Vestal Goodman was a singer who performed in the Southern Gospel

Southern Gospel

Southern Gospel music—at one time also known as "quartet music"—is music whose lyrics are written to express either personal or a communal faith regarding biblical teachings and Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music...

 genre for more than half a century. She is known both as a solo performer and as a founding member of official The Happy Goodman Family

The Happy Goodman Family

The Happy Goodman Family was a Southern Gospel group founded in the 1940s by Howard "Happy" Goodman.The Happy Goodman Family began to be known for their singing around 1950. During the 1940s and 1950s there were various combinations of all eight brothers and sisters, with Howard being constant...

, the first was actually her husband and his brothers and sisters, one of the pioneering groups in southern Gospel.

Vestal Goodman was the fourth of six children. She began singing in her home church. Her original intent was to study for the Metropolitan Opera

Metropolitan Opera

The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...

, but being raised in church she felt compelled to sing Gospel music.

She married Howard Goodman, a preacher nine years her senior, on November 7, 1949.