Reviewed by Tony Cummings

As someone who cares deeply about the history of Christian music I'm delighted that Britain's long established journalist Paul Davis has pulled together the interviews he's conducted with George down the years, embarked on a heap of new research amongst Shea's friends and associates and produced this handsome authorized biography. To a new generation of CCM enthusiasts George's rich bass baritone renditions of hymns and sacred solos must seem from another planet but to tens of thousands of older Christians George remains THE voice of Christian music with his countless appearances with Dr Billy Graham the thing of legend. How this modest Canadian gentleman-of-the-faith became an evangelical icon touring the world as a member of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Team, not to mention a big record seller with the 47 albums RCA released by the rich-voiced crooner, is told in this handsome 350 plus page hardback. There are a few snags, like the lack of an index and Davis' unwise inclusion of some not very good song lyrics from his singer/songwriter son Wes. But these are offset by Davis' useful inclusion of pen portraits of some of the songwriting giants (Fanny Crosby, Phillip Bliss, Ira Sankey) whose works George has sung while Davis' chronicling of those momentous decades with Graham makes for a fascinating read.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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