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Theola Kilgore (born 1925 in Shreveport, Louisiana - died May 15, 2005 in Los Angeles, California) was a Gospel and Soul singer. Raised in Oakland, California, she began her singing career in church. Her first paid recording was "Look To The Hills" with The Mount Zion Spiritual Choir, where she was the vocal lead, released in 1955 on Ajax Records. In the 1950s, she became friends with Sam Cooke's manager, JW Alexander, who introduced her to singer and record producer Ed Townsend. Kilgore's first recording was "The Sound Of My Man," a response to Sam Cooke's hit "Chain Gang." Her greatest success came with "The Love Of My Man," an adaptation of "The Love Of God" recorded by The Soul Stirrers, which reached No. 3 on the R&B Charts in 1963. Following this, her single "This Is My Prayer" peaked at No. 60 on the Hot 100 R&B chart in the same year. Kilgore and Townsend later launched their own label, KT Records, where she recorded the single "I'll Keep Trying / He's Coming Back To Me." Although her subsequent recordings, mainly arranged by René Hall, were less successful, she also recorded for Mercury and Scepter-Wand records, as well as some unreleased titles for Stax records.

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