Mildred Madison Miller Howard

Born in 1923, Mildred L. Howard was a native of Dallas County and moved to Birmingham as a child. Howard was a founding member of the The Original Gospel Harmonettes. She was a mezzo soprano who had a down-home sound that came to be a symbol of the group, singing as its lead singer and her style was formidable, often being compared as having the voice of a mockingbird.. One of the first all-women gospel singing groups to sign a national recording contract, the Harmonettes were later fronted by Dorothy Love Coates and toured the country for more than three decades, played at Carnegie Hall, the Apollo Theater and Madison Square Garden, recorded on RCA and Specialty Records, and left a legacy of classic songs that are still sung in churches around the world. Mrs. Howard was a 1938 graduate of Parker High School who came up with the idea for the Gospel Harmonettes, a musical group she formed in the early 1940s that disbanded in 1977. Within the group, Howard was known for her sharpness in dress, style, and manners, and helped build up the professional reputation of the Gospel Harmonettes into that of one of the most respected groups in the Gospel music industry. She also served as the director of the Mass Choir at Trinity Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL for many years. She later in life moved to Cincinnati, Ohio and passed away on July, 12 2009. Mildred Miller Howard was the recipient of numerous awards in the music industry, including the American Gospel Quartet Convention 2007 Hall of Fame and Alabama's People's Choice Music Awards 2009