Biography
Rev. Louis Overstreet (April 1, 1921, Lakeland, LA - April 22, 1980, Phoenix, AZ) was an American gospel singer, guitarist and bandleader.
Reverend Louis Overstreet began singing in gospel quartets at an early age. He was working in a turpentine plant in Dequincy, LA, in 1958, when he felt the call to become a full-time minister. Blessed with a ferocious, deep singing voice and accompanying himself on electric guitar and bass drum (playing both at once), the Rev. Louis Overstreet, along with a gospel quartet made up of his four sons, took his own brand of street evangelism around Louisiana and to Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arizona, Nevada, and California before settling in as the pastor of St. Luke's Powerhouse Church of God in Christ in Phoenix, AZ, in 1961. It was there that Chris Strachwitz recorded Overstreet and his congregation and sons for the 1962 LP Rev. Louis Overstreet. The album was reissued on this CD in 1995 with additional tracks recorded at Overstreet's home and a track from a 1963 appearance at the Cabale Coffee House in Berkeley, CA.
The often found birthdate January 25, 1947 is unlikely as when he was recorded by Chris Strachwitz in 1962 he had his own church and was accompanied by his four sons, three of them already being teenagers. Investigation revealed that the 1947 date related to his oldest son, Louis Overstreet Jr. and that the Reverend was born on April 1, 1921 (near Lakeland, Louisiana) and died April 22, 1980.
Artist descriptions on Last.fm are editable by everyone. Feel free to contribute!
All user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.
