BarlowGirl

BarlowGirl

BarlowGirl members from left to right: Lauren, Alyssa, and Rebecca.
Background information
Origin Elgin, Illinois, United States
Genres
Years active 2000–2012
Labels Fervent
Website "BarlowGirl.com". Archived from the original on July 7, 2015. Retrieved 2008-12-14. 
Past members
  • Alyssa Barlow
  • Lauren Barlow
  • Rebecca Barlow

BarlowGirl was an American Christian rockCCM all-female band from Elgin, Illinois. The band was composed of sisters Alyssa (lead vocals, bass, keyboard), Rebecca (backing vocals, guitar), and Lauren (co-lead vocals, drums) Barlow. The band is best known for its radio singles "Never Alone" in 2004 and "I Need You to Love Me" in 2006, breaking records for the longest-charting No. 1 song on the Radio and Records Christian Hit Radio (CHR) chart[1] and obtaining millions of views for their music videos on YouTube.[2][3] The band exceeded sales of one million compact discs by the end of 2008[4][5] and finished its career with over 1 million digital song downloads and 1.3 million compact disc sales.[6][7]

In October 2012, BarlowGirl announced that they were "retiring the band".[8]

History

Early years

The Barlows' father, Vince Barlow, created youth CDs at his church, Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois.[9] He was hired to perform at events all over the United States.[9] He brought his daughters as his backup band in the late 1990s.[1] BarlowGirl began writing songs and performing them at his performances. The trio stopped touring with their father when Rebecca and Alyssa began college, but they did perform at his nearby concerts. The trio had written around ten songs by 2002.[9]

The Barlow sisters were given a paid trip to the Gospel Music Association's Music in the Rockies seminar at Estes Park, Colorado, in mid-2002. The sisters were not informed that the seminar was a record industry event for unsigned artists, nor that it was a competition. They reached the finals of the event. Record companies became interested in the sisters after word of mouth spread about the seminar.[9]

The group's name became famous before the group released their first CD. The group Superchick included a song titled "Barlow Girls" on their initial release, Karaoke Superstars, as a tribute to the actual Barlow sisters and their stand for purity, and effectively introduced the sisters to the music world.[1][10]

The sisters were signed to Fervent Records on October 14, 2003.[11] The band's name, BarlowGirl, is written and capitalized in camel case for branding.

BarlowGirl and "Never Alone" (2004)

BarlowGirl in concert

BarlowGirl released their first studio album BarlowGirl on February 24, 2004.[11] The album included the longest-running No. 1 song in 2004 on R&R's CHR and CRW's Rock charts, "Never Alone" was named Song of the Year on each of these charts. The CD had sold over 250,000 units by April 2005,[12] and featured the singles "Never Alone" and "Mirror". These No. 1 songs earned the trio four 2005 Gospel Music Association (GMA) awards (formerly the Dove Award) nominations, including the Best New Artist award, Best Rock Song, and Rock Album. The trio was the best-selling new Christian artist of 2004. BarlowGirl received a 2006 GMA award nomination for Rock/Contemporary Song of the Year for "Mirror". "Never Alone" was also featured on the WOW Hits 2005 CD.

The CD also featured a hidden track titled "Image", which listeners could only obtain via digital download by loading the CD into their computers and accessing a hidden website. It is the first of two occurrences where oldest sister and guitarist Rebecca sings a solo. She sings the middle part of each verse.

There is also a Family Christian exclusive version which contains the bonus track, "We Pray", which, among others, also features artists Mandisa, Jackson Waters, and Rebecca St. James.

Another Journal Entry and "I Need You to Love Me" (2005-2006)

Their second album, Another Journal Entry, was released on September 27, 2005.[11] The album debuted at No. 3 on Soundscan's Christian album chart, and had reached eighty-five on Billboard's Top 200 Current Albums chart by October 10, 2005. The trio was nominated for three additional 2006 GMA awards - "Group of the Year", "Rock/Contemporary Album of the Year", and "Rock Recorded Song of the Year" for "Let Go".

The trio are featured as guest vocalists on Big Daddy Weave's No. 1 radio single, "You're Worthy of My Praise", from their 2005 album What I Was Made For.[13]

The first single from the album, "Let Go", exceeded 200,000 downloads as the iTunes Store free single of the week.[7] Their next single from the album, "I Need You to Love Me", quickly climbed to No. 1 on the Weekend 22 countdown in April 2006. The single held on to the No. 1 position on the R&R Christian Hit Radio chart for 9 weeks, and the CRW Christian Hit Radio chart for a record 13 weeks.[14] The single was the most played song of 2006 on Christian Hit Radio as played on the Weekend 22.[15] The band filmed a music video for their hit song "Never Alone" for release on mainstream radio and music video television channels, but it did not chart in the mainstream.

