#90 HEAVENLY LOVE by The Boones (1979)

HEAVENLY LOVE - The Boones (1979)
Lamb & Lion (LL-1044)

Best remembered as the group that graced the cover of the first-ever issue of Contemporary Christian Music (later known as CMM) in 1978, The Boones were more than just pretty faces. They were a ‘sister act’ worth celebrating in the mid- to late-70s.

Of course, any discussion of this musical family has to begin with their famous father. From 1955 through 1961, Pat Boone was one of the most popular singers in America. Only Elvis and the Beatles ever had a more successful six-year period. He basically earned his fame by singing sanitized, parent-approved versions of R&B tunes. In short, he made black music safe for white American teenagers. He covered songs by Fats Domino and Little Richard, but his trademark white bucks and his reputation for milk drinking and clean living made him the teen idol that was most palatable to moms and dads. Eventually, American audiences gravitated away from the squeaky-clean Boone and toward the artists whose songs he was covering.



Pat Boone: Teen Idol

Pat Boone had always been outspoken about his Christian faith. But he wrote in an autobiography (A New Song, published by Creation House in 1970) about a deeper experience with the Lord. Sometime in the late 60s, he experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues (as described in the book of Acts). Boone became one of the country’s best known Pentecostal Christians. He ended up starring as Assemblies of God preacher David Wilkerson in the classic movie The Cross and the Switchblade (with Erik Estrada as Nicky Cruz). It seems that Boone’s involvement with charismatic Christian expression brought him into contact with the Jesus Movement that was picking up steam in Southern California in the early 70s.

Pat Boone began to record entire albums of Jesus Music cover tunes – songs like Larry Norman’s I Wish We’d All Been Ready, Love Song’s Little Country Church, Randy Matthews’ Didn’t He, and many more. Of course, these songs were performed in Boone’s decidedly un-hip style, a factor that made teenagers wary but delighted their moms and dads. In the 50s, Boone made R&B tunes safe for general audiences; and in the 70s, he made edgy Jesus Rock songs safe for conservative churchgoing parents.

But Pat Boone also deserves more credit than he’s ever received for the support he gave to young Jesus Music artists. Many stories have been told over the years of the times he furnished transportation and gave money to artists in need. It was Boone who first brought the 2^nd Chapter of Acts to the attention of radio DJs by recording and distributing their single I’m So Happy in 1972. He famously fronted $3,000 to Larry Norman and Randy Stonehill so that they could establish One Way Records. And he began his own CCM label – Lamb & Lion Records – to help more CCM artists get their music to the public. Lamb & Lion was home to Dogwood, Wendell Burton, DeGarmo & Key, Dan Peek, Gary Chapman, Jerusalem, and more. It was also the label home to a female quartet that just happened to be Pat Boone’s own daughters.

Like her famous father, Debby Boone had experienced secular success. Hers was not a sustained career in mainstream music, but wow…it was huge. At age 21, she recorded a song called You Light Up My Life that occupied the #1 spot on American pop music charts for 10 straight weeks. It became the biggest pop record in 23 years and earned her a Grammy award for New Artist of the Year in 1977. Because of her Dad’s image and because she made it clear in interviews that she was singing You Light Up My Life to God and not an earthly lover, Debby Boone was often ridiculed as a lightweight or “goody two shoes” and never had another major secular hit. But she was the first CCM artist to cross into the mainstream market and deserves credit as one who paved the way for other Christian singers to experience success in the secular music world without compromising their convictions.

Sadly, there would be ample time to compromise convictions later on.

Straying far from Biblical teaching on the subject, Debby Boone revealed in 2014 that she is a supporter of "gay rights" and same-sex "marriage." As part of her rationale, she explained that "It's about continuing to tell the truth, and the truth will continue to do the work" -- apparently completely unaware of the irony of what she was saying. Sadly, if you simply hold to God's guidelines for marriage and sexuality, according to Debbie Boone you are stuck in "an old way of thinking." However, if you are accepting of sexual practices that are outside God's boundaries, then you are "coming slowly into the future and starting to get it." Understand?

But I digress.

