Singer, evangelist, and educator Dr. Bobby Jones popularized African-American gospel music on cable television and became known as the "Ed Sullivan of Gospel Music." His Black Entertainment Television show, "Bobby Jones Gospel," ran from 1980 until 2016, making it one of the longest-running shows on cable television, and he introduced many singers and musicians who later became stars of both secular and sacred music. Born on Sept. 18, 1938, in rural Henry County, he grew up in a three-room house without electricity or running water, and his elementary school, Caton, operated only during winter months so children could otherwise work on farms. He attended Central High School in Paris and entered Nashville's Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial State University in 1955, where he began playing piano at First Street Baptist Church and graduated in 1959 with a degree in elementary education. He taught fifth grade in the St. Louis, Missouri, public school system until 1965, then returned to Nashville during school desegregation and became the only African-American teacher at Lakeview Elementary. In 1967 he went back to St. Louis as a traveling educational consultant for McGraw-Hill publishers, and after eight years he again returned to Nashville to teach at Tennessee State University. There he organized the Love Train Choir, which included as many as 350 members, and Project Help to assist the elderly with housing and medical costs. In 1976 he began hosting "The Nashville Gospel Show" on WSMV, and after he urged producers to book nationally known artists, the program was picked up in November 1980 for cable by the newly launched BET; the first episode to air nationally was on Jan. 27, 1980, two days after the network's launch. After severing ties with WSMV, he reconstituted the show as "Bobby Jones Gospel," which aired before church on Sunday morning and was eventually syndicated worldwide. Beginning in 1977, he also became a recording artist, and in 1983 "I'm So Glad I'm Standing Here Today," performed with Barbara Mandrell, won a Dove Award and the Grammy Award for Best Soul Gospel Performance by a Duo or Group. He also hosted several other television and radio shows, received many honors and citations, became Ambassador at Large for Dominica in 2006, and continued to preach, sing, and teach after the final BET broadcast of "Bobby Jones Gospel" on July 31, 2016.