NEW YORK, NY.- Joe Bonsall, who for more than 50 years was the tenor voice of the Oak Ridge Boys, one of the most popular and enduring vocal groups in the history of country music, died Tuesday at his home in Hendersonville, Tennessee. He was 76.

His publicist, Jeremy Westby, said the cause was complications of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the neuromuscular disorder also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. (Bonsall issued a statement in January saying that he was retiring from touring with the Oak Ridge Boys but would remain a member of the group.)

Originally a Southern gospel quartet, the Oak Ridge Boys had 17 Billboard No. 1 country singles, as well as 17 more that made the country Top 10, after reinventing themselves as a country act in the early 1970s. The group, which has sold more than 41 million records worldwide, was formed in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, in the early 1940s, and disbanded and reformed twice before its lineup stabilized with Bonsall’s arrival in 1973.

“Elvira” (1981) and “Bobbie Sue” (1982), two of the group’s best-known No. 1 hits, featured Bonsall on lead vocals in place of the regular lead singer, Duane Allen. William Lee Golden and Richard Sterban, who sang baritone and bass, rounded out the four-part harmony quartet during its heyday in the 1970s and ’80s.

Among the group’s other No. 1 hits were “Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight” (1979), an early Rodney Crowell composition, and “American Made” (1983), a wry topical number that showcased Bonsall’s clean, resounding tenor. (“American Made” was later used in a television commercial for Miller Beer.)

Hooked by its catchy “oom papa mow mow” chorus, “Elvira,” written by prolific country and pop songwriter Dallas Frazier, became the group’s career-defining hit, earning a Grammy for best country performance by a duo or group with vocal in 1982. It also crossed over to the pop Top 10.

“‘Elvira’ was a gigantic shock,” Bonsall said in a 2015 interview with Smashing Interviews magazine. “Everybody in this country was singing ‘oom papa mow mow.’ It was just unbelievable.”

With their debt to antic early rock ’n’ roll touchstones like “Searchin’” and “Yakety Yak,” “Elvira” and “Bobbie Sue” found the Oaks expanding the reach of traditional country harmony singing to include techniques popularized by R&B vocal groups like the Marcels and the Coasters.

As further evidence of their wide-ranging musicality, the Oak Ridge Boys had a No. 1 country single with their 1985 remake of the Staple Singers’ 1974 hit “Touch a Hand, Make a Friend.” In 1977 they contributed backing vocals to Paul Simon’s Top 10 hit “Slip Slidin’ Away.”

Innovation, however, had long been the group’s calling card, dating to their years as a hirsute gospel quartet in the early 1970s.

“We were the first group to have our own band, the first drummer ever in gospel music,” Bonsall told Smashing Interviews.

Back in those days, he added, “everybody thought that we were long-haired hippie boys who were trying to make gospel music as good as any other kind of music or present it well, and it just wasn’t accepted. They turned against us back then for a while.”

Bonsall and the Oak Ridge Boys were ultimately vindicated, being voted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2000. They were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2015.

Joseph Sloan Bonsall Jr. was born May 18, 1948, in Philadelphia, the eldest of two children of Joseph Sloan and Lillie Maude (Collins) Bonsall. His parents both served in World War II: His father fought at Normandy, France, on D-Day and earned three Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star and a Silver Star; his mother was a member of the Women’s Army Corps.

Young Joey was enthralled early on by Southern gospel quartets like the Blackwood Brothers and the Statesmen, and as a teenager he joined the Faith Four, a group that included his sister, Nancy. He was also fond of the teenage ballads and street-corner harmonies he heard on the WFIL-TV show “Bandstand” (later “American Bandstand”) while growing up in Philadelphia.

In 1967 he moved to Hattiesburg, Pennsylvania, to join Sterban in the Keystone Quartet, a gospel group. He remained until he moved to Hendersonville to join the Oak Ridge Boys in 1973.

The group signed with Columbia Records that same year and toured with Johnny Cash and the Carter Family; they all joined forces on a minor hit, “Praise the Lord and Pass the Soup.” The group had only modest success, though, until it signed with ABC Records and began working with producer Ron Chancey. “Y’all Come Back Saloon,” the group’s first country record, marked a breakthrough, reaching No. 3 on the country chart in 1977.

The next year, the Country Music Association named the Oak Ridge Boys vocal group of the year.

In addition to his work with the group, Bonsall was the author of several books, including the four-part children’s series “The Molly Books” and “G.I. Joe and Lillie,” a book about his parents’ experiences during and after the war. A memoir, “I See Myself: Musings and Memories of a Blessed Life,” is scheduled for publication this year.

Besides his sister, Bonsall is survived by his wife of 41 years, Mary Ann (Bell) Bonsall; his daughters, Jennifer Stevens and Sabrina Carver; two grandchildren; and two great-grandsons.

An avid pet lover, Bonsall always had a house full of cats, a passion that dated to his childhood dream of becoming a veterinarian.

But, he told Smashing Interviews, “College was not really in my future. My parents didn’t have the money for college, and I didn’t have the smarts for college, so music was it for me, man. I don’t think I ever doubted for a minute that music would work for me.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.