Gospel Music Hall of Fame member Mary Tom Speer Reid died Tuesday in Nashville at age 89.
She was a member of the celebrated Speer Family, one of the most enduring groups in the history of Southern gospel music. The group was founded in Alabama in 1920 by her parents “Dad” George Thomas Speer (1891-1966) and “Mom” Lena Brock Speer (1900-1967). During the next decade, the Speer children gradually joined the group, including Mary Tom, her sister Rosa Nell and her brothers Brock and Ben.
The Speer Family moved to Lawrenceburg, Tenn., in 1929. Dad Speer joined that city’s James D. Vaughan Music Publishing company in 1934 and subsequently wrote or co-wrote more than 600 songs for the firm. The family traveled extensively throughout the South, selling Vaughan gospel songbooks from church to church.
By 1941, The Speer Family had its own daily radio show in Montgomery, Ala., on WSFA. Mary Tom Speer sang alto to her mother’s lead soprano vocal.
The Speers moved to Nashville in 1946 and began making records a year later. The group eventually recorded more than 60 albums, won 14 Dove Awards from the Gospel Music Association and was nominated for five Grammys.
Mary Tom left the group in 1954 when she married the Rev. Robert Reid. Following his death, she rejoined The Speer Family on a part-time basis beginning in 1969. By that time, Brock and Ben headed the group.
She also became the secretary for the Ben Speer Music publishing company and worked as a staff member of the Stamps-Baxter School of Music. In later years, Mary Tom Speer Reid became quite active in the Gaither Homecoming video series of the 1990s. The Speer Family retired in 1998.
The Speers were inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in 1997 and into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame the following year. Mary Tom Speer Reid was a 2006 inductee into the Southern Gospel Hall of Fame.
She is survived by her sister Rosa Nell Speer Powell, brother Ben Speer, son Timothy Scott Reid, daughter Teri Reid Fontaine, daughter Cynthia Lee Reid, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
A gathering of family and friends will be on Friday, Sept. 19, from 4-8 p.m. at Woodlawn-Roesch-Patton Funeral Home at 660 Thompson Lane in Nashville.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Stamps-Baxter Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 40201, Nashville, TN 37204 or to the Altzheimer’s Association, 4825 Trousdale Dr., Nashville, TN 37220.

Emily West made it to the season nine finale of NBC-TV’s America’s Got Talent. Edged out by magician Mat Franco, West made second place, just shy of the $1 million prize and the headlining spot in America’s Got Talent show in Las Vegas.
After the live announcement, West revealed plans for a forthcoming album, via PledgeMusic. The platform allows the performer to offer pre-orders, behind the scenes access, studio visits and more.
Judges Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum, Mel B and Howard Stern have championed the ex-Capitol Nashville artist thorough many performances. During the Wednesday (Sept. 17) finale, West performed “True Colors” with Cyndi Lauper, who had previously encouraged the rising star during a guest appearance on the 2010 season Donald Trump’s The Celebrity Apprentice.
Throughout the season, West has performed Roy Orbison’s “You Got It,” Roberta Flack’s “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” Sia’s “Chandelier,” The Moody Blues’ “Nights In White Satin,” Phil Phillips’ “Sea of Love,” and Queen’s “Who Wants To Live Forever.”
After three singles with Capitol, “Rocks In Your Shoes” (2008), “That Kind of Happy” (2009) and “Blue Sky” (2010), her own major label debut never made it to store shelves.

A celebration hosted by BMI and SESAC was held at The Music City Tippler in Nashville for Lee Brice and co-writers Dallas Davidson and Rob Hatch for their No. 1 song “I Don’t Dance.” BMI’s Bradley Collins and SESAC’s Tim Fink led the festivities.
Not only was the hit single a No. 1 song, it has also been nominated for Song of the Year at this year’s Country Music Association awards. Brice was commended on not only being the songwriter and singer of the song, but he was also the sole producer.
He was inspired to write the song for his wife Sara, whom he married earlier this year.  This is Brice’s fourth No. 1 as an artist, his third as a songwriter, second as a producer, and first as a sole producer.
“I have a new baby, Rob has a new little girl and Dallas has a boy on the way,” said Brice. “This is where songs like this come from. Songs come from real places and that’s why people connect to them. Thank you Curb Records for letting me just make music.”
This is Davidson’s 19^th No. 1 song.  He was described as the writer of the current era of Country Music. “To put my name on a song like this is something special,” said Davidson. “I’m glad it came at a time that I can enjoy this with my wife Natalia.”
Rob Hatch now has two No. 1 songs to his credit. He had spent the last three nights in the hospital with his wife and new baby girl, so it was a special week for Hatch.
Members of the Country Music Association, and Country Radio Broadcasters also awarded the artists on stage.

The Sept. 29 cover story for Time magazine reveals details about a new music file format Apple has “secretly” been preparing with U2, expected to “prove so irresistibly exciting to music fans that it will tempt them again to buy music.”
Bono reveals the new file format is at least a year and a half away, a timeframe his band expects to follow with its subsequent album, featuring the format.
Bono tells Time’s Catherine Mayer, “[it will be] an audiovisual interactive format for music that can’t be pirated and will bring back album artwork in the most powerful way, where you can play with the lyrics and get behind the songs when you’re sitting on the subway with your iPad or on these big flat screens. You can see photography like you’ve never seen it before.”
The Irish rockers were highlighted at the Cupertino titan’s Sept. 9 announcement, both performing and distributing its latest album, Songs of Innocence, for free.
Further details on the prospective service are not available.
As of Aug. 1, Apple acquired the streaming music service Beats Music for an estimated $3 billion. The rise in streaming music can be credited for a decline in 2014 record sales, of which Country has experienced a 19.6-percent drop from the previous year.
Apple began partnering with U2 10 years ago for a series of TV commercials and the first special edition iPod, and (PRODUCT) RED.