Here's a comment I posted at In Between Naps on Amy Grant, with a couple additional comments.

You're right Carl, there was a time when divorce would destroy an evangelical Christian's ministry, but not anymore. I think a turning point was when it was revealed that Sandi Patti was involved in an adulterous relationship with a member of her touring band. People were very quick to forgive her and put it all behind them and move on.

Also along the lines of Amy Grant, it was public knowledge, pretty soon after she was married, that her then husband, Gary Chapman, had a serious substance abuse problem and many people saw her handle that situation pretty well for many years. So I guess there was an abundance of sympathy in the wings for her.

AS for her music, her early stuff was very good. In fact she made the song "El Shaddai" famous, and thta is a truly beautiful and inspiring song. After that album, the one that followed was one that was good but she had begun to use vague lyrics. Nonetheless, she had a few songs that were explicitly Christian, especially one that sang the Psalm, "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. 1985 was when she realized that she had major secular pull, especially with the song "Every Where I Go." On that album there was little mention, if any, of God. And since then, she's lived in that vague land of "love" etc.

I don't keep up with contemporary Catholic music but, I think they need to study closely the history of contemporary Christian music so that they can avoid the pitfalls of CCM.

In opposition to the career of Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, I think, has remained explicitly Christian (I don't follow this stuff any more but I did see him in a recent concert televised on TBN).


Andre Crouch, who was perhaps the Guru of all Christian singers, after successes in the 70s tried his hand on a secular type album in 1981 called "Don't Give Up." I recently purchased the CD. It wasn't received to well at the time because his distinctive sound included his choir and even though the choir was on this album, it was a departure from his traditional music. But I can attest to the coolness and bite of the funk. He had mostly the same musicians that he'd always used, Bill Maxwell (white brother with some serious funk) on drums, Abraham Laboriel (Afro-Mexican and the best bassist in the world, sorry Stanley Clark, Marcus Miller, etc.), Harlan Rogers on Keyboards (Andre also plays the piano), Justo Amario on horns, Alex Acuna on percussion (yes, the world famour Alex Acuna) and Hadley Hockensmith a lead guitarist who never quite received his due on the guitar scene. These musicans are all hard core with the funk, all of Andre Crouch's music in the 70s was slammin. So the brief move into the more contemporary sound of the day wasn't necessarily out of the ordinary. I think the problem was that regular church choirs couldn't sing those songs which is how they gain in popularity in the black community.

By the way, on this album, Louis Johnson, the bassist in the duo Brothers Johnson, played on a couple of songs. Louis Johnson was especially known for "machine gun" plucking style. Louis Johnson did a lot of studio work with Quincy Jones, so that gives you a sense of his quality. Louis Johnson in 1981, along with his wife and another man, briefly formed a Christian group called Passage. One of their more popular songs that received secular airtime was "Oh-oh, I see the light, the Lord is givin' . . ."



The Winans also had a brief foray into more contemporary styles in 1986(?) with the Album Let my People Go and Tramaine Hawkins did something similar, I forget the name of her album. I don't think they did that well. It was not until the early 90s that the contemporary sound made its way into Christian music and stuck. Many tried, but the quality was lacking, but the one's mentioned here were all top notch. The Winans album that I mentioned was executive produced by Quincy Jones.

Another person that is worth mentioning is Carman. I'd say his music is quite anti-Catholic in some spots but it is good listening, creative and sometimes funny.