Hovie Lister

Pianist Hovie Lister was the founder and driving force behind the Statesmen Quartet, the long-running and highly influential Southern gospel group whose flair for showmanship and jazzy accompaniment pointed the way toward the crowd-pleasing CCM of the present. Lister was born September 17, 1926 in Greenville, SC and began playing piano at age six; by 14, he was accompanying the Lister Brothers Quartet, a group made up of his father and uncles, and later that summer toured behind evangelist Mordcai Ham. After attending Dallas' Stamps-Baxter School of Music, Lister backed the Le...