Andrew Keith Hunter is a publisher, recording artist and songwriter who published over 50 songs, Keith Hunter was owner of Aarand Publishing Company. He recorded his first album “God is a Good God” in 1987 and it rose to Number 13 on the National Billboard Gospel Chart and is printed in the African American Baptist Hymnal.
He was the first of five children born to the late Wilbert Lee Hunter and Barbara Johnson on November 10, 1954 in Louisville. After graduating from Manual in 1972, he attended Kentucky State University where he studied vocal music. He also attended Sullivan College where he received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration and an Associate Degree in Travel and Marketing. Simmons College presented him with an honorary Doctorate of Divinity.
In 1989 he became a preacher at Portland Memorial Baptist Church in Louisville and was ordained by Dr. Walter Malone in 1992 at the Canaan Christian Church. He served as Minister of Music at Canaan where he developed the music ministry from two choirs totaling 55 members to five choirs totaling over 350 members. Keith also served as Music Director at Howard Chapel Mission Baptist in New Albany and Co-Music Director at Gilt Edge Baptist Church in Jeffersonville.
His community gospel choir known as “Keith Hunter land the Witness for Christ” was the first from Kentucky to appear on the nationally known program, The Bobby Jones Gospel Hour. In 1995 the group was invited to participate in the Quebec Summer Jazz Festival, one of the largest music festivals in Canada. There they performed several songs in French including three encores. The reviews were spectacular and “highlighted the choir’s wonderful fee and attitude and an instinctive approach to music.”
Keith was also a member of Broadcast Music, Inc. and the Gospel Music Workshop of America. He served on the boards of the Louisville Chorus, the Louisville Orchestra, and the West Louisville Boys Choir and was a member of the Louisville Gospel Choral Union. At the time of his passing in 2019, he had served for 18 years as Worship Director for Mt. Olivet Baptist Church in Portland, Oregon.
(Source: St. Stephen Baptist Church, "Louisville Gospel Legends")
