The Quartet Gospel Community across the world is in mourning today. Dennis Bowers, guitar player and sometime lead singer of The Legendary Singing Stars, died on this morning. The group was scheduled to perform in Augusta, Georgia, last night. We understand Mr. Bowers became ill and eventually was taken to the hospital.

Mr. Bowers was one of the lead guitar players for The Legendary Singing Stars. He was an accomplished musician. If you were privilege to see the group in concert, you know Dennis would strum unimaginable chords with his guitar. He had a way of making his guitar “talk” to you. He was part of the trio (along with Sam Williams and Big O) that made The Singing Stars’ band sound like 6 or 7 musicians when in fact there were only the three.

On the group’s 2002 release Going To See My Friends, Mr. Bowers sang lead on “For This I Give Your Name the Praise,” “Don’t Leave Me Jesus” and “Doing It All for My Savior.” After the passing of the group’s anchor, Tommy Ellison, Mr. Bowers took over more of the lead duties.

Funeral arrangements at this time are not complete. Visit Quartet Central Message Board for updates on the arrangements.

***SC Gospel Quartet Radio will broadcast a special tribute to Mr. Bowers beginning Monday, August 9, 2010, through the date of his Home Going Services.

by Pat Prince, Goldmine editor

In 2002 Gary Freiberg founded Vinyl Record Day, a nationally established day to celebrate as the organizations Mission Statement says:”The Preservation of the Cultural Influence, the Recordings and the Cover Art of the Vinyl Record” and to have August 12th as a day of Family, Friends and Music. The choice of the date, August 12, is significant. Reportedly, it is the day Thomas Alva Edison invented the phonograph in 1877.

So far, Vinyl Record Day has not gained the recognition that, say, Record Store Day has. But it is gaining momentum. Getting national publicity without a budget or a paid staff can be tough. To solve this difficulty Freiberg has written a proposal for a series of First Class postal stamps that commemorate the historical importance of the recordings on vinyl records. The Vinyl Record Stamp proposal has been accepted by the U.S. Postal System, the proposal’s current status is ‘Under Consideration,’ which, according to Freiberg, is a “notable big step toward issuance according to representatives of the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee.” Unlike Record Store Day, a for profit group whose focus is to sell music on any format, the goal of the 501 (c) 3 non profit Vinyl Record Day (VRD) is to increase awareness of the importance to preserve our audio history recorded on vinyl and to encourage a day in the middle of summer when friends and family gather together with their favorite music to remember that regardless of world news or personal difficulties life always has its goodness.

Below is a recent interview with Gary Freiberg, founder of Vinyl Record Day:

How did this idea of Vinyl Record Day become a reality? read more