Andraé Crouch

1 July 1942—8 January 2015

ANDRAÉ EDWARD CROUCH, son of Benjamin Jerome Crouch (1915–1993) and Catherine Hodnett (1917–1992), was born 1 July 1942 in Los Angeles, California. He had a twin sister, Sandra, and an older brother, Benjamin (1940–1995). As a small child, his parents operated two dry cleaning companies and a restaurant, and his father was active as a lay evangelist. His great uncle Samuel M. Crouch was pastor of Emmanuel Church of God in Christ and founder of the 3,000-seat auditorium Crouch Temple.

He had a personal salvation experience at age 9 and was baptized along with his sister. When Andraé was about eleven, his father was asked to shepherd a floundering congregation, Macedonia Church of God in Christ in Val Verde. The elder Crouch needed musical help, so one Sunday he called Andraé to the front, laid hands on him, and asked, “Andraé, if the Lord gives you the gift of music, will you use it?” “Yes, daddy, I’ll play for the Lord,” he responded.[1] His parents bought a piano for him to play at home, and soon he was playing for the church. One of the first songs he learned to play with both hands was “What a friend we have in Jesus.” His father remained as pastor, and Andraé eventually started a choir. Sometimes the three siblings would sing together as a trio.

After the Val Verde church had achieved some measure of stability, Andraé’s father was asked to start a church in San Fernando Valley, which first met in a member’s garage in 1951, then in a storefront, then in a building in Pacoima; it became known as Christ Memorial Church of God in Christ. The Crouches moved to Pacoima when Andraé was in junior high school. He started a choir at the church. Around this time, ca. 1957, he wrote his first song, “The Blood Will Never Lose It’s Power,” but it was not printed or recorded until 1962, when gospel musician James Cleveland had it copyrighted and offered it to the Caravans, who recorded it for a 45-rpm single and an LP.

Sometimes when the Crouches would attend district COGIC meetings, Andraé would gather with teens from other area churches, and they formed a group called the COGICS. The original group included Sandra Crouch, Billy Preston, Edna Wright, Gloria Jones, Sondra “Blinky” Williams, and Frankie Spring. Around 1964, they signed a deal with local producer Richard Simpson and his Simpson Records, releasing two 45-rpm singles. The success of those singles led to their being picked up by Exodus Records, a subsidiary of Vee Jay, for the completion of an LP, It’s a Blessing. But Billy Preston’s own fame was taking him in other directions, and other members of the group were being given opportunities as well, so the group broke up in mid 1965. Also in 1964 or 1965, his parents funded a four-song EP (Divine Songs 45-101), featuring Andraé and Sandra as a soloists.

While the COGICS were fulfilling their final performances in early 1965, Andraé was starting to form another group, beginning with two other guys from his church, Billy (or Bili) Thedford and Perry Morgan. They called themselves the Disciples. Around the same time, he was approached about joining Teen Challenge, a rehabilitation center for drug addicts. He initially resisted, but by the end of the summer he had quit his job at RCA Computers, joined the staff of Teen Challenge, and started a choir, known as the Addicts Choir. They eventually recorded an album for Word (W-3403-LP). At the time, Andraé was also taking classes at L.I.F.E. Bible College. The Disciples recorded their first album, Wade in the Water, for Vee Jay in 1966 or 1967, but for unknown reasons it was not released until much later, in 1975, when Vee Jay also reissued the COGICS album. Los Angeles musician and emcee Audrey Mieir, a big supporter of the Addicts Choir, connected Crouch with Manna Music, who began publishing his songs in 1967. He then came to the attention of composer-producer Ralph Carmichael, founder of Light Records and Lexicon Music, who signed Crouch to Light in 1968 and financed his next album, Take the Message Everywhere. He left Teen Challenge shortly thereafter.

He had brief stint with Liberty Records in 1970, recording some singles, including “Christian People,” but he opted to return to Light. Crouch’s relationship with Light proved to be fruitful, releasing 11 albums with them through 1984. The 1970s were especially important for the emergence of his most enduring songs, such as “My Tribute” (1971), “Bless His Holy Name” (1972), “Jesus is the Answer” (1973), “Can’t Nobody Do Me Like Jesus” (1973), and “Soon and Very Soon” (1976). His songs started to find a place in hymnals such as Here Comes Jesus: A Youth Hymnal (1973), Hymns for the Family of God (1976), the New Church Hymnal (1976), the New National Baptist Hymnal (1977), and Yes, Lord! Church of God in Christ Hymnal (1982). Very few of his congregational-friendly songs could be classified as hymns; most are considered praise choruses or gospel songs. Some of his albums include new arrangements of old hymns and spirituals.

After the dissolution of the Disciples in 1978, Crouch continued to push the boundaries of gospel music and Christian lyrics. In a confrontational interview with the Los Angeles Times, published 24 Sept. 1982, he pushed back against his critics, believing he could reach more people by using popular styles: “These people limit the scope of the church with their narrow-mindedness. How about all the people they could reach by expanding their thinking and recognizing there’s more than one way to spread God’s word. . . . I like my records played on gospel stations, but I also want to be in the Top 40. Why not?” This was a far cry from a statement he made in his 1974 autobiography: “I prayed and fasted, and the Lord told me He wanted me to minister, so I just rebuked the whole thought of any type of ‘top-40’ songs and asked to be released from my contract [with Liberty].”

