Myrrh Records
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Myrrh Records, founded in 1972 by Billy Ray Hearn as a division of Word Records,[1] was one of the United States most successful Christian record labels. It was named for one of the three wisemen's gifts for baby Jesus. For a short time in 1974 Myrrh Records was distributed by ABC Records but still a division of Word, Inc.
In 1976, Hearn left Myrrh and founded Sparrow Records,[1] which became a direct competitor to Word and Myrrh. Myrrh became the largest label on Word, releasing more records in a year than any other label owned by the company.
Probably the biggest discovery to come along for Myrrh Records was teenage singer Amy Grant, who hit the Contemporary Christian music scene in 1977. Grant's albums were so popular, both inside and outside of the Christian music industry, that Word entered into an agreement with A&M Records to reissue her entire back catalog in the mainstream music industry. In addition, A&M promoted Grant as a pop music artist in the mainstream. In 1985, Grant released her first concurrent Myrrh/A&M release, Unguarded, which featured four different album covers.
Other popular artists signed to the label at one time or another include Malcolm and Alwyn, Barry McGuire, 2nd Chapter of Acts, Randy Matthews, Petra, GLAD,David and the Giants Billy Preston, Richie Furay, B.J. Thomas, Steve Archer (Myrrh/Home Sweet Home Label), Mark Heard (Myrrh/Home Sweet Home Label), Randy Stonehill, Leslie Phillips, Joe English (former drummer for Paul McCartney's Wings), Mylon & Broken Heart, Crystal Lewis, Dakoda Motor Co. (Peter King-MTV), Cliff Richard, The Choir, Steve Taylor, Phil Keaggy, One Bad Pig, The 77s, Salvation Air Force, Benny Hester, Mike Warnke, Nancy Honeytree and others.
In the mid-1980s, Word had a sub-label called Myrrh-LA that featured California bands as opposed to the rest of the Nashville-centric industry.
In the year 2000, Word Entertainment announced it was discontinuing the label and shifting the artist roster to Word Records.[2]
In the year 2005, Word Entertainment re-launched the label as Myrrh Worship, focusing on Praise and Worship Music.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Mount, Daniel J. (2005). A City on a Hilltop? The History of Contemporary Christian Music, 48 - 50, 53. Retrieved on 2007-02-12.
- ^ a b Price, Deborah Evans (2005-04-23). "NEWSLINE: Word Label Group". Billboard Magazine 117 (17).
