Acknowledged as a prime influence by no less than Little Richard, the Birmingham, AL-based Original Gospel Harmonettes were among the greatest and most successful female gospel groups of the 1950s. They were led by soloist Dorothy Love Coates, who also composed many of their best-known selections, and their music transcended its spiritual foundations to appeal to a secular world on the threshold of the civil rights era. Formed during the mid-'40s, the group -- initially dubbed the Harmoneers, later modified to the Lee Harmoneers in the wake of a tour with soprano Georgia Lee Stafford -- were originally comprised of pianist Evelyn Starks Hardy, contralto Odessa Edwards, soprano Vera Kalb, alto Willie Mae Newberry Garth, and mezzo-soprano Mildred Miller Howard, their first lead vocalist. Coates enlisted in 1947, but left soon after to care for her infant daughter, who was born with cerebral palsy and epilepsy.