1. Ralph Carmichael was an American composer and arranger of both secular pop music and contemporary Christian music.
20 Facts About Ralph Carmichael
1. 2.
Ralph Carmichael is regarded as one of the pioneers of contemporary Christian music.
3.
Ralph Carmichael started a campus men's quartet, as well as ensembles and mixed groups of all kinds, blending jazz and classical music techniques with gospel songs and hymns.
4.
Ralph Carmichael's bands were unwelcomed at many churches, and he was not allowed to store his baritone saxophone on campus because of its associations with big band music.
5.
In 1951, Ralph Carmichael was invited to score a film for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.
6.
Ralph Carmichael was invited to assist the composer at the television sitcom I Love Lucy and was arranging music for that show as well as Bonanza and The Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Show and for singer Rosemary Clooney.
7.
In 1958, Carmichael was hired by producer Jack H Harris to score his science fiction film, The Blob.
8.
Ralph Carmichael arranged and composed music for a Bing Crosby Christmas special television program.
9.
Ralph Carmichael composed and conducted the theme music for the 1965 sitcom, My Mother the Car.
10.
Ralph Carmichael's work was noticed by Capitol Records in the late 1950s.
11.
Ralph Carmichael duly became Cole's most regularly utilized arranger from then until the singer's death in early 1965.
12.
Ralph Carmichael founded Light Records in order to widen the audience for the music of the Jesus People.
13.
Ralph Carmichael was subject to controversy from within the church, being called a heretic for his use of guitars in worship and his adaptations of Gospel songs to big band stylings.
14.
Manna Music Inc founders, Tim and Hal Spencer, introduced Andrae Crouch to Ralph Carmichael, helping to launch Crouch's recording career.
15.
Ralph Carmichael provided the backing for a number of RCA albums by Gospel singer George Beverly Shea, including The Love of God in 1958, and How Great Thou Art in 1969.
16.
In 1969, Ralph Carmichael and Kurt Kaiser collaborated on Tell It Like It Is, a folk musical about God.
17.
Ralph Carmichael wrote arrangements for many other top performers, including Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby, Jack Jones, Peggy Lee, Julie London, Al Martino and Roger Williams.
18.
In 1948, Ralph Carmichael married singer Evangeline Otto; they divorced in 1964.
19.
Ralph Carmichael married his second wife, Marvella Price, in 1965.
20.
Ralph Carmichael was inducted into the GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1985 and into the National Religious Broadcasters' Hall of Fame in 2001.