Gospel Music Hall of Fame Member Doug Oldham Dies

A veteran of more than 60 years of gospel singing has passed away:

Liberty University, Thomas Road Baptist Church and the gospel music industry has lost a great friend. Doug Oldham, a legendary gospel singer who played an important role in Liberty’s history, went to be with the Lord this morning.

Oldham, 79, was a close friend of Liberty’s founder, the late Jerry Falwell, Sr.

"My father and Doug Oldham were an evangelistic team who brought the gospel to nearly every home in America every Sunday morning on the 'Old Time Gospel Hour,'" said Liberty Chancellor Jerry Falwell, Jr. "The names Jerry Falwell and Doug Oldham were synonymous as Billy Graham and George Beverly Shea. Doug Oldham’s family remain an important part of our team here at Liberty University and Doug will be greatly missed. His passing represents the end of an era at Thomas Road Baptist Church and Liberty University."

The Rev. Jonathan Falwell, senior pastor at TRBC, said Oldham has always been an important part of the church and the Jerry Falwell ministries.

“Some of my earliest memories of TRBC services are of Doug Oldham in his bowtie singing ‘The King Is Coming’ and ‘A Rich Man Am I.’ His booming voice and tender heart spoke to millions through the years," he said. "God used Him greatly. He will certainly be missed, but I know that earlier today there was a grand reunion in Heaven of a pastor (my dad) and his soloist (Doug) worshiping at the feet of the One they so faithfully served."

Paula Johnson, Oldham’s daughter, is a Liberty alumnus and a staff member at TRBC. In an interview with the Liberty Journal in 2007, she recalled her dad as a “tireless worker” who traveled all over the world with his gospel music in the 1970s. In Liberty’s early years, he traveled by bus with the Rev. Jerry Falwell to church and school auditoriums as they raised money for the new Lynchburg Baptist College in the summer of 1971.

“Dad had a bus and he did the rallies to help raise funds to start [what would become] Liberty University,” she said. “Dad was the singer and Dr. Jerry would raise the money and preach.”

Liberty Chancellor Jerry Falwell, Jr. remembers hearing Doug Oldham sing for the first time:

"I remember my father calling me into his office one day in the late 1960s and playing a tape recording of a new singer that he was inviting to Thomas Road Baptist Church. He had a speaker in the corner of his office that was bigger than a large refrigerator. The reason I remember the day so well is because the singer whistled the first verse of the song, 'A Rich Man Am I.' As an 8-year-old boy, I was very impressed. Doug Oldham was not the the typical gospel singer that you would find in a Baptist church in the South in those days. Doug and his music were decades ahead of his time. His unique style of entertainment and authenticity enabled him to communicate the gospel message, often through his own testimony, as no other musician could do."

Oldham was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2006, with an introduction by his close friend, gospel music icon Bill Gaither. Gaither told the Liberty Journal that it was "a very special moment."

"Not all awards are historic, but I think that particular one was because of the major contribution he made — he was probably one of the first major soloists to sell albums in the big numbers," Gaither said. "That was pretty amazing during that time. ... People liked him because he sang with such feeling."

I have a good friend that spent several years on the road with Oldham has his piano player. He had nothing but good things to say about the man and had some really funny stories Doug used to tell about his days with Falwell.  I only saw him in concert one time and he was quite a communicator though his words and music.

According to another report I read Oldham was in the hospital awaiting back surgery following an injury a week ago.  The surgery was to take place today.  This apparently was quite unexpected.