Mark Lowry

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Mark Allen Lowry (born June 24, 1958 in Houston, Texas) is an American evangelical Christian comedian and singer. From 1988 to 2001, he was the baritone in the Gaither Vocal Band.

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[edit] Early career

Lowry attended Liberty University (called Liberty Baptist College at the time) from 1975 to 1980. He intended to get a business degree, but instead followed a self-described "spiritual calling" into the music business, and he ended up singing in many independent Baptist churches in the United States. Right after graduation, Lowry's agent, Roy Morgan, booked him in 43 cities in 41 days.

He began his comedian career during this period. As he waited for the sound technician in the church to change the track, he would have several seconds of time to fill. As he recalls:

Those few seconds of "dead air" can feel like hours when you're on stage facing a crowd  -- so, to fill time, I'd start talking about my life and my testimony. People would laugh... and I finally realized I was on to something.

[edit] Gaither Vocal Band

Lowry joined the Gaither Vocal Band in 1988 to fill the baritone position. He left the band in 2001, to be replaced by Russ Taff.

During the band's performances, Lowry's antics on stage were well received by the audiences, and they eventually became the highlight of the show. He has co-hosted more than sixty Gaither Homecoming videos with Bill Gaither, and has been Gaither's comic foil in many Homecoming concert dates — so much so that the duo of "Gaither and Lowry" was sometimes referred to as the Christian version of Martin and Lewis.

Also during this period, Lowry performed a number of solo concerts.

[edit] Mary, Did You Know?

In 1984, before his time with the Gaither Vocal Band, Lowry wrote his breakthrough song: Mary, Did You Know?.

The lyrics for this song were developed during a script-writing session. He was asked by a church to write a Christmas play, and he wrote a list of questions he would like to ask Mary, the mother of Jesus. In the play, these were asked during scene changes.

Six years later, Buddy Greene put the words to music, and the resulting song has now been recorded by more than thirty artists, including the following:

[edit] Comedy Videos

Lowry has recorded six comedy and music videos. Mouth In Motion, The Last Word, and Remotely Controlled are certified Gold (more than 50,000 units sold). Mark Lowry On Broadway was certified Gold quickly after its release and later certified Platinum (more than 100,000 units sold). His most recent video is called Mark Lowry Goes To Hollywood, which was released on September 12, 2005. True to form, Lowry joked that all of his videos have gone "aluminum".

[edit] Family

Lowry's father Charles is an attorney in Lynchburg, and his mother Beverly speaks and sings around the United States for various conferences. Beverly Lowry has sung duets on video with her son on two occasions.

Additionally, Lowry has two siblings:

  • Mike, his older brother who lives in Lynchburg, Virginia with his wife and four children.
  • Melissa, his younger sister, who also lives in Lynchburg with her husband and two children.

[edit] Further reading

  • the reMARKable site Mark Lowry's Official Website and the source for most of the information for this article.
Some of the information is from Lowry's videos, notably The Last Word and Mouth in Motion.
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