Calvin Newton (October 28, 1929 – March 3, 2023) was an American gospel singer from West Frankfort, Illinois.

Youth

Newton was a boy soprano who took up amateur

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

because he was tired of being bullied. Newton won a Kentucky

Golden Gloves The Golden Gloves of America is an organization that promotes annual competitions of amateur boxing in the United States, in which winners are awarded a belt and a ring, and the title of national champion. The organization currently owns 30 fr ...

championship, retiring one opponent in just 23 seconds.

Music career

In his late teens Newton was recruited to join

the Blackwood Brothers The Blackwood Brothers are an American southern gospel quartet. Pioneers of the Christian music industry, they are 8-time Grammy Award winners in addition to winning 7 Gospel Music Association Dove Awards. They are also members of the Memp ...

, then a prominent Southern gospel

quartet In music, a quartet (, , , , ) is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers. Classical String quartet In classical music, one of the most common combinations of four instruments in chamber music is the string quartet. String quar ...

. From 1953 until 1956 Newton sang lead for the

Oak Ridge Boys The Oak Ridge Boys are an American vocal quartet. The classic and most well-known lineup of the group, which performed together for over 40 years, consisted of William Lee Golden (baritone), Duane Allen (lead), Richard Sterban (bass), and Joe B ...

, and later he was a co-founder of the Sons of Song, one of the first pioneering acts in what would become the CCM industry.

Criminal career

According to biographer Russ Cheatham, Newton was "super-handsome, athletic, and charged with sexual charisma...Audacious, Newton never turned down a dare... edonistic-- reckless driving, heavy romancing, and addictive pill popping." Later Newton would spend decades involved in crime: serving time in state and federal prisons for a variety of crimes including theft, counterfeiting, and drug offenses.

Return to Gospel community

In his seventh decade, under the discipleship of

Jake Hess Jake Hess (December 24, 1927 – January 4, 2004) was an American Grammy Award-winning southern gospel singer.McNeil, W.K., Ed. (2010). ''Encyclopedia of American Gospel Music''. Routledge. . Pp. 201-202. Life The son of "a sharecropper who wa ...

, who he described as the one who "stood by him when most gospel singers abandoned him," Newton would end his estrangement from the gospel community, eventually reconciling with dozens of former colleagues and appearing in a

Bill Gaither William James Gaither (born March 28, 1936) is an American singer and songwriter of Southern gospel and contemporary Christian music. He has written numerous popular Christian songs with his wife Gloria; he is also known for performing as par ...

-produced gospel performance video titled ''All Day Singing and Dinner on the Grounds'' and touring with Gaither's traveling gospel music show.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Newton, Calvin 1929 births 2023 deaths American gospel singers Southern gospel performers The Oak Ridge Boys members People from West Frankfort, Illinois