Janet Mead (15 August 1937 – 26 January 2022) was an Australian Catholic nun who was best known for recording a pop-rock version of the

Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also known by its incipit Our Father (, ), is a central Christian prayer attributed to Jesus. It contains petitions to God focused on God’s holiness, will, and kingdom, as well as human needs, with variations across manusc ...

. The surprise hit reached Number 3 on the Australian singles chart (Kent Music Report) in 1974 and Number 4 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the same year. The single earned her a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

nomination and an Australian Gospel Music Awards in 2004. It sold over one and a half million copies and was awarded a

gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

on 8 April 1974. It was also certified gold in Australia. Mead became the second woman to have a top 10 single on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart whilst a nun. Sister Luc-Gabrielle ( Jeanine Deckers), also called "''Sœur Sourire''" and "

the Singing Nun Jeanne-Paule Marie "Jeannine" Deckers (17 October 1933 – 29 March 1985), better known as and often called The Singing Nun in English-speaking countries, was a Catholic Church in Belgium, Belgian Catholic singer-songwriter and former member ...

", had a Number 1 pop hit in 1963 with " Dominique". Mead taught music at St Aloysius College, Adelaide, where the music video for "The Lord's Prayer" was filmed. After recording, Mead continued to visit the school to teach the junior students basic music.

Life and career

Mead was born in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

, in 1937. She formed a band, simply called the Rock Band, when she was 17 to provide music for the weekly

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

at her local church. She studied piano at the Adelaide Conservatorium before joining the

Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute for women in the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. In 2019, the institute had about 6,200 Religious sister, sisters worldwide, organized into a number ...

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 Mass more interesