The Abraham Brothers

The Abraham Brothers - 2005
left to right: Mark Maynard, Donnie Abraham,
David Hamilton, and Ed Finnie

The History of the "Abes"
by Donnie Abraham

The Abraham Brothers started singing as a duet at the age of 3 & 4. It started simple enough in Sunday school. Although not showing any exceptional talent, we loved to sing and we could sing loud. My Mom like to dress us up like twins so we looked cute at that age and on Sunday morning the teacher asked us to sing a song for the kids. So we got up in front of the class and sang a simple Sunday school song. We really had no idea what we were doing but we so enjoyed it we would go home and practice another song for the next Sunday school. We so loved to sing that this continued on for a long time.

My parents were very supportive of us pursuing our music that my parents bought my brother, Gary, a guitar and he started taking lessons. My father thought it would be a good idea for me to play the accordion. Well, I reluctantly took lessons for six agonizing months. However, I finally won an argument with my Dad and also picked up the guitar. So I played the electric guitar and Gary played the acoustic guitar.

The Abraham Brothers - 1967

Gary & I attended the Stamps Conservatory of Music. This was a summer school in Texas that taught voice, guitar, and Quartet training. We attended this school, 2 summers when we were young teens. This experience was very contributory to our success on the road.

We recorded our first album in Youngstown, Ohio at the age of 13 & 14. We decided to add singers as time went on so we first hired Johnny Porrazzo to sing tenor and play piano. We recorded an album with Johnny in Nashville at the Stamps Quartet recording studio. Johnny was very talented and had many offers so he decided to move on to other options. We then hired Howard McCrary for a while. Howard was an exceptional singer and Piano player with his own group the McCrary five. So he soon left.

Don, Johnny Porrazzo, and Gary

We then hired the Finnie Brothers Ed & Bob. Ed sang tenor and Bob played piano and sang as well. We recorded 2 more albums with Ed and Bob at Mark five studios in Greenville, South Carolina. We traveled extensively throughout the United States and into Canada. We hired our first drummer Johnny Mathews. Bill Dunbar played piano for the group till it disbanded.

The Abraham Brothers - 1970

At the age of 20 I decided to leave the group, however, the Abraham Brothers continued to tour with other members. Mark Maynard joined the group. Mark had a wonderful voice and fit in very well. He played piano occasionally as well. Jeff Issacs joined and played bass for a short while. When he left Dave Hamilton joined the Abes playing Bass guitar. John Foster played Drums. Jimmy McDonald played Steel guitar for a while. Ed left soon after that and Pat Brown sang with the Abes singing tenor. He didn't stay long so we then hired Joe Grasso. I was called on to fill in occasionally through all the changes. The group finally couldn't sustain all the changes so it finally disbanded in 1975.

left to right: Bob Finnie - Piano and Vocals, Ed Finnie - Vocals
Donnie Abraham - Guitar and Vocals, Gary Abraham - Vocals

The Abraham Brothers had the opportunity to sing in most church denominations. High Schools, colleges, major Gospel concerts and much more. It was an experience that I consider the most rewarding in my life.