Song:Rock 'N' Roll Preacher
Album:The 70s Albums
Chuck Girard is a pioneer of what is now known as Contemporary Christian Music. When he recorded Rock ''N' Roll Preacher in 1975, his kind of music didn't have a name. It was derisively called Jesus Music and even the Christian record label Word didn't know what to do with guys like Girard. They figured it out in the 80s. Girard was born Aug. 27, 1943 in Los Angeles but for most of his life he has lived in Costa Mesa and has been a member of the Calvary Church. The video below was filmed at the church. While in high school, Girard was a member of the doo wop group The Castels. They charted with the 1961 single Sacred and the 1962 single So This Is Love. The music was produced by surf rock legend Gary Usher and The Wrecking Crew studio musician collective played on the records. After The Castels split up in 1963, Girard turned up in the surf rock group The Hondells. They scored a top ten hit with Little Honda in 1964. Usher created The Hondells as a studio musician group. But after Little Honda was a hit, he hired singers including Girard to tour as The Hondells. In 1970 Girard was a member of Love Song. They were one of the first Christian rock bands. After two albums, Girard left to go solo. Rock 'N' Roll Preacher is on Girard's 1975 debut album Chuck Girard. Like Love Song, Girard recorded for the Word Records label Good News. Though Rock 'N' Roll Preacher was not a hit at the time, today it is considered to be an important song in the development of CCM. The song is very typical of mid 70s rock. But Girard is singing about Jesus. Members of the group Ambrosia played on this album. And Girard played on their albums. Other than that, Girard used studio musicians like Dean Parks and David Paich. Jim Keltner played drums on all of Girard's 70s albums. Later on he formed the band that you see in the video with Jon Linn on lead guitar, Larry Myers on rhythm guitar, Terry Clark on keyboards, Jay Truax on bass and Mark Walker on drums. They were all part of the Los Angeles Jesus Music scene. Girard recorded five albums on Good News. Since then he has recorded for his own label and he released four of the Good News albums on 2CDs. Girard is still around. He last recorded in 2008. His daughter Alisa was a member of ZOEgirl. She was not part of the 2011 reunion. As Alisa Childers (her married name), she has recorded for the Calvary Church label. Here's Chuck Girard performing Rock 'N' Roll Preacher at the Calvary Church in Costa Mesa,CA 1979. The band on this video is the band I mentioned above.
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