Most Interesting People 2015: Helen Turner-Thompson

Why she's interesting: Turner-Thompson knows African-American gospel like no other local. A lifelong Clevelander celebrating her 84th birthday this month, Turner-Thompson saw gospel transition from Sunday worship to a genre performed throughout the country. From her works in the Library of Congress such as "There is a Place on the Battlefield for Me" to her transcriptions of African-American sheet music found at Emory University, Turner-Thompson has played an instrumental role in preserving black gospel music. Since 1993, she has worked as director of music at Antioch Baptist Church in Cleveland, where she oversees a gospel choir and a male chorus.

Piano keys: Helen was first drawn to the piano in her aunt's living room at age 4. A few years later, a cousin invited her to perform at the Second Mount Sinai Baptist Church. The director of the youth choir, Henrietta Coleman, accompanied her home to ask her aunt if Turner-Thompson could be their accompanist. "They knew I could play anything, so that made them respect me and urge me along. They were talking about me on the radio broadcasts, and even the school kids knew that 'H.T.' was getting up there in the world with the singers and even thought I was kind of famous, but I didn't think so."

Chorus line: Throughout the past 60 years, Turner-Thompson has been involved in 11 choruses, chorales and quartets at four churches, the Cleveland Job Corps, Cuyahoga Hills Juvenile Correctional Facility and Camp Zama, Japan, where her husband was based in the U.S. Army. "I sang every Sunday morning at three different chapels. The Episcopalians at 8 a.m., Lutherans at 10 a.m. and Methodists at 11 a.m."

Not just gospel: The world is a stage for Turner-Thompson, who portrayed gospel singer Sallie Martin in the historical play The Glories of Gospel, which also depicted the musical lives of Sam Cooke, Roberta Martin and Thomas Dorsey, at Playhouse Square's State Theatre. "I had worked with [Sallie], playing the piano and singing together. I knew all the historical people who were in the play."

Shop around:In the 1940s, Turner-Thompson and her mother hosted gospel pioneers at their Central Avenue music store, Coleman's Studio of Gospel Music, the first music store in Cleveland. Among those who passed through was Thomas Dorsey, who introduced his new song, "Take my Hand, Precious Lord," later made famous by Aretha Franklin. "Dorsey loved the store. He and my mother were good friends. He wrote a book of poetry and dedicated it to her."

Living legend: This month Turner-Thompson celebrates the first anniversary of her literary debut, In His Presence: a Memoir in Traditional Black Gospel, which was written with her friend Barbara Flewellyn. "It's a history of my life to encourage young persons to want to be in sacred music."