Debby and dad all smiles after Grammy win

Both before and after You Light Up My Life, Debby recorded with her sisters Cherry, Laury and Lindy. These granddaughters of country music star Red Foley released Glass Castle as The Boone Girls in 1976. Then they changed the moniker to The Boones and released First Class in 1978. Their final album together (apart from a ‘greatest hits’ compilation) was 1979’s Heavenly Love.

With Chris Christian at the production helm, Heavenly Love featured a healthy dose of polished pop perfection. The Boone ladies were at the top of their game vocally. There is something special about the vocal harmonies of siblings (think: 2^nd Chapter of Acts). Actual family members just seem to be able to produce a tighter blend, for whatever reason.

The album kicks off with the disco-influenced title track, with Debby handling the lead vocals.

He Lives features a sassy, sultry melody line on the verses and those aforementioned harmonies on the choruses.



The Hudson Brothers

Lindy sings lead on My Sisters and Brothers (in Christ); the song has a southern gospel feel and a surprise guest appearance by the Hudson Brothers (a mid-70s pop group that had their own TV variety show and, oddly enough, a Saturday morning kids show). Pretty cool, huh? A song called My Sisters and Brothers was sung by, well, sisters and brothers (see what they did there?).

My guess is that a cover of Praise the Lord was producer Chris Christian’s idea. The definitive version of that song had already been recorded by the Imperials. Its inclusion on this album just didn’t seem necessary, although Debby very capably handled the lead vocal on the track.

Speaking of the Imperials, No I’ve Never sounded a lot like something the Imps might’ve recorded during their ‘Omartian period.’ It’s reminiscent lyrically of songs like Living Without Your Love. This is another one with a disco feel; it’s Laury’s turn to provide the lead vocals. 

Kicking off Side Two is a real treat. The legendary Andrae Crouch himself joins the sisters on Because I Love Him, a Teddy Huffam-penned black gospel classic. The girls’ harmony really shines on this track. I’ve got to admit I’ve got a soft spot in my heart for this song; my brothers and I (Bachmann Brothers Band) used to do an a cappella version while on the road with our family’s evangelistic ministry back in the late 70s-early 80s. We sang that song all over the place, and it never failed to get an approving response from audiences large and small.

Debby gets another chance to shine on the Chris Christian-penned power balled You Came Softly.

No, I Can’t Stop has a bouncy, breezy feel, again showcasing the Boones’ vocal blend.

Cherry is featured on Your Love, which sounds like the type of 70s pop song that any number of mainstream acts might’ve recorded. It should be noted that, with Chris Christian producing, we again have the phenomena of several songs that could be taken as love songs either to the Lord or to an earthly lover – the choice is yours. Your Love was one such song.

I’m a sucker for classic hymns done right. And Heavenly Love closes with a gorgeous, a cappella rendition of the majestic hymn Fairest Lord Jesus, once again demonstrating the special vocal blend that only siblings can generate.

Bill Maxwell (Andrae Crouch & the Disciples, Koinonia) played drums on this record, while Hadley Hockensmith provided some of the guitar work. The cover displayed a cool, somewhat artsy photo of the four Boone ladies, involving a lamppost, a bench, and the Pacific Ocean. For my money, Heavenly Love is the best of the three albums recorded by the daughters of Pat and Shirley Boone.

These ladies have remained in the public eye over the years. Laury went on to record with her husband Harry Browning; Cherry went public with her battle with anorexia nervosa; Lindy has written a book titled Heaven Hears, about her son falling from the roof of a multi-story condo and surviving the ordeal. Debby went on to record a series of well-received CCM albums in the 80s. Today, when she’s not hawking facelifts on TV infomercials, she stays busy performing concerts in venues like casinos and Branson, Missouri dinner theatres.

Debby Boone today

 

Whatever you think of them, the Boone family played an important role in the development and popularity of CCM, especially in the 1970s, always pointing us toward a “heavenly love.”

Time for another album?

Fun Facts: On her 1978 You Light Up My Life album, Debby Boone also recorded a cover of the Keith Green-Randy Stonehill-Todd Fishkind classic Your Love Broke Thru.

Pat & Shirley Boone with their daughters in a recent photo