Richard Smallwood, an eight-time Grammy-nominated gospel singer and musician, has died. He was 77 years old.

Smallwood died Tuesday of complications from kidney failure at a rehabilitation and care center in Sandy Spring, Md., his representative, Bill Carpenter, said.

Smallwood had health problems for years, and music gave him the strength to endure, Carpenter said in an interview.

“Richard was so dedicated to music and that’s what kept him going all these years,” he said. “Making music that made people feel something is what kept him breathing, moving and living.”

Smallwood’s songs have been performed and recorded over the years by artists such as Whitney Houston, Stevie Wonder, Destiny’s Child and Boyz II Men.

Smallwood “opened up my whole world of gospel music,” singer-songwriter Chaka Khan she wrote on Facebook after his death.

“His music didn’t just inspire me, it transformed me,” she said. “He is my favorite pianist, and his brilliance, spirit and dedication to music have shaped generations, including my own personal journey.”

A musical pioneer

Smallwood was born Nov. 30, 1948, in Atlanta and began playing piano by ear at age five, according to biographical materials provided by Carpenter. He attended formal classes until the age of seven. By the time he was 11, he had founded his own gospel group.

He was raised primarily in Washington, DC by his mother, Mabel, and his stepfather, Reverend Chester Lee “CL” Smallwood. His stepfather was the pastor of the Union Temple Baptist Church in Washington.

Smallwood was a musical pioneer in more ways than one at Howard University in Washington, where he graduated with honors in music. He was a member of Howard’s first gospel group, the Celestials. He was also a founding member of the university’s gospel choir, according to Carpenter’s obituary.

After college, Smallwood taught music at the University of Maryland and founded the Richard Smallwood Singers in 1977, bringing a contemporary sound to traditional gospel music. He later formed Vision, a major choir that spawned some of his biggest gospel hits including Total praise.

That song has become a modern anthem that has touched people of all kinds of backgrounds and walks of life, Carpenter said.

“You could walk into any kind of church — a black church, a white church, a non-denominational church — and you might hear that song,” he said. “Somehow it found its foothold throughout Christendom. If he had never written anything else, it would have put him in the modern hymnal.”

In recent years, mild dementia and other health problems have prevented Smallwood from recording music, and members of his Vision choir have helped care for him.

His legacy will live on “through every note and every soul he touched,” Khan said.

“I am truly looking forward to singing with you in heaven.”