Joe Bonsall, tenor with the Oak Ridge Boys for 50 years, dies at the age of 76

Joe Bonsaill, the The longtime tenor singer of the acclaimed country and gospel group Oak Ridge Boys died on Tuesday, July 9, from complications of ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig’s Syndrome). He was 76 years old.

The Oak Ridge Boys announced Bonsall’s death in a statement on their website: “A member of the American musical group The Oak Ridge Boys for 50 years, Joe was a member of the Grand Ole Opry and was inducted into the Philadelphia Music Hall of Fame, the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, the Vocal Group Hall of Fame and the prestigious Country Music Hall of Fame.”

The statement also noted that Bonsai was a prolific author, having written 11 books, including his recent memoir. I see myselfwhich was released last year. It also noted that, per Bonsall’s wishes, there would be no funeral and that in lieu of flowers, donations were requested to the ALS Association or the Vanderbilt Medical Center ALS and Neuroscience Research Center.

“Joe loved to sing. He loved to read,” the statement continued. “He loved to write. He loved to play the banjo. He loved to work on the farm. And he loved the Philadelphia Phillies. But Jesus and his family always came first – and we will see him again on the promised day.”

Bonsall spent just over 50 years with the Oak Ridge Boys: he joined the group in 1973 and announced his retirement from touring earlier this year due to his ALS diagnosis. When Bonsall announced his retirement from touring, it was reported that the Oak Ridge Boys planned to return to the studio in late January to record another album with producer Dave Cobb.

Bonsall was born and raised in Philadelphia. He began his music career in Pennsylvania. In the late 1960s, he moved to Harrisburg to sing with Richard Sterban in the gospel group Keystone Quartet. Through the gospel world, Sterban and Bonsall met Duane Allen and William Lee Golden of the Oak Ridge Boys. When the band needed a bass and a tenor singer in the early 1970s, they hired the two.

“They were the most innovative quartet in gospel music,” Bonsall told the Oaks’ website. “They played gospel with a rock approach, had a full band, wore bell-bottoms and let their hair grow long… things that were unthinkable at the time.”

By this point, the Oak Ridge Boys had been around for decades and had gone through numerous members (they were originally formed in 1947 as the Oak Ridge Quartet). This new lineup of Bonsall, Sterban, Allen and Golden would become the Oaks’ most stable and successful in the decades to come.

This story develops…