Akers’ family moved to Kirks­ville, Mis­sou­ri, when she was five years old. A self taught mu­si­cian, she wrote her first Gos­pel song at age 10. As a teen­ag­er, she formed a band called Dot Ak­ers and Her Swing­sters. Af­ter mov­ing to Los An­ge­les, Cal­i­for­nia, she played for the Sal­lie Mar­tin Singers, then formed her own group with Dor­o­thy Sim­mons, the Sim­mons-Ak­ers Sing­ers. Later, she was so­lo­ist and di­rector for the Sky Pi­lot Choir in Los An­ge­les. She was al­so as­so­ci­at­ed with the Full Gos­pel Church, Co­lum­bus, Ohio. She wrote some 300 Gos­pel songs in her life­time.