Children of the Day
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Children of the Day was a
Jesus music Jesus music, known as gospel beat music in the United Kingdom, is a style of Christian music that originated on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This musical genre developed in parallel to the Jesus movemen ...
music group that recorded and toured from 1970 to 1980. It is considered to be the first group in the genre, and Marsha Stevens the mother of contemporary Christian music.


Career

After becoming a born-again Christian, 16-year-old Marsha Carter was instrumental to leading her sister Wendy and friend Peter Jacobs to Christianity. The three of them invited Russ Stevens to church, where he became a believer. While driving 45 minutes to church, they would sing worship music in the car and developed harmonies. Marsha, Peter, and Wendy also wrote songs they would work out while driving. They helped lead music and gave no thought to being a group until they were asked to sing at another large church in Anaheim. At that point, the four of them realized they were a group and decided on the name, Children of the Day. All four sang, Marsha and Wendy played guitar, Peter played guitar and piano, and Russ played standup bass. Released in 1971 on the Maranatha! Music label, the group's first album was titled ''Come to the Waters''. In order to finance the project, the group borrowed $900 from
Calvary Chapel Calvary Chapel is an association of evangelical churches, maintains a number of radio stations around the world and operates many local Calvary Chapel Bible College programs. Beginning in 1965 in Southern California, this fellowship of churc ...
pastor Chuck Smith in order to produce the album that included what would become the group's best-known song penned by Marsha Stevens, ''For Those Tears I Died''. The well-received album was followed two years later by ''With All Our Love'' (1973). Two more albums by the group were produced on the Maranatha! Music label, ''Where Else Could I Go'' (1975), and ''Christmas Album'' (1975). The group later signed with
Light Records Light Records is a gospel record label founded in 1966 by Ralph Carmichael, as a joint venture with the Waco, Texas-based Word Records. It is a subsidiary of the MNRK Music Group. History Light Records' first roster included Ralph Carmichael, ...
, releasing, ''Never Felt So Free'' (1977) and ''Butterfly'' (1979). With Peter Jacobs having left the group, Jeff Crandall did some vocal work on the ''Butterfly'' album. It was after the release of ''Butterfly'' that the group disbanded. After the release of ''Butterfly'', Marsha and Russ Stevens divorced. Following their divorce, Marsha Stevens publicly announced she was a lesbian. In ''The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music'', editor Mark Powell referred to the incident as "Contemporary Christian Music's first official scandal".
Marsha Stevens Marsha Stevens-Pino (born Marsha Carter August 20, 1952) is an American Christian singer, musician, songwriter and recording artist. Early music career Shortly after becoming a Christian as a sixteen year old high school student in 1969, Marsha ...
founded her own ministry, BALM (Born Again Lesbian Music), in the mid-1980s and continues to write and record. Now going by Marsha Stevens-Pino, she is in a
domestic partnership A domestic partnership is a legal relationship, usually between couples, who live together and share a common domestic life, but are not married (to each other or to anyone else). People in domestic partnerships receive benefits that guarantee r ...
with Cindy Stevens-Pino; they both travel the United States with Stevens-Pino giving concerts in predominantly gay and lesbian and as well as gay-affirming churches and fellowships. Stevens-Pino also works to help develop the talents of up and coming
LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...
Christian musicians through BALM's "UP Beat!" program. Peter Jacobs currently runs the Pete Jacobs Wartime Revue, a 16-piece big-band that performs live shows featuring hits of the 1930s and 1940s. He also heads the jazzy Pete Jacobs Quintet and the 1960s tribute band Class of '69. Jacobs also created and produced the ''
Colby's Clubhouse ''Colby's Clubhouse'' also known as La Cerotada is an American Christian children's television show that teaches principles from the Bible; through songs and everyday situations. The main character is Colby, an anthropomorphic computer that teach ...
'' television series for the
Trinity Broadcasting Network The Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) is an international Christian-based broadcast television network and the world's largest religious television network. TBN was headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, until March 3, 2017, when it sold its ...
. In 1974, Wendy Carter married the band's "roadie", Kit Fremin; they later had two children, daughters Jessica and Rebecca. Wendy Fremin now teaches private voice and guitar lessons in Murrieta, CA, and works with Peter Jacobs.


Members

* Marsha (Carter) Stevens * Wendy (Carter) Fremin * Russ Stevens * Peter Jacobs (1971–79) * Jeff Crandall (1979)


Discography

*''Come to the Waters'' (1971) *''With All Our Love'' (1973) *''Where Else Could I Go'' (1975) *''Christmas Album'' (1975) *''Never Felt So Free'' (1977) *''Butterfly'' (1979)


References


External links

*Vintage footage of Marsha Stevens and Children of the Day performing "For Those Tears I Died" on the Kathryn Kuhlman television program, circa 197

{{DEFAULTSORT:Children Of The Day American Christian musical groups Musical groups established in 1971 Musical groups disestablished in 1979