Already they were pushing the boundaries of gospel by introducing features of contemporary R&B styles, and gaining new fans from far outside the usual gospel sphere. Crouch and the Disciples toured worldwide, and in 19 they performed to sellout crowds at New York's Carnegie Hall. By the mid-1960s he had put together another group, the Disciples, and the first of six Andraé Crouch and the Disciples albums, Take the Message Everywhere, was released in 1971 on the Light label.Ĭrouch's solo career began with the LP Just Andraé in 1972, and throughout the 1970s his reputation rose steadily. Crouch attended Valley Junior College and Life Bible College in the Los Angeles area and counseled recovering drug addicts, but his heart was in music.
In high school Crouch formed a group called the COGICS (an acronym for Church of God in Christ Singers) which also included vocalist Billy Preston of "Will It Go Round in Circles?" fame. Crouch moved with his family to the San Fernando Valley suburb of Pacoima when he was in junior high school, and his musical talents burgeoned. "People became music to me because everything they said was a song." Indeed, Crouch began composing songs at age 14 and has never really slowed down he still composes each morning during the prayers for which he rises at 6 a.m. "I started singing what I had to say," he recalled to People. Music helped Crouch overcome shyness and a stammering impediment. One Sunday, when Andraé was 11, his father preached at a church in Val Verde, California, and then called Andraé to the piano to accompany the church's choir in the hymn "What a Friend We Have in Jesus." Although Andraé, according to his own recollections, had never played the piano before, he performed successfully. The three Crouch children sang in a trio at the behest of their father, who had begun to preach in order to strengthen his prayers to God that his son might be given musical talent. His twin sister Sandra and older brother Benjamin were both musical, and he is also the cousin of noted jazz critic Stanley Crouch. Both the wide swath of black gospel performers who draw on R&B and the legions of white contemporary Christian artists who blur the line between sacred and secular with middle-of-the-road romantic styles owe Crouch a musical debt.Ĭrouch was born in Los Angeles on July 1, 1942. Contemporary gospel's pioneer was Andraé Crouch, who over a thirty-year career has become one of the most influential musicians in the United States. One person above all others expanded the gospel vocabulary to include elements of R&B and modern popular styles.
In an era when religious music in contemporary styles seems a significant and permanent part of the musical landscape, it is important to remember that at one time gospel music, especially, was almost exclusively rooted in long traditions.
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