The 1980s brought opportunities in the TV and film industries. He had a cameo appearance in an episode of The Jeffersons (1982). In 1985, he contributed toward the acclaimed soundtrack for the movie The Color Purple, which included a performance by the Christ Memorial choir. He composed the theme music for the TV show Amen and served as music director for several episodes (1986–1987). He assembled a gospel choir to perform behind Michael Jackson in the song “Man in the Mirror” (1987), including a performance of the song for the 1988 Grammy Awards. He also performed in a music video for Madonna, “Like a Prayer” (1989). He worked as an arranger on the soundtrack for The Lion King (1994).

His mother Catherine died 6 April 1992, and his father, who was still pastoring Christ Memorial, followed on 16 December 1993. Benjamin Jr. led the church until his own death on 7 February 1995, at which time Andraé became pastor. This time period seems to have given him a renewed interest in composing and recording gospel music. His album Mercy (1994) marked his first album in ten years, and it won a Grammy for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album. His next two albums were also nominated for Grammys. In 1997, he was given an honorary doctorate from the Berklee College of Music in Boston. In a controversial move, against his denomination’s resistance to female pastors, he made Sandra co-pastor of his church in 1998. In 2004, he was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. One of his last great gifts to congregational music was his song of benediction, “Let the church say ‘Amen,’” on the album The Journey (2011). His final album was Live in Los Angeles (2013), providing a unique bookend to his career with a new recording of “The Blood [Will Never Lose Its Power].” After bouts with cancer and diabetes, he died of heart failure on 8 January 2015.

by CHRIS FENNER
for Hymnology Archive
25 August 2022

1. Through It All (1974), p. 39.

Featured Hymns:

Soon and Very Soon
The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power

Discography:

[This list does not include singles or compilations]

Divine Sounds EP (ca. 1964/5): Baylor

COGICS: It’s a Blessing (1965/6)

The Disciples: Wade in the Water (1966/7)
Not released until 1975. Later reissued as He’s Everywhere.

Teen Challenge Addicts Choir (1968)

Take the Message Everywhere (1968)

Keep on Singin’ (1971)

Christian People, Vol. 1 (1972)

Soufully (1972)

Just Andrae (1972)

Live at Carnegie Hall (1973)

Take Me Back (1975)

This Is Another Day (1976)

Live in London (1978)

I’ll Be Thinking of You (1979)

Don’t Give Up (1981)

Finally (1982)

No Time to Lose (1984)

Mercy (1994)

Pray (1997)

The Gift of Christmas (1999)

Mighty Wind (2006)

The Journey (2011) CD/DVD

Live in Los Angeles (2011/2013) CD/DVD

see also:

The Color Purple (1985)

Tribute: The Songs of Andrae Crouch (1996)

The Lion King (1994)

The All-Star Gospel Session (1997) VHS

Kennedy Center Homecoming (1999) CD/DVD

For Love of Liberty (2010)

Related Resources:

Andraé Crouch (with Nina Ball), Through It All (Waco, TX: Word, 1974)

John David Booth, The Music of Andraé Crouch and the Disciples, dissertation (New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 1974).

David Mainse, The Andraé Crouch Story (Springfield, MO: Turning Point, 1976).

P. Salvo, “Andrae Crouch, New King of Pop Gospel,” Sepia Magazine, vol. 25, no. 12 (1976), pp. 50–54.

Al Hartley, On the Road with Andraé Crouch (Old Tappan, NJ: F.H. Revell, 1977).

“The gospel according to Andraé Crouch,” Ebony, no. 37 (Sept. 1982), p. 57.

Dennis Hunt, “Pop-gospel: Rebel with a cause,” Los Angeles Times, (24 Sept. 1982), pp. IV: 1,13.

Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje: “Gospel Music in the Los Angeles Black Community: a Historical Overview,” Black Music Research Bulletin, vol. 10, no. 1 (1988), pp. 1–5: CBMR

Keith Bernard Jenkins, The Rhetoric of Gospel Song: A Content Analysis of the Lyrics of Andrae Crouch, dissertation (Florida State University, 1990).

Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje, “Los Angeles composers of African American gospel music: The first generations,” American Music, vol. 11, no. 4 (Winter 1993), pp. 412–457: JSTOR

Jerry Crow, “Meet Pastor Andraé Crouch: The gospel singer hasn’t given up recording, but his new calling gets top priority,” Los Angeles Times (21 Sept. 1995), F1.

Jean Ngoya Kidula, “The gospel of Andraé Crouch: A black Angeleno,” California Soul: Music of African Americans in the West, eds. Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje & Eddie S Meadows (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1998), pp. 294–320.

John Dart, “Stage set for challenge to church policy on women pastors; Minister for Pacoima congregation says he will ordain his twin sister, Grammy-winning gospel singer Sandra Crouch,” Los Angeles Times (26 July 1998), p. 2.

Mark Allan Powell, “Andraé Crouch (and the Disciples),” Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2002), pp. 210–214.

Melvin L. Butler, “Andraé Crouch,” African American National Biography, 2nd ed. (Oxford: University Press, 2013): OAASC

Cedric Hayes & Robert Laughton, Gospel Discography 1943–2000, 3rd ed., 2 vols. (Canada: Eyeball, 2014): Eyeball

Steve Chawkins, “Andraé Crouch, Grammy-winning gospel singer and pioneer, dies at 72,” Los Angeles Times (8 Jan. 2015): LATimes

Black Gospel Music Preservation Project, Baylor University: https://digitalcollections-baylor.quartexcollections.com/digital-library-collections/the-black-gospel-music-restoration-project

Discogs: Andraé Crouch | Cogics | Disciples

Hymnary: Andraé Crouch