As part of the contemporary gospel group the Clark Sisters, Detroit-based Dorinda Clark-Cole helped hone an inimitable intricate harmonic blend that would go on to influence scores of performers in the R&B, pop, and hip-hop realms. The singer first took to the church stage when she was five and the Clark Sisters became a bona fide quartet sensation in the early '70s. She stuck it out with the group after sister Twinkie left to pursue a solo career in the early '90s, but then refocused her energies on other ventures as the group's star dwindled in the middle of the decade. Clark-Cole took a more active role preaching and ministering at the Clarks' longtime denomination, the Church of God in Christ, where she also held various administrative and music-related titles both regionally and nationally.