Cedric Dent, a native of Detroit, Michigan, was a baritone vocalist, music arranger, and co-producer of the 10-time GRAMMY Award-winning vocal group, TAKE 6. In 2011, Dent retired from TAKE 6 after 25 years with the group. He is also a 2-time Grammy-nominated music arranger and created several arrangements for the Grammy-award winning recording Handel’s Messiah A Soulful Celebration (1992). In 2014, Dent rejoined TAKE 6 for their induction into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, TN.  

A professor at Middle Tennessee State University, Dent directs the MTSU Singers (a vocal jazz ensemble), teaches a course he developed on the history of black gospel music, and teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in music theory. He also coordinates the School of Music’s internship program for music industry majors.  

Dent continues to compose and arrange for various live and recording projects, and has traditional choral works and vocal jazz ensemble arrangements published by Walton Music and Anchor Music Publications respectively. Dent’s composition, “I Hear the Drum,” was premiered by the Nashville Symphony Orchestra and the MET Singers in 2016. His composition “In The Circle,” an a cappella setting for SATB vocal jazz ensemble, was commissioned by the Jazz Education Network (JEN) in 2021. And in 2023, Dent created a vocal arrangement for the finale of the 3rd season of the streaming series, “The Chosen.”

Since 2021, Dent has been an artist/arranger in residence with the Jason Max Ferdinand Singers (JMFS), which recorded his setting of the spiritual “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.” As a member of JMFS, Dent performed with Jacob Collier and the band, Coldplay, on the NBC TV show, “Saturday Night Live” in 2023.

Dent holds degrees from the University of Michigan, the University of Alabama, and the University of Maryland. As an alumnus of the University of Michigan, he was selected to receive the 2016 Hall of Fame Award from the School of Music, Theatre & Dance Alumni Society.

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