Sandra Crouch, the dual sister and collaborator of gospel music legend Andraé Crouch, died earlier this month after an illness, her publicist said.
Crouch, 81, who died on March 17, might be honored with a musical tribute and funeral at New Christ Memorial Church in San Fernando, California, set for April 16-17, in line with a Saturday announcement.
She died in a California hospital after having complications from treatment for a noncancerous lesion in her brain.
Though her brother’s name is more widely known, Crouch was influential in each ministry and music — inside and beyond the gospel genre.
She co-wrote “Jesus Is the Answer” along with her brother — a Seventies hit on each Black gospel and white gospel radio stations. In the Nineteen Eighties, she composed, produced and sang the lead on “We Sing Praises,” for which she won a Grammy in 1984 for best soul gospel performance by a female, helping keep Light Records out of bankruptcy.
The label has continued to feature many other gospel acts, including The Winans, Walter Hawkins and the Hawkins Family and Commissioned, as noted by jazz and folk singer-songwriter Dara Starr Tucker in a social media post paying tribute to Sandra Crouch.
“If you grew up with gospel music within the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, then this label itself is iconic for you,” said Tucker, who added that Crouch also played tambourine on hits of the Jackson 5. “For those reasons and so many more Sandra Crouch was a hugely influential figure on this planet of gospel music.”
At the time of her death, Crouch was senior pastor of New Christ Memorial, after her twin brother took the controversial step in 1998 of ordaining her as co-pastor of the Pentecostal church began by their parents many years earlier.
The ordination went against the ban of the Church of God in Christ, with which the congregation within the Los Angeles suburbs was affiliated. The Crouch siblings renamed the church, originally often called Christ Memorial Church of God in Christ, after her ordination.
“I feel that when you’ve got a way inside yourself that God is looking you to work in a selected a part of the ministry, that regardless of what gender you’re, it is best to find a way to reply that decision,” Sandra Crouch said in an interview with Religion News Service shortly after her ordination. “You do not get a driver’s license to learn easy methods to drive. You get a license because easy methods to drive.”
Her bio on the church’s website notes that her passion for preaching was longstanding: “At the age of 5, Sandra would imitate great preachers using the back of the bathroom as her pulpit.”
Andraé Crouch, who became the church’s pastor in 1995 after the deaths of his father and brother, pointed to the collaboration of his parents, Bishop Benjamin J. and Catherine D. Crouch, as inspiration for his move to ordain his sister.
“He would at all times say until probably a month before he died, ‘I don’t desire you ever to speak about me and what I’ve kept away from giving the identical credit to my wife,'” Andraé Crouch recalled of his father in 1998. “That’s the identical way I’ve been with my sister. That’s why I made her my co-pastor.”
Anthea Butler, chair of spiritual studies on the University of Pennsylvania and creator of “Women within the Church of God in Christ: Making A Sanctified World,” remembers the media coverage when Sandra Crouch became a pastor.
“That ordination moment was a giant moment,” said Butler, who on the time was working on the dissertation that led to her first book. “They kind of operated in tandem: He was the massive person on the gospel scene. She was to an extent, but I feel that where she made essentially the most impact was the ordination and being head of that church.”
Assistant Pastor Kenneth J. Cook announced her death on the church’s Facebook page.
“We as believers know that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord,” he said within the statement. “We will eternally cherish the memories and teachings we received from her.”
Sandra Crouch performed along with her twin in gatherings that ranged from a gathering of the National Association of Evangelicals to the crusades of evangelist Billy Graham.
She also joined her sibling in work with notable artists outside gospel, similar to co-writing songs and performing percussion on the 1986 soundtrack for Quincy Jones’ production of “The Color Purple.”
On her own, she worked as a percussionist, playing on such recordings as “Cracklin’ Rosie” by Neil Diamond and “Me and Bobby McGee” by Janis Joplin.
Music industry figures recalled how Sandra Crouch coordinated choirs for Grammy production numbers similar to Michael Jackson’s performances of “The Way You Make Me Feel” and “The Man within the Mirror” on the 1988 telecast.
R&B singer Candi Staton remembered behind-the-scenes moments with Crouch, including spending time together in 1984, after they were nominees in the identical Grammy gospel category.
“There was no competition,” Staton said in an announcement to RNS. “Just friends hanging out. I feel that’s the truly real thing about Sandra is that she was all concerning the ministry and never the awards.”
© Religion News Service
