sentences:  She began singing in church.Her first recording, on which she was billed as Theola Kilgord, was as the featured vocalist on "Look to the Hills" by the Mount Zion Spiritual Choir, released in 1955.While working as a gospel singer in the late 1950s, she befriended Sam Cooke's talent manager, J. W. Alexander, who introduced her to singer and record producer, Ed Townsend.