A tenured, talented, and respected inspirational pianist, singer, songwriter, and producer in the gospel music business since the '70s, Richard Smallwood was born in Atlanta, Georgia on November 30, 1948. After graduating from Howard University (his classmates included Donny Hathaway, Debbie Allen, and Phylicia Rashad), where he earned degrees in vocal performance and piano, Smallwood taught music at the University of Maryland and eventually formed the Richard Smallwood Singers, putting out an eponymous debut album in 1982 that spent an impressive 87 weeks on Billboard's gospe...