LaBreeska Hemphill , beloved matriarch of the gospel singing family, The Hemphills , died Wednesday, December 9, 2015, in Nashville, TN at the age of 75. Born in 1940 in Flat Creek, Alabama, a small coal-mining town, to Walter Erskine Rogers and Gussie Mae Goodman Rogers, LaBreeska made her entrance into a world of music singing with her family, the Happy Goodman Family, when at the age of 9, she appeared onstage at the Ryman Auditorium during the monthly “ all-night gospel sings.” Due to her Christian upbringing and personal commitment, faith and values as well as the music of that faith, was a constant in LaBreeska’s life. In 1957, LaBreeska married Joel Hemphill of West Monroe, LA and they became very active in the church Joel’s father pastored. Soon they began to travel and sing when Joel answered the call to ministry, evangelized briefly and settled down to pastor a church in the neighboring town of Bastrop, LA. In 1966, Joel & LaBreeska signed their first...