Harold Pauley
The Man, The Music, The Ministry
Harold N. Pauley, a noted Sacramento composer, musician and artist in the gospel music industry, Born on June 20, 1965 in Arkansas and died May 8, 2013 of cancer, he was only 47. Harold Pauley, who began formal music training at 7 and grew up in the church in his native Arkansas, shared his love of gospel music with religious and secular audiences. Besides leading choirs and paying the organ at Northern California churches, he served on the music staff for major community events, including the NAACP Freedom Fund Banquet, annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration and the American Cancer Society Festival of Songs. With the Unlimited Praise Choir, which is founded in 1994, he recorded and performed gospel music throughout the United States and appeared in a stage play, "Stop the Noise-Bring Back the Music (Part II)." He was a soloist at many concerts and a festival in Sweden that drew thousands of gospel performers and fans. Mr. Pauley worked and
performed with top gospel artists including Rickey Grundy, Kurt Carr, Eugene Cole and Albertina Walker. Besides composiong and arranging music for other artist, he produced live recordings and help manage gospel groups with EMG Music Group Alliance Co. He wrote and produced a gospel stage play, "No Greater Love". The Son of a truck driver and public employee. Mr. Pauley was born in 1965 in Lockesburg, Ark. He learned to play piano by ear and was performing at local churches by 12. He moved with his family to Sacramento in 1981
then joined the Air Force and served as a musician at base of chapels in Texas, Florida, and Colorado. Mr. pauley developed an active music ministry, leading choirs and playing the organ at Northern California Churches, including Trinity Missionary Baptist Church and Genesis Church in Sacramento and Second Baptist church of Vallejo. In Sacramento, he belonged to Myles Temple AME Zion Church before serving for the last 16 years as the music minister, worship leader and chairman of the board at New Direction Christian Center. Often invited to perform at weddings, funerals and memorials, he spent many years as a certified funeral arranger for Thompson Rose Chapel and Sacramento Memorial Lawn.