Claude Jeter, Gospel Singer With Wide Influence, Dies at 94

"The Rev. Claude Jeter, the founder of the gospel group the Swan Silvertones whose delicate yet potent falsetto had a wide influence on both pop and religious singers in the 1950s and ’60s, died on Tuesday in the Bronx. He was 94.
His fillips in songs like “Careless Soul” and “Saviour Pass Me Not” have been echoed by many singers, most notably Al Green and Eddie Kendricks of the Temptations. A line he sang in the Swan Silvertones’ 1962 song “Mary Don’t You Weep” — “I’ll be a bridge over deep water if you trust in my name” — inspired Paul Simon to write “Bridge Over Troubled Water." The New York Times: Ben Sisario: Claude Jeter, Gospel Singer With Wide Influence, Dies at 94