Richard Smallwood is a living icon of our time, and one of the most popular inspirational artists in the music business, with classic tunes such as “Total Praise”, “Center of My Joy” and “I Love the Lord” to his credit, the Grammy nominated, Stellar and Dove Award winning songwriter and musician continues to enjoy worldwide popularity and influence. His songs have been recorded by major gospel artists such as Yolanda Adams, Karen Clark Sheard and Edwin Hawkins, and artists Whitney Houston, Chaka Kahn, Destiny’s Child, Kelly Price, Ledisi, Gerald Levert, Reuben Studdard and the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin.

Richard was born in Atlanta, Georgia and raised in Washington, D.C.. By seven, he was taking formal lessons and by eleven had formed his own gospel group made up of neighborhood children. He graduated from the music major program at McKinley High School and entered Howard University majoring in piano performance and minoring in voice. He was a student of Dr. Thomas Kerr, Jr. Smallwood was a member of the first gospel group on Howard’s campus, the Celestials and was a founding member of the Howard Gospel Choir. In 1973, the Celestials would become one of the first gospel groups to ever perform at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux Switzerland.

After graduation, Smallwood taught music privately, at the Washington School of Music, the DC Public School System and the University of Maryland, College Park. He formed the Richard Smallwood Singers in 1977 and got his first record deal with Benson records in 1981. His debut LP, “The Richard Smallwood Singers” spent eighty-seven weeks on “Billboard Magazine’s” Spiritual chart. His next LP “Psalms” hit #1 and he and the Smallwood Singers were on a roll. He then moved over to Word Records where he wrote, arranged and recorded gospel standards such as “Center of My Joy”, “Holy Holy” and “Calvary”. After a few albums with Sparrow Records, Smallwood retired the Smallwood Singers and birthed the ensemble “Vision” in 1995. Their debut CD, “Adoration-Live in Atlanta” on Verity Records in the spring of 1996, featured smash radio singles “Angels” and “Total Praise”. His project “Journey-Live in New York” debuted at #1 on the Billboard Gospel Charts in fall of 2006. His 2011 release “Promises” also debuted at #1 and further solidified Smallwood’s stature as one of gospel music’s great tunesmiths. His classic Total Praise has been sung in different languages throughout the world, and was sung for visiting Pope Francis as he was hosted by President Barack Obama at the White House.

Smallwood earned a Master of Divinity in 2004 from Howard University School of Divinity and was subsequently ordained at his home church, Metropolitan Baptist Church where he served as artist in residence. In 2006, he was inducted into the GMA’s Gospel Music Hall of Fame. In November 2019, Smallwood released a brand new book entitled “Total Praise: The Autobiography of Richard Smallwood”.