Joe Bonsall, Grammy Award winner and celebrated tenor of nation and gospel group the Oak Ridge Boys, died Tuesday. He was 76.
Bonsall died from issues of the neuromuscular dysfunction amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), in accordance with a press release from representatives of his household.
“Joe liked to sing. He liked to learn. He liked to jot down,” the assertion learn. “He liked to play banjo. He liked engaged on the farm. And he liked the Philadelphia Phillies. However Jesus and his household at all times got here first — and we’ll see him once more on the Promised Day.”
A Philadelphia native and resident of Hendersonville, Tennessee, Bonsall left his gospel group the Keystones in 1973 to affix the Oak Ridge Boys, which shaped within the Forties. He noticed the band by way of its golden interval within the ’80s and past, which included its signature 1981 music, “Elvira,” its 1982 hit “Bobbie Sue” and 1983’s “American Made.”
“Elvira” marked an enormous crossover second for the group, reaching no 1 on the nation chart and quantity 5 on Billboard’s all-genre Sizzling 100.
ALS is a illness that damages nerve cells and connections which can be needed to manage muscular tissues for actions comparable to strolling, speaking and respiratory. Most sufferers die inside three to 5 years of a analysis. The sickness grew to become often called Lou Gehrig’s illness after the star baseball participant was recognized in 1939.
Bonsall additionally had a ardour for preventing fraud. In 2019, the Oak Ridge Boys teamed up with the Division of Justice and the AARP Fraud Watch Community to develop a public service announcement to convey consciousness to elder fraud. Along with AARP, the quartet lent their voice to assist defend older Individuals from fraud by way of appearances on Rural America Stay, posting alerts on social media and sharing fraud prevention ideas at their concert events.
(Left to proper) Joe Bonsall, Duane Allen, William Lee Golden and Richard Sterban of the Oak Ridge Boys on the twenty fourth Annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 24, 1982 on the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.
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In September 2023, the Oak Ridge Boys launched into a farewell tour that was scheduled to final into 2024. However in January, Bonsall introduced his retirement from touring, saying it was too tough for him bodily after a four-year battle with ALS. Ben James, who has carried out with Doyle Lawson and Dailey & Vincent, was introduced as his substitute.
“I’m now at some extent the place strolling is unimaginable, so I’ve principally retired from the highway. It has simply gotten too tough,” Bonsall mentioned on the time of his retirement. “It has been an amazing 50 years, and I’m grateful to all of the Oak Ridge Boys, band, crew and employees for the fixed love and help proven to me by way of all of it. I’ll always remember, and for these of you who’ve been consistently holding me up in prayer, I thanks and ask so that you can carry on praying.”
