The McKameys

Biography

The McKameys were a Southern gospel group based in Clinton, Tennessee. On November 23, 2019, the McKameys played their last concert in Knoxville, Tennessee. The final member lineup was Ruben and Peg Bean, Sheryl Farris, Connie Fortner, Roger Fortner, and Eli Fortner.
On average, the McKameys played approximately 150 bookings annually throughout the United States and Canada. With 16 No. 1 singles, the group was honored by Horizon Records in 1999 for having the most No. 1 hits in the history of Southern Gospel music at that time.

Group history

The group first organized in 1954 as a trio of sisters: Dora, Peg, and Carol McKamey. As their father was a Christian minister, the girls grew up singing in church. The sisters first performed together at church at Dora's request. While they had only planned to perform together once, they began performing at other churches or at revivals, following invitations from some of the people who had heard them sing that Sunday. It was at these Revival meetings that the sisters were discovered by "out of town evangelists". They began traveling to Florida, Indiana, and Ohio following invitations from some of the evangelists they had met.
In 1957, Ruben Bean started playing guitar for the group after the trio met him following a performance at his church. He and Peg were married two years later. Ruben and Peg's daughters, Connie and Sheryl, traveled with their parents and aunts when the group was on the road. After Dora and Carol retired from the trio in 1972, Connie and Sheryl stepped in to take over their parts. Connie married the group's bass guitarist Kenny Powell in 1979, and soon after, the group would go full-time afterward.
In the mid-1980s, Sheryl married a pastor and left the group to join her husband. At that time, Carol returned to the group, now made up of Peg, Connie, Ruben and Carol. Pretty soon, session musician Roger Fortner joined on guitar, later on marrying Connie in 1992 after she divorced Kenny Powell.
The vocal lineup of Connie, Peg, Carol, and Ruben would perform together until April 2009 when Carol Woodard officially retired from full-time travel. Sheryl Farris returned to replace Carol. Since returning, Sheryl & Connie have traded the lead vocal for a change in the vocal lineup for standards like "The Shepherd's Point of View" and "When He Speaks" and "A Hill Worth Dying On".
Over time, Eli Fortner joined his parents, Roger and Connie, on stage full-time as a guitarist and featured vocalist. Eli's solos appear on every project since their 2005 release, The Old Path. In 2012, Roger Fortner stepped up to sing a solo, "Unspoken Request". Much to the delight of fans, Roger's first solo captured the No. 1 spot on the January 2013 Singing News Top 80 Charts and received nominations for Song of the Year in the 2013 Singing News Fan Awards and 2013 NQC Music Awards.
In September 2018, The McKameys announced on singingnews.com in an open letter that November 2019 would be the end of their full-time touring.
In February 2021, Roger, Connie, and Eli Fortner announced they would be performing as McKamey Legacy.
On December 26, 2023, The McKameys announced that Peg McKamey Bean had died in the early morning hours.

Members

Peg McKamey Bean – harmony/lead vocals (1954-2019)
Dora McKamey Horton – lead vocals (1954-1972)
Carol McKamey Woodard – harmony/lead vocals (1954-1972, 1984-1988, 1989-2009)
Ruben Bean – guitars (1957–1968), bass vocals (1968-2019)
Connie Bean Fortner – harmony/lead vocals (1972-2019)
Sheryl Farris – harmony/lead vocals (1972-1984, 2009-2019)
Kenny Powell – bass guitar (19??-198?)
Kenny Ambrose –bass guitar (198?-198?)
Phil Pyke – guitars (1982-198?, 1990–199?)
Ricky Francis – bass guitar (1986-1992)
Roger Fortner – guitars (1987-2019)
Bonnie White – harmony/lead vocals (1988-1989)
Bryant Williams – piano (199?–199?)
Jerry Kelso – piano (1992)
Jeff Treece – piano (1994-1996)
Eli Fortner (1999-2019)
Randall Hunley – piano