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Jim Bailey: Michael English comes full circle with GVB
A few years ago, it appeared Michael's career was on the skids
He was the second lead singer in the long history of the Gaither Vocal Band. Then he went on his own as a contemporary Christian soloist, then encountered crises in domestic relations and drug addiction before rebuilding his life. Now he has returned to the Vocal Band, and he says it’s like coming back home.
“It’s almost like going full circle,” English said. “I’m ecstatic about being here. I went solo for a while, but I missed this kind of music.”
English, longtime friend Mark Lowry and soaring tenor David Phelps rejoined the Vocal Band when Guy Penrod and Marshall Hall left a year ago. I hadn’t been able to catch up with English for an interview until Bill Gaither put us in touch recently by phone while Michael was between plane flights.
“When Guy and Marshall left, Bill put 2 and 2 together and called the three of us,” English explained. “Here is where I want to be. I hope Bill and the rest of us stay pretty healthy for a while. In any case I want to continue singing in a group like this.”
English came from a Southern gospel background, which he says is his first love. He was with the Singing Americans when he first recorded his signature song, “I Bowed On My Knees and Cried Holy.”
“When I was with the group before we had a more contemporary sound,” he recalled. “As a soloist I did my own style, but I missed this music. We’re still figuring out where we are as a group; it’s a mix of the new and the old. With Guy they went more toward country. But it’s more traditional gospel now than when Mark and I were here before.”
A few years ago it appeared Michael’s career was on the skids. He relates the story in his book, “The Prodigal Comes Home,” published by Thomas Nelson.
“I’m one of the lucky ones – I got a second chance,” he admitted. “I think nowadays we see a more open-arms God. When anybody goes through stuff and gets to the other side it makes you a stronger person. I think I’m a better husband and father now, and I appreciate life in general.”
A decade after a degree of shunning by the gospel music industry and the public, English doesn’t experience too many negatives these days. “I feel a little more accepted in the Gaither market,” he pointed out. “I’m more at home here. How I’m accepted isn’t the important thing, though. I live the best I can that’s pleasing to God. I want to be a good husband and father, and I work hard on it.”
English continues to do some solo concerts, but he is concentrating hardest on the Vocal Band experience.
“Every day I wake up and I feel more blessed than before,” he summarized. “I think the changes in the group are part of that.”
Jim Bailey’s column appears on Wednesday. He can be reached by e-mail at jameshenrybailey@earthlink.net.
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