RIP: Pastor Darryl Frierson of the Joy Boyz

Nashville, Tenn. (TN Tribune)-Darryl Frierson, one-half of the twin duo the Joy Boyz, passed away. From the Malaco Music Group bio on the Joy Boyz:If family groups are ubiquitous in gospel music, brother groups are less common, singing twin brothers even less so, and singing twin brothers who stand less than 4 feet tall apiece, almost unheard of. But that’s what makes the Joy Boyz distinctive. Diminutive in size though not in sound—physically, they are a 180 degree difference from the portly Edgar and Edward O’Neal of the O’Neal Twins—the charismatic Donnie and Darryl Frierson make a joyful noise. The Frierson brothers started out singing together professionally around 1982, first as the Gospel Midgets. They dropped the moniker for the less exploitative and more appropriate Joy Boyz, though sometimes they tagged on “The Smallest Men in Gospel” or “The Small Men with Big Voices” for good measure. Indeed, each Frierson brother measures in at about 42 inches tall. But as Donnie told reporter Michael Lipton in 1998: “I’ve read the Bible from Genesis to Revelations, and there’s nowhere that it says you got to be 6 feet tall to serve the Lord.” Indeed, while the Joy Boyz make tongue-in-cheek references...