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Subject: REQUEST CCM FAQ
The Discography FAQ is maintained by Peter Thompson (pdt@cs.mu.oz.au). It contains a partial discography of CCM artists, which are (broadly speaking) any Christian recording artist that uses a contemporary rather than a traditional style. It is posted monthly to rec.music.christian and may also be obtained through e-mail with the Subject: REQUEST DISCOGRAPHY FAQ.
The Wedding Song List is maintained by Andrew D. Taylor. It is a list of songs which varioous r.m.c readers have suggested for use at a wedding. It is posted monthly to rec.music.christian. It is also available via WWW on the r.m.c Home Page (see below) and e-mail. To: af883@freenet.carleton.ca Subject: REQUEST WEDDING SONG LIST
A list of funeral and wake songs is also available from David Wallace (dnw@cswamp.apana.org.au). It is posted regularly to rec.music.christian and may also be obtained through e-mail with the subject REQUEST FUNERAL SONGS FAQ.
Peter Thompson (pdt@cs.mu.oz.au) maintains the Phil Keaggy Information Phile, which is a mini-FAQ, micro-biography, and macro-discography for guitarist Phil Keaggy. It is posted irregularly to rec.music.christian in three parts and may also be obtained via email with the Subject: REQUEST PHILE.
Andy Taylor maintains a list of Radio Stations that is monthly posted. Send e-mail to the following address with the following subject line:
To: af883@freenet.carleton.ca Subject: CCM RADIO FAQ SUBMISSION
To: jws@sabine.psu.edu Subject: REQUEST M.E. FAQ
jws@sabine.psu.eduPlease feel free to help modify/correct/fine tune any part of this FAQ. I would not mind at all any help.
Press release from Michael English (Warner Alliance)
"I feel it is necessary to announce my withdrawal from Christian music because of mistakes that I have recently made. Although I am very appreciative of the support I have received from those involved in Christian music, I feel it is necessary to relinquish the Dove Awards that I was honored with this past week."
"To Warner Alliance and the GMA, I am sorry. I am a human being. These circumstances are obviously the hardest I have had to face in my life. And I would hope that you will support me and all of the persons involved with your prayers."
TNN Country News reposts that due to these circumstances, Warner Alliance is removing all promotions, marketing, and sales of Michael's product. Also, GMA said in a press release that they have not requested any Dove Awards to be returned from Michael nor have they received any awards.
AP WIRE: May 6, 1994 8:11 am
Nashville, TN -- These are trying times for Gospel music's
top recording artist. Just a week after being named gospel music's artist of the year, Michael English has been dropped by his record label-- which won't explain why. And there are allegations of an affair.
The Nashville newspaper "The Tennessean" today reports English slept with another married gospel singer. The report quotes industry sources. It does not name the other singer. In a statement, English says he's human, and asks for forgiveness. And citing what he calls his "mistakes," he says he will no longer perform Christian music.
English also says he wants to return the Dove awards he won last week from the Gospel Music Association
AP WIRE: May 6, 1994 10:15 pm
Nashville, TN -- The nation's top gospel singer says he's
quitting -- and sources say it's because he had an extramarital affair.
Michael English dropped his bombshell just one week after winning gospel music's top award. Today, English gave back the four Dove Awards he won last week, including one for gospel artist of the year.
A statement from English says he feels it's necessary to withdraw from the Christian music industry because of mistakes he's recently made. Several industry sources say he's referring to his involvement with another gospel singer.
Both are married.
That wouldn't cause a stir for a rock musician. But Mark DeYoung, manager of Nashville radio station WNAZ, says Christian music artists are held to a higher standard -- as minister. DeYoung says he's pulled English's songs off the air.
AP WIRE: May 7, 1994 10:07 am
Nashville, TN -- The gospel singer named artist of the year
has turned in his awards after confirming he had an affair with a fellow singer.
Michael English returned four gospel music awards he received from the Gospel Music Association last week. The association's president says English told him he was involved with gospel singer Marabeth Jordan. Both are married. The two were touring together to raise money for a home for unwed mothers.
English announced his withdrawal from Christian music Thursday. Radio stations are debating whether to stop playing his songs. And Jordan's band has replaced her. The Gospel Music Association will meet later this week to decide whether to give back English his awards since the Dove Awards have no morals or character clause.
THE TENNESSEAN: Saturday, May 7, 1994
EXTRAMARITAL AFFAIR RESULTS IN PREGNANCY
English gives back six Dove Awards. By Sandy Smith and Ray WaddleGospel star Michael English yesterday returned the symbols of his success--his six Dove Awards--as First Call moved to replace Marabeth Jordan, the singer with whom English has conceived a child.
Both English and Jordan are married to others and have been touring together as part of the Mercy Tour, a benefit to raise money to build a home for unwed mothers.
Gospel Music Association president Bruce Koblish confirmed the details of a story that has been circulating in Nashville since Thursday, saying he wanted to "bring closure to this story and so healing can begin."
English announced in a statement Wednesday that he is leaving the gospel music world--one week after he received the GMA's highest honor--because of "mistakes" he had made.
Jordan has not made a public statement and messages left on her answering machine have not been returned.
Koblish, speaking from his Music Row office last night after returning from New Orleans, said he had urged all parties involved to come forward since he learned of the situation Wednesday morning.
"I was advised by parties involved to make no comment. That was against my better judgment. I would have liked to have said what I said two days ago."