The members of BarlowGirl were the youth ambassadors for the National Day of Prayer in 2007. They recorded the song "We Pray" (written by Clint Lagerberg and Otto Price) for the event, along with other artists such as Rebecca St. James. The song is available on the Family Christian exclusive version of their self-titled album.

BarlowGirl released Another Journal Entry: Expanded Edition in August 2006 including five bonus tracks: three acoustic versions of previous songs ("On My Own", "I Need you to Love Me", "Porcelain Heart"), a radio edit version of "Never Alone" and one new song, "For the Beauty of the Earth". The latter was included on the soundtrack of the 2006 film The Nativity Story. Also included on the enhanced CD was their "Never Alone" music video.

How Can We Be Silent and Home for Christmas (2007-2008)

BarlowGirl again recorded with producer Otto Price for their third studio album How Can We Be Silent. The album was released on July 24, 2007. It debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Christian Chart and No. 40 on Billboard's Top 200 album chart, making it the first album by an all-female rock band to reach the top 40 on the Billboard 200 since "Everything" by the Bangles in 1989. Similarly to Another Journal Entry, this album was released in a special edition variant known as How Can We Be Silent Premium Edition. It was released concurrently with the regular edition, adding a new cover sleeve and bundling a 45-minute DVD. Singles from the album performed poorly on radio compared to earlier singles. The first, "Here's My Life", was released in June 2007. It peaked at No. 12 on R&R's Christian contemporary hit radio charts and at No. 29 on Billboard's Hot Christian Songs chart. "Million Voices" and "I Believe In Love" were released later that year, with no chart history available.

By 2008, BarlowGirl sold over one million compact discs.[4][5] The band announced that it was back in the studio recording a Christmas album in March and April 2008. Home for Christmas was released on September 26, 2008. It peaked at No 180 on the Billboard 200 No. 15 on the Christian Albums chart and No. 2 on the 2008 Holiday Albums chart.[16] The song "Carol of the Bells/Sing We Now of Christmas" on the album became one of the top 20 most downloaded Christmas songs on iTunes holiday section at one point in 2008.[17]

In April 2008, the band Inhabited mentioned BarlowGirl in an "uncensored" remix of its "Hush" single.[18] Inhabited released the album The Revolution in 2005 with then-fellow record label Fervent Records, but left the label in 2007 and signed with 7Spin Music for its album Love in 2008. The remix, which was a free download, included lyrics such as "We're gonna beat that system in a round about way / Won't make sucky music so my records will play" and "Something more like BarlowGirl, do something right / Ain’t got nothing against ‘em but it just ain’t me", causing controversy in the Christian music community.[19] Inhabited responded by saying: "it wasn't to bash or put them down, it just says our art is a different style. They have achieved great success, and we would wish them no less! Lastly, […] we thought [we made] a fun, cool remix. We have always been straightforward with our lyrics and always will be."[20]

BarlowGirl partnered with Dannah Gresh from Secret Keeper Girl to release an audio devotional, 8 Great Dates for You and Your Daughter, Kit 2: Friendship Pak, in 2008.[21] The devotional was re-released as 8 Great Dates: Talking with Your Daughter About Best Friends and Mean Girls in 2013.[22]

Love & War and Our Journey... So Far (2009-2011)

BarlowGirl's most recent album, Love & War, was released on September 8, 2009. The song "Beautiful Ending" is on this album. BarlowGirl made a website for users to submit their beautiful ending.[23] "Beautiful Ending" is the album's lead single. It peaked at No. 28 Billboard magazine's Christian Songs chart in November 2009[24] and reached the No. 3 position on the Christian contemporary hit radio charts. The second song "Stay With Me" was released in early 2010.

About a year after the release of Love & War, BarlowGirl released Our Journey... So Far on September 14, 2010. It contains songs from all of their previous albums, plus a FredTown Manilla remix of their greatest hit single to date "I Need You to Love Me."

Band retiring and "Hope Will Lead Us On" (2012)

On October 24, 2012, BarlowGirl announced that they would be "retiring the band" and did not elaborate any future plans.[8] On Monday, October 29, 2012, the trio made their final public appearance as with a live on-line chat and acoustic session where they premiered their final song "Hope Will Lead Us On".[25]

Musical style

BarlowGirl were known as a Christian rock band. Their style includes three-part harmony mixed with rock guitars. Their songs range from ballads to guitar rock.

The ladies' lineup during their initial years featured Rebecca on guitar, Alyssa on bass and Lauren on drums. BarlowGirl was therefore a power trio. During the Love & War era, however, Alyssa identified solely as a singer and keyboardist.[26] This also occurred in some of BarlowGirl's older music as an example of breaking the power trio mould.

