| Sister Janet Mead | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1938, Adelaide, South Australia [1][2] |
| Genres | Christian |
| Website | www.sisterjanetmead.com |
Sister Janet Mead (b. 1938, Adelaide, South Australia[1][2]) is a Roman Catholic nun and is best known for recording a rock version of The Lord's Prayer. The surprise hit reached #3 on the Australian Singles Chart (Kent Music Report) in 1974[3] and #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in that same year. The single earned her a Grammy Award nomination and Golden Gospel Award [1] in 2004.[4] Mead became the second woman to have a top 10 single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart while serving as a nun. Sister Luc-Gabrielle, also known as Sœur Sourire and The Singing Nun, had a #1 pop hit in 1963 with "Dominique."
Mead formed a rock band simply called The Rock Band when she was 17 to provide music for the weekly mass at her local church. She studied piano at the Adelaide Conservatorium before joining the Sisters of Mercy order and became a music teacher at two local Catholic schools. She began to explore the "rock mass" concept in the early 1970s, desiring to make the Catholic mass more interesting and accessible for her students. This led to a successful series of "rock masses" that she conducted at Adelaide Cathedral.[1][2]
She began making professional recordings of her music for schools and churches in 1973. Later that year, she went to Sydney for a recording session with Festival Records produced by Martin Erdman.[1]
Festival asked her to record a cover of the Donovan song Brother Sun, Sister Moon which had been written for the soundtrack of the Franco Zeffirelli film of the same name, but Martin Erdman wanted to record a rocked-up arrangement of The Lord's Prayer to serve as the B-side, and so a one-hit wonder was born. The single was one of the fastest selling in history and became the first Australian recording to sell over one million copies in the U.S.A.,[5] earning a Gold Award for Sister Janet and Martin Erdman. Sister Janet donated her share of the royalties to charity while Festival Records used their portion of the proceeds to refit one of their studios.[1]
The phenomenal success of the single naturally led to an album. It was called With You I Am, which hit #19 in July 1974.[1] Her second album, A Rock Mass, was a complete recording of one of her now famous rock masses. Sister Janet slipped onto the U.S. charts once more with the follow-up single Take My Hand but never approached the immense success of her debut.
Being humble and media-shy, she resisted the call to continue her pop career, despite intense media interest. She now describes the record's success as a "horrible time" in her life — worldwide success brought a pressure that led her to question her faith.[1] Her third album recorded in 1983 was filed away in the Festival vaults after Sister Janet withdrew from the public eye.[1][2][5] The tapes were rediscovered by Martin Erdman a few years ago, and some tracks, including a new version of The Lord's Prayer, were included on the 1999 album, A Time To Sing. The album was released as part of the 25th anniversary celebrations of the hit single.
Sister Janet did not abandon her love of music and performance, and has returned to the arts in recent years. In October 2001, Sister Janet directed the Romero Company's annual production at the Melbourne Trades Hall Auditorium, an inventive adaptation by Damien Mead of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables.[2]
In 2004, she received the Yamaha Golden Gospel Award in recognition of her services to Australian Christian music at the Australian Gospel Music Awards in Canberra. Martin Erdman also received the Yamaha Golden Gospel Award concurrently and presented a short feature film, Sister Janet Mead, at these awards which were coordinated by the Australian Gospel Music Association.[1][2]
Sister Janet Mead has also recorded a record together with the conservative charismatic religious movement known as the Romero Community.[6]