Koblish said he called representatives for both Jordan and English while on the airplane back from New Orleans to let them know he was going public with the details. He said he spoke to English Thursday and both are "with their families trying to deal with this."
Koblish said the GMA had "borne the brunt of the responsibility" for fielding media calls--from mainstream press, religious periodicals, and tabloids--"due to the lack of availability of the parties involved."
A friend of English returned the Doves to the GMA, which last night were wrapped in newspapers and stored in a cardboard box.
"We have no precedent for this situation, and in the 25-year history of the Dove Awards there has never been any occasion for a morals or character clause to be part of the ... criteria," Koblish said.
The GMA has called a meeting next week to discuss the current criteria and will decide whether to officially accept the awards' return.
"There will be those who cry for stricter standards and for the industry to invoke stricter standards on people's lives. We are not a police organization," Koblish said.
Instead, he called for compassion for all involved.
"To some, this may discredit the Christian message. However, the essence of Christianity is about Jesus' perfect love for an imperfect people. It's not about how good or infallible we are. We hope and pray that shattered lives will be put back together over time and that all involved will accept and experience God's grace and mercy."
Lisa Glasgow, a studio singer, will join Marty McCall and Bonnie Keen to round out First Call for upcoming concerts.
May 12, 1994--letter from Warner Alliance
An Open Letter To Our Friends In Christian Retailing, Radio and Press,
The recent events surrounding the life of Michael English have had a profound effect on all of us involved in Christian music and, ultimately, on the kingdom of God. For those of you who still may be unfamiliar with the facts, the story from our local paper is attached. The decision for Warner Alliance to disassociate itself from Michael was a difficult one; he was the label's first signing in 1990 and has been both a friend and an artist for whom we have worked diligently over these past four years. The ministry value of his music and what God has done through him cannot be minimized.
In the days following the Dove Awards as we learned of this tragic situation, we sought out and received Godly counsel from Pastor Scotty Smith of Christ Community Church in Franklin, TN, who met with both families involved, and from Pastor Jim Cymbala of The Brooklyn Tabernacle and then finally, we met with Michael himself. Ultimately, the difficulty comes in what and Who we are representing. We believe that the Bible teaches that there is a certain standard of conduct and morality that is expected of anyone who names the name of Jesus Christ, especially those who are called into public ministry. Our company helped to build and provide a platform for Michael English and when he decided to take actions that were contrary to the very ideals he had been espousing, our only course of action was to stop representing that "platform" by discontinuing the promotion, marketing and sales of his product. At the same time, on a personal level, we have great compassion for the families involved and continue to pray for healing and restoration.
Our credibility before the Lord and with you, our partners, is of the utmost importance to us. We now look together with you to the future and to wonderful new projects from Andrae Crouch, Steve Taylor, Take 6, Sisters, Carlton Pearson, David Mullen and others as we seek to maintain the highest standards of musical excellence and ministry. We appreciate your continued support, without which none of this would be possible.
Sincerely...in Him,
Neal Joseph Barry Landis President Vice President, Marketing & Promotion
Newsweek May 30, 1994
GOD AND THE MUSIC BIZ
As a scandal touches the exploding world of Christian pop, traditionalists pray for salvation, while everyone else prays for hits
(exerpts pertaining to English taken)
Christ Church in Nashville has the hottest choir in town, bar none, and the Pentecostal service on any given Sunday is liable to rock the pews. But earlier this month when word came of two out-of-wedlock pregnancies in the congregation, the reverberation could be heard in all 50 states. Wynonna Judd held a press conference and said she had conceived and had no immediate plans to wed. The week before, the Gospel Music Association had announced that married Christian-pop singer Michael English had impregnated Marabeth Jordan, who is a singer with the trio First Call--and somebody's else wife.
Nashville mostly ignored Judd's announcement. After all, she is a singer who's Christian, not a Christian singer. But the town did its best to make English's problems an occasion for reflecting on the temptations of stardom. Warner Records' Christian division, Warner [a line is missing here] A week after sweeping six categories at the GMA's Dove Awards, English, 32, halted his career--and sent the six trophies back. "It's kind of a wake-up call," says Rev. Scotty Smith, who counseled English, Jordan and executives at Warner Alliance.
Yet the call went unheeded among Christian contemporary-music fans, who made a distinction between the ironies of English's sin--he and Jordan had just done a benefit tour for unwed mothers--and his songs. They snatched up any of his albums still on the racks. Christian radio stations that banned his Michael Boltonish hits were barraged with nasty calls. "They were more angry with us than with Michael English," says Mark DeYoung at WNAZ in Nashville. "They weren't condemning of him at all."
...
The only one not actively planning a crossover, it seems, is English, who spoke to Newsweek from Florida, where he retreated after the scandal. Since it broke, he has been encouraged to be the next to wade into the mainstream. He says the first task is to restore himself in the eyes of his peers. "I grew up singing Christian music and Christian music is where my heart is. I'd like to sing [Christian] music again, but I don't know if I will be allowed to...I knew when I was accepting Artist of the Year, I was actually saying goodbye." He reported that Jordon, whom First Call has replaced with a studio singer, has miscarried. Jordon could not be reached for comment.
English might take comfort in the fact that Christina music is now robust enough to handle a suggestion of hypocrisy. Perversely, the buzz created by the scandal only testifies to the popularity of Christian music: a few years ago, his story might not have made the papers at all.
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