by his brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews, and several godchildren.

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