Doris Akers was born on this date in 1923. She was an African American Gospel composer and vocalist.

Born in Brookfield, Missouri, she she began her musical career at a young age. She was playing piano at age six, and her first song, “Keep the Fires Burning in Me,” was written when she was ten. While in school she formed her own moving to Los Angeles in the 1940s, she performed with the Sally Martin Singers and later organized her own gospel group, the Doris Akers Singers.