Alabama roots: From Fyffe, in DeKalb County, at top of Sand Mountain ... Claims to fame: Highly visible member of Happy Goodman Family, flagship artist at Word Records in 1960s.

Vestal Goodman, the beloved "Queen of Gospel Music," died Dec. 27 in Celebration, Fla., near Orlando. Goodman, who turned 74 on Dec. 17, had been vacationing with family for the Christmas holidays ...

which recorded 15 No. 1 gospel music songs and performed more than 3,500 concerts. They were inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1998. In the mid-1980s, Howard and Vestal Goodman were ...