Lauren notes that she and her sisters listened to 50s and 60s music while growing up. The band lists the Beatles and the Mamas & the Papas as major influences because of their vocal harmonies.[27] Before being known as BarlowGirl, the first song composed by the band was "You Know", which was only played live and was themed after "MMMBop" by Hanson.[28] BarlowGirl performed an a cappella cover of "I Will" by the Beatles to Ustream during their final online concert in 2012, indicating that it was the first song that they learned to harmonize to.[29]

Since 2016, Lauren Barlow commented favorably on mainstream musician Lady Gaga,[30][31] known for her mixed reception in the Christian community[32] and even previously accused of immodest dress by Barlow herself.[33] Gaga's influence dates back to the BarlowGirl and Superchick live tour in 2009, where Superchick covered a portion of "Just Dance".[34]

Members

Alyssa Barlow

Alyssa Katherine Nicole Barlow (born January 4, 1982) was the bass guitarist and keyboardist for BarlowGirl.[35] She also splits lead vocals with her sister Lauren. Alyssa was homeschooled from the fourth grade on.[36]

When Alyssa was 17, she was diagnosed with Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD), following a sprained ankle. Barlow initially gave up when the doctors told her she would never walk normally again.[37] She recalls God telling her: "Put your crutches down. You're never gonna use them again." One year later, Barlow claimed that God completely healed her from RSD and from spiritual issues, and that her mom and dog would later receive physical healing as well.[38]

Lauren Barlow

Lauren Ashley Nicole Barlow (born July 29, 1985) was the drummer for BarlowGirl. She also splits lead vocals with her sister Alyssa. Lauren is the youngest of the three and is also known as Lo-Lo and Odie. Barlow was homeschooled from the first grade on.[36]

Barlow was chosen as the general editor for the book Inspired by Tozer, which is a book of different artists, authors, athletes, and pastors writings that were inspired by the author A.W. Tozer.[39]

Rebecca Barlow

Rebecca "Becca" Elizabeth Marie Barlow (born November 24, 1979) sang background vocals and played both electric and 6- and 12-string acoustic guitars. She was homeschooled from the seventh grade on.[40] She has traditionally been the quietest member of the band.

In her final appearance as a member of BarlowGirl, she stated that her dream guitar is a 1957 Gibson Les Paul "Black Beauty" with gold plating on the Bigsby pickups & bridge.

Rebecca has also recovered from an eating disorder, which she developed at around the age of 18. "Every time I looked in the mirror, I told myself 'My goodness, how fat. You look terrible today.' It never seemed to get any better, and I felt worse and worse," she writes.[41] Reading a magazine story about a woman's struggle with an eating disorder prompted Barlow to follow the same path. She ate very little and worked out "for two or three hours per day". Eventually she reached emotional exhaustion. "When I was nineteen, I found myself one day with my cheek pressed against the cold tile of the bathroom floor, with nothing left to give, no energy no hope: I was done trying. As I lay there, God touched my heart. He revealed to me that all my destructive efforts to shrink my body were not making me feel any better about myself [...] I was so completely grateful for His healing that I pledged on that spot to love and serve Him for the rest of my life."[41]

Social views

Purity

I have never been in love with anyone. Other than a crazy 14-year-old boy proposing to me at a concert, I've never had someone tell me that they are in love with me, and I have yet to tell someone that myself. Okay, I'll just go ahead and say it: I've never even had a boyfriend.
 Lauren Barlow, Inspired by Tozer[42]

The band was notable for having a stance of sexual purity (abstinence), modesty and refusing to date.[43] On June 3, 2003, BarlowGirl was quoted as saying, "We believe that God has one perfect man already chosen for us; therefore we have no need to worry ourselves in searching for him. When the time is right, we know God will bring us together. In the mean time, we are not hiding in a closet avoiding all males, we are still living our lives, just without the pressure of having to have a boyfriend."[44] In their 2004 song "Average Girl", the three sisters likened themselves to Princess Aurora from Sleeping Beauty, falling into a deep sleep and resting in God until He sends a prince their way.[45] In 2006, Lauren Barlow identified herself with another Disney Princess instead, Ariel from The Little Mermaid.[46]

On November 1, 2011 in her Inspired by Tozer book, Lauren Barlow clarified that the band has since limited its anti-dating stance to "[t]he decision to give up recreational dating".[42] On June 6, 2014, former road manager Rebekah Hardt published an online video of Alyssa Barlow imitating Maleficent, the antagonist in Sleeping Beauty.[47]

Ministry partners

From 2006 to the band's demise, BarlowGirl partnered with Mercy Ministries, an organization which seeks to help women.[48] The charity, however, has faced some controversy in the United States and in Australia. Despite this, the partnership remained and led to Lauren choosing Mercy founder Nancy Alcorn to be one of the 59 contributors for her book Inspired by Tozer.[42]

Other ministry partners included the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association[49][50] (including the related Samaritan's Purse and its Operation Christmas Child project),[51] International Justice Mission, Joshua Harris and Joyce Meyer Ministries.[48][52]

Anti-abortion activism

Following the release of How Can We Be Silent, BarlowGirl led a short-lived Never Silence Life campaign in 2009 to express their pro-life views and their concern for the protection of prenatal life.[53] Mercy also shares similar pro-life views. They have a pro-life message in the song "Tears Fall" from Love & War, which they sing with the Fisk Jubilee Singers.[54]

Theme verses

Discography

Bibliography

Awards

GMA Dove Awards

Year Award Result
2005 New Artist of the Year Nominated
Rock/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year ("Never Alone") Nominated
Rock/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year ("Mirror") Nominated
Rock/Contemporary Album of the Year (BarlowGirl) Nominated
2006 Group of the Year Nominated
Rock Recorded Song of the Year ("Let Go") Nominated
Rock/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year ("Mirror") Nominated
Rock/Contemporary Album of the Year (Another Journal Entry) Nominated
2007 Group of the Year Nominated
2008 Rock Recorded Song of the Year ("Million Voices") Nominated
Rock/Contemporary Album of the Year (How Can We Be Silent) Nominated
2009 Christmas Album of the Year (Home for Christmas) Nominated
2010 Rock/Contemporary Album of the Year (Love & War) Nominated
Short Form Music Video of the Year ("Beautiful Ending") Nominated

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to BarlowGirl.
  1. 1 2 3 Biography at YourMusicZone.com. Retrieved July 16, 2007 Archived September 26, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
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  5. 1 2 Bozeman Media (July 21, 2009). "MILLION-SELLING AND TEN-TIME DOVE NOMINATED, BARLOWGIRL, TO RELEASE HIGHLY ANTICIPATED FOURTH PROJECT SEPTEMBER 22, 2009, LOVE & WAR". Jesus Freak Hideout. Nashville, TN. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  6. Barlow, Vincent. "Vince Barlow". LinkedIn. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
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  15. As played on the January 7, 2007 Weekend 22 countdown
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  30. Barlow, Lauren (February 7, 2016). "Tweet". Twitter. Retrieved November 16, 2016. Man, Lady Gaga can SING!!!
  31. Barlow, Lauren (February 5, 2017). "Photo". Instagram. Retrieved February 6, 2017. SO MANY FEELINGS DURING THIS GAME!!! The first half almost killed me. Then @ladygaga blew my mind. THEN THIS! I felt all the feelings tonight. God bless the SuperBowl. 💖🏈💜🏈💖🏈💜🏈💖🐐🐐🐐🦄
  32. Chretien, Claire (February 3, 2017). "Lady Gaga: Super Bowl halftime show will promote ‘inclusion,’ ‘spirit of equality’". LifeSiteNews. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  33. Barlow, Lauren (December 7, 2010). "Yes, I have a serious side.. Consider yourself warned :)". BarlowGirl.com. Archived from the original on December 7, 2010. Retrieved May 20, 2017. Oh, and you couldn't pay us a billion dollars to wear a bikini. […] It makes me so sad that we think its [sic] ok for a woman to be half naked or literally totally naked on the cover of magazines and we don't bat an eye.
  34. Ramirez, Tommy (September 26, 2009). "BarlowGirl and Superchick bring their show to the Quad Cities". Tommy2.net. Retrieved May 20, 2017.
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  38. "Barlow Girl [sic] drops by RemedyLIVE". December 15, 2011. Retrieved July 26, 2017. (13:34) …and God just began to speak some different things to me, and then one day, He said: '"Put your crutches down. You're never gonna use them again.' And I put them down, and that pain was there, but each time I stepped, that pain got less and less. (14:14) After one year of that, I was completely healed.
  39. Barlow, Lauren (2011). Inspired By Tozer. Regal. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-8307-5929-3.
  40. The Old Schoolhouse BarlowGirl article Archived October 11, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
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  42. 1 2 3 Barlow, Lauren (November 1, 2011). Inspired by Tozer: 59 Artists, Writers and Leaders Share the Insight and Passion They've Gained from A.W. Tozer (Hardcover ed.). Gospel Light. pp. 37–39, 197. ISBN 1441265880. Retrieved January 2, 2017.
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  50. BarlowGirl (November 20, 2012). "HALLELUJAH (Light Has Come)". Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Retrieved December 19, 2016.
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