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"I come from a land down under..." The Commonwealth of CCM continues, and we move from Great Britain to Australia. Right now we will only be stopping for a short while on the continent, but we may return if I find more artists. Right now I am doing my best to exclude Hillsong Church from the list.
Our first bunch of Aussies can claim ties to Elvis (at least in a roundabout way). Newsboys hail from Mooloolaba, Queensland, Australia, and have been around since the 80's. Originally called The News. Upon making the jump to the States they ran into a problem, there was a band called Huey Lewis and The News. So Newsboys it was.
From the start there was always Peter Furler. He started out on drums and eventually, after the departure of John James after Take Me to Your Leader (1986), he assumed both Lead Vocal and second drum duties. Duncan Phillips came on as drummer, and during every concert (at least during festival season), the Newsboys had a tilted rotating dual drum set in which Furler and Phillips had a dueling drum solo. It was awesome.
Due to the changes at Lead Vocal, like Petra, Newsboys can be divided into era's
The John James Era
Read All About It (1988)
Hell is for Wimps (1990)
Boys Will Be Boyz (1991)
Not Ashamed (1992)
Going Public (1994)
Take Me To Your Leader (1996)
The last three albums of the John James era were also notable in that they featured the Production and songwriting talents of Clone Prince Steve Taylor. His somewhat? demented form of humor can be seen on songs like Take Me To Your Leader, Reality, and others. Shine from going Public shows a hint of Taylor's insanity.
The Peter Furler Era
Step Up to the Microphone (1998)
Love, Liberty, Disco (1999)
Thrive (2002)
Adoration: The Worship Album (2003)
Devotion (2004)
Go (2006)
In The Hands of God (2009)
Furler left to spend time with his family, and that is where we find our Elvis connection. Peter Furler married Summer LeFevre, the daughter of Mylon LeFevre, and Mylon wrote a song 'Without Him" that was recorded on Elvis Album How Great Thou Art. One of the videos from this era would be Entertaining Angels from Step up to the Microphone.
The Michael Tait Era
Born Again (2010)
God's Not Dead (2011)
Live In Concert: God's Not Dead (2012)
After Furler's departure the band turned to former DC Talk singer Michael Tait. Of course this move effectively put do death all hopes of a DC Talk reunion. (A second nail in the coffin came when Kevin Max was hired by Audio Adrenaline). The sophomore album in the Tait era was God's Not Dead, and the official music video for that is below.
Outside of Hillsong Church, Newsboys are the most successful group in Australia. Inside of Hillsong Church of course, it is Hillsong. On Black Friday we will cover the group that, outside of Petra and the Newsboys, has thrived by change, and that is Skillet. Until our next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.
What do The Newsboys, Elvis Presley, Steve Taylor and Southern Gospel have in common? On the surface, absolutely nothing, but this is Flashback Friday, and there is a connection, I promise you.
Actually, the connection is a person, and the subject of our profile this week. Our connection is Mylon Lefevre.
The youngest son of Eva Mae and Urias LeFevre, Mylon grew up in a famous Southern Gospel Music household The LeFevres. Mylon's mother was a Whittington, which may explain why I heard them promoted via Televangelist Jim Whittington in the Late 70's into the 1980's.
I know I may catch Hell for this, but along the way Mylon finally found God. As a teenager his Gospel Song "Without Him" Caught the attention of the King himself, Elvis Presley. The song made an initial royalty of $90,000. Pretty good for a teen in 1961.
Between a stint in the Stamps Quartet and collaborating with the 2nd Chapter of Acts, Mylon rose through the Christian Music ranks. Eventually he struck out on his own in the 80's, with Mylon Lefevre and Broken Heart. I got to see Mylon three times in concert, once at ENC while a student. That was during their Sheep in Wolves Clothing Tour, which featured most of these videos. The other two were in Leominster and Worcester (boy did he enjoy wrapping his tongue around our towns "Lemon-ster?")The last video I will share is I will rejoice, which is done live. At the beginning you will notice the group headbang, which I believe they pioneered in the Christian World and Fireflight has resurrected.
The band brole up in 1990 after the Crank it Up tour. Since then Mylon has been pretty quiet, trading his former Church (Mount Paran Church of God, Atlanta) for Fort Worth Texas Eadle Mountain International Church pastored by George Pearson. Though the band never attained Superstar status, the bands of today owe them a great deal.
Oh, as to the other people in the list? We've already told you Mylons links to Southern Gospel (the LeFevre's) and Elvis (Without Him). Aussie Band the Newsboys. Mylon's Daughter Summer is married to former Newsboy Lead Peter Furler. Clown Prince Taylor? He Produced the Newsboys albums and wrote a lot of their early songs. Now you know.
Due to an abundance of Subjects for Today's post I missed the original Friday Deadline. I will be making up for it by having two Flashback Friday Posts this week. This Special Tuesday Edition and the normal one this Friday. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.
