Roscoe Robinson, who with his clarion tenor voice rose to prominence in the 1950s as the lead singer of the Blind Boys of Mississippi and other gospel groups, and following the course of his friend Sam Cooke, later redirected his talents to the R&B and pop charts, died on Feb. 26 in Birmingham, Ala. He was 97.
His death, in a nursing home, was confirmed by his son, Will.
Mr. Robinson was a vestige of the mid-20th century’s golden age of gospel, which spawned crossover stars like Aretha Franklin, Lou Rawls and Mr. Cooke, and with its soaring, emotive style of vocals, provided a foundation for later chart-toppers like Whitney Houston and Beyoncé.
In its own way, Mr. Robinson’s rise “mirrored the career of Sam Cooke,” Robert Marovich, a gospel historian and the editor in chief of the Journal of Gospel Music, said in an interview.
Mr. Cooke, who knew Mr. Robinson from the Chicago-area gospel circuit of the 1950s, veered away from spiritual music to become a pop and R&B powerhouse, notching two dozen Top 40 singles, including hits like “Chain Gang” and “Twistin’ the Night Away,” before he was killed in 1964.
Mr. Robinson never achieved anything close to that musical success — few did. Still, his percolating 1965 single “That’s Enough” rose to No. 7 on the R&B chart and No. 62 on the pop chart. His elegiac “Do It Right Now,” which had shades of Mr. Cooke’s 1964 tour de force “A Change Is Gonna Come,” made it to No. 40 on the R&B chart in 1967.
He also wrote songs, including the gospel number “Somewhere There’s a God,” originally recorded in 1962 by the Valentinos, the Cleveland group that launched the careers of the brothers Bobby and Cecil Womack. Mr. Robinson and Mr. Cooke later adapted it into the lovelorn R&B track “Somewhere There’s a Girl.”
Mr. Robinson might never have made good on his potential if it weren’t for Mr. Cooke.
In the early 1950s, the Southern Sons, a highly regarded gospel group, tried to recruit Mr. Cooke. He declined but offered them what he thought was the next best thing, telling them, “’Scoe is the guy you need.”
Mr. Robinson found a new level of fame in 1959 when he joined the Five Blind Boys of Mississippi, who were “rock stars of quartet singing at that time,” Mr. Marovich said.
He was hardly an obvious fit. For one thing, unlike the other members, he could see. But initially, he had other concerns.
“I have to be honest with you,” he told Mr. Marovich in an interview for the 2015 book “A City Called Heaven: Chicago and the Birth of Gospel Music.” “At the time, I was afraid of blind people.”
He soon overcame that anxiety, but was alarmed when he learned of the role that Archie Brownlee, the group’s lead singer, had in mind for him.
“They want to put me into the hospital,” Mr. Brownlee, who was in poor health, told him.
Mr. Robinson asked who was going to sing lead.
“You,” Mr. Brownlee replied.
Roscoe Robinson was born on May 22, 1928, in Dermott, Ark., the youngest of five children of the Rev. A.W. Robinson, a pastor, and Willie (Dabbs) Robinson. His father died when he was a child, and the family moved first to Chicago and later to nearby Gary, Ind.
Early on, he sang at his father’s church and in a family group. After leaving school in 11th grade to work as a truck driver, he performed with vocal groups like the Royal Quartet, which, he later said, was “about the biggest thing in Gary.”
Eventually, with the Five Blind Boys of Mississippi, he showcased his talents by singing lead on songs like “Sending Up My Timber,” for the Peacock label, and “The World Is Full of Sin,” for Checker Records, a subsidiary of the well-known Chicago blues label Chess.
Then a legal tussle broke out between the two labels and, unlike the group’s other members, Mr. Robinson sided with Checker, run by the brothers Leonard and Phil Chess, music heavyweights in Chicago who were white. Tensions mounted, and he left the group.
After that, “it was hard for me to get a job with another gospel group because they made it look like I had left the Blind Boys for the white man,” Mr. Robinson was quoted as saying in “Uncloudy Days: The Gospel Music Encyclopedia,” a 2005 book by Bil Carpenter.
He formed a new group of sightless singers, the Blind Boys of Ohio. When that ensemble failed to gain traction, he became disillusioned with gospel and changed course under the direction of Gene Barge, a saxophonist and influential producer at Chess.
Mr. Barge wrote Mr. Robinson’s breakout soul single, “That’s Enough,” which was released on Gerri Records, a label that Mr. Robinson founded in 1965.
By the early 1970s, Mr. Robinson had returned to his gospel roots. Over the years, he released several solo albums, including “So Called Friends” (2004) and “The Gospel Stroll” (2005). He continued to record and perform into his 90s.
In addition to his son, Mr. Robinson is survived by his wife, Zannella Robinson.
The Blind Boys of Mississippi (which he later rejoined) and the Blind Boys of Ohio were not his only musical ventures with the sightless.
In the early 1980s, Mr. Robinson sang with the Blind Boys of Alabama. The group’s producer, he told The Richmond News Leader of Virginia, insisted that he get with the program — in terms of image.
“I had to wear shades,” he said.
Alex Williams is a Times reporter on the Obituaries desk.
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