Gabriel Hardeman

Hardeman was born on December 13, 1943, in Atlanta, Georgia,[1] as Gabriel S. Hardeman Jr., the son of Reverend Gabriel S. Hardeman Sr, who pastored and founded the Hickman Temple A.M.E. Church in West Philadelphia, and his mother, Daisy.[2] Hardeman was a pianist at his fathers church as a youth.[3] He graduated from High School at William Penn High School, and he went onto graduate from West Virginia State University with a physical education bachelor's degree, where he was a football player and a glee club participant.[2] Subsequently, in 1990,[3] he went to Lutheran Theological Seminary, where he graduated with a master's degree in divinity and became a minister in 1995.[1][2]

He began his music recording career in 1976, with the release of Gabriel Hardeman Delegation by Savoy Records,[4] yet this did not chart.[5] His subsequent two albums were released by the label him and his wife started, Birthright Records,[6] and they released in 1981, Talk, along with 1983's, Feels Like Fire.[1][4] The next album, To the Chief Musician, was released on May 8, 2001, and it placed on the Billboard magazine Gospel Albums at No. 12.

Gabriel alongside his wife, Annette, were co-writers on two commercially successful songs, such as 1987's "I Feel Good All Over" by Stephanie Mills and "Love Under New Management" by Miki Howard in 1989.[1][2][6] Gabriel alone wrote songs on some Teddy Pendergrass albums, Joy in 1988 and 1991's Truly Blessed.[1][2][6]

From the late 1980s until their departure for Georgia, Hardeman was a physical education instructor and coached softball at Strawberry Mansion Junior High School. He directed and wrote songs for the Strawberry Mansion Gospel Ensemble. He also worked at South Philadelphia High School.[2] In 2000, Hardeman relocated to Aragon, Georgia, so that he could pastor at Bellview A.M.E. Church.[2]

Hardeman was married to his wife, Annette, at the time of his death on June 23, 2012, at Presbyterian Hospital in Philadelphia,[2] from Interstitial lung disease that he was diagnosed with in 2000.[3] Annette was born on November 19, 1954, in Chester, Pennsylvania.[1] The couple had a son, Michael.[2]