Bishop Rance Allen, a minister and gospel star whose namesake group drew upon contemporary sounds for 1970s hits such as “Ain’t No Need of Crying” and “I Belong To You,” and anticipated crossover gospel artists including the Winans and Amy Grant, died Oct. 31 at a care center in Sylvania, Ohio. He was 71.

His wife, Ellen Allen, and manager, Toby Jackson, announced the death in a joint statement, saying that he had been recovering from a “medical procedure.”

A native of Monroe, Mich., Bishop Allen was a longtime minister in the Church of God in Christ and had recently served as a bishop in northwestern Michigan. He formed the Rance Allen Group with his brothers Tom and Steve in 1969. Another sibling, Esau, occasionally joined them.

A promoter for Stax Records heard the group at a Detroit talent contest and they eventually signed with the label’s Gospel Truth imprint. Bishop Allen and his siblings were featured in the 1973 documentary “WattStax,” performing the funky “Lying On the Truth” at a benefit concert organized to commemorate the anniversary of the 1965 Watts riots in Los Angeles.

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Like the Winans and others later on, the Allens inverted the formula of soul performers like Ray Charles who used gospel sounds for secular themes. On “Just My Salvation,” the Allen Group reworked the Temptations’ melancholy love song “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)” into an uptempo hymn.

Bishop Allen received five Grammy nominations, including best gospel performance for the 2008 song “I Understand,” which also featured Mariah Carey and BeBe Winans. In 2015 he sang at the White House, with President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama among those in attendance.

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