The One Way Singers will make its final performance on Sunday at the morning worship service at the 1st Baptist Church on West Main Street in Salem.
The group based at First Baptist was led by former Salem Community High School Band Director Doyle Combs and involved between 85 orchestra members and singers across the country as well as Canada and Mexico between 1971 to 1980.
Combs has returned to Salem from his home in Colorado for the final reunion.
“We’re getting old. I’m 83. I came here when I was 29. It’s time. We hate to see it because we love to get together. They did a lot of music and covered a lot of states on nine tours of the United States with me during the summer.”
Combs says the One Way Singers broke ground in Christian music.
“We were using a young choir with an orchestra and this was unheard of in the early 70’s. The churches weren’t quite ready for bands in the church. We did and the people liked it. The Baptist Convention in Nashville, Tennessee, which was the largest evangelical denomination in the world at that time, started booking us throughout the United States. When I left, they started booking me.”
By the time Combs ended the tours, he had been involved in more than 5,000 performances.
Former members of the One Way Singers have also returned to Salem for the event and have been rehearsing for the final reunion performance the last few days at First Baptist Church.
Everyone is invited to the final reunion performance at First Baptist Church on West Main Street in Salem at 10:45 on Sunday morning.
Doyle Combs directs the One Way Singers in a Friday rehearsal at the First Baptist Church in Salem.
The band practices for the One Way Singers Final Reunion on Sunday morning at the First Baptist Church in Salem.
