LifeNotes: Gospel Great, Former BMI Exec Joe Moscheo Dies

Joe Moscheo. Photo: The Joe Moscheo Fund/Giveforward.com

Gospel Music Hall of Fame member Joe Moscheo was known to thousands of music industry folks due to his membership in The Imperials and his long tenure as an executive at BMI. Moscheo, 78, passed away around 10 p.m. on Monday night, Jan. 11, reported The Imperials on a Facebook posting. He was a musician, a manager, an executive, a producer, a songwriter and an author.

Moscheo was born to Italian immigrants in Albany, New York in 1937. He first went on the road in 1960 when he joined the gospel group The Harmoneers. Within a year, he had moved on to perform with The Prophets. In the fall of 1964, he joined The Imperials as a singer, keyboard player and arranger. He also wrote several songs for the group.

This version of The Imperials regularly performed with Elvis Presley in Las Vegas in 1969-72. Between 1966 and 1971, The Imperials also appeared on a number of Presley’s recordings. Moscheo revisited this phase of his career in his 2007 book The Gospel Side of Elvis. He also produced the PBS TV documentary He Touched Me: The Gospel Music of Elvis Presley. It became a DVD in 2002.

The Imperials also backed such entertainers as Jimmy Dean, Pat Boone, Roy Clark and Carol Channing. The group won the first of its many awards from the Gospel Music Association in 1969. In 1972, The Imperials became gospel’s first interracial group.

In 1978, Moscheo left his performing career behind and was hired by BMI. He was the organization’s Vice President of Special Projects for the next 16 years. In 1982 and 1983 he served two terms as the President of the Nashville chapter of the Recording Academy. In the mid-1990s, Moscheo formed his own management company. He worked with BeBe & CeCe Winans, Michael English, Wynonna and others.

He was hired by First Union Bank in June 1996 to establish its Entertainment Division. Moscheo retired from First Union in 2003. He became a consultant to the music company MCS America and assumed its presidency in 2004. Moscheo was a member of the founding council of Leadership Music. He also served as both president and board member of the W.O. Smith Community Music School and of the Gospel Music Association.

He was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2007. This was actually his second induction, for he was also voted into the Hall as a member of The Imperials in 1998.

He continued to make appearances relating to Elvis and The Imperials until his retirement in 2014. Moscheo suffered from a degenerative neurological disease. He was moved into an assisted living facility last year and a GiveForward account called the Joe Moscheo Fund was set up for his care. He underwent emergency surgery and was hospitalized in late December.

Funeral arrangements have not been announced.