Love Song was one of the main Jesus music bands, one of the first Christian rock bands. It was founded in 1970 by Chuck Girard, Tommy Coomes, Jay Truax, and Fred Field. Denny Correll, formerly of Blues Image and Carlos Luevano, lead guitarist for Stonehenge band, also worked with the group early on. They were a part of the Jesus Movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s, coming out of Chuck Smith’s Calvary Chapel. Their classic debut album, Love Song (1972), is considered one of the greatest Christian music albums of all time. The group toured heavily in the early 1970s, becoming very popular both in the US and abroad. (More from Wikipedia)
Besides becoming an important component of the evangelical Christian movement of the 1970’s and 1980’s, some Christian organizations trace their roots to the Jesus movement, notably Calvary Chapel. One of the earliest Christian rock bands, Love Song came from Calvary Chapel.
Phil Keaggy left Glass Harp in 1972 and released his first solo album in 1973 called What a Day; the songs were all written when he was still with Glass Harp. The same year he joined Love Song briefly and has become a fixture in the CCM movement. Ted Nugent was quoted in 1989 in Wikipedia as saying: “I don’t know what happened to that Phil Keaggy. He could have saved the world with his guitar.”
(July 2014)
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Wikipedia mentions that the organization now known as the Association of Vineyard Churches (which was founded by Gulliksen) was formed in part by Christian contemporary music pioneers that I mentioned in my last post: “The first local church started when Kenn Gulliksen brought together two Bible studies, both meeting at the houses of singer/songwriters: Larry Norman and Chuck Girard [a founder of early CCM band Love Song]. In early 1975, thirteen groups met at the Beverly Hills Women’s Club. These Bible studies, and others like them, were attended by many popular actors/actresses and musicians including Bob Dylan.” Dylan also attended the Calvary Chapel discipleship courses in Southern California.
(August 2014)
