Dottie Rambo was a legend when it came to songwriting. When she died on May 11, 2008, she had compiled at least 2500 songs--maybe even more. Dottie Rambo was known for singing in the group called "The Singing Rambos" which consisted of her, Buck Rambo, and their daughter Reba. She's received numerous awards over the years in regards to her musical career. She's been dubbed as the queen of Gospel music. She was very prolific in her songwriting and she wrote the most Gospel songs in the twentieth century. She was second to Fanny Crosby, who compiled over 8000 songs in the nineteenth century. Many of today's hymnals and songbooks contain many of the songs Rabmo's compiled over the years.
She was born as Joyce Reba "Dottie" Luttrell on March 2, 1934 in Madisonville, Kentucky. She lived her young childhood years in Morganfield, Kentucky where her father used to work at a POW camp. She discovered her musical talent when she was eight years old and wrote her first song then. She told her mother and she said, "You'll pay a dear price for this talent," which proved to be evidently true. She learned music and how to play the guitar by listening to the Grand Ole' Opry when she was a young girl. She got saved when she was twelve and her father gave her the ultimatum, "You can sing country and stay; sing Gospel and you must leave". She left home. Her father wasn't saved at the time.
She started her journey singing at churches when she was a young girl and at age 16 after having met Buck Rambo in Dawson Springs, Kentucky, they married. They had their only daughter, Reba in 1952. She received her big break in singing when then Governor Jimmie Davis in the 1960's heard the Happy Goodmans sing one of Dottie's songs, "There's Nothing My God Can't Do". He arranged to have her flown at the Governor's mansion in Louisiana and he offered her $3000 dollars for a singing contract and have her songs published. Her rise in music grew from there. In the fall of 1986, her back went out on her and she had numerous surgeries over the next few years to try to correct the problem. The first surgeon messed up when he didn't fuse her spine together and as a result she experienced excruciating back pain. She didn't go out and sing much during the 1990's. She wasn't back on the road full time until 2002. The years where her mobility was limited she was divorced and her former secretary messed around with her finances.
Dottie Rambo has touched the lives of many people over the years with many of her songs. If you take a look at the Homegoing videos on YouTube you can see how much her songs touched many people's hearts when you view the crowd that was there. I didnt' agree with her in regards to the people she associated herself with, but she had a great talent that she was willing to use and her songs in return blessed many people.
Some of the songs she wrote were "He Looked Beyond My Fault and Saw My Need", "Sheltered in the Arms of God", "In the Valley He Restoreth My Soul," "I Go to the Rock," "We Shall Behold Him" and numerous others. She was a woman that will willing to yield herself in using the God-given talents that the Lord gave her. I wish there were some Independent Baptists that have a similar ability she had that would be willing to yield themselves to the Lord to develop their musical talents. I'm thankful that she was willing to use her talent.
No comments:
Post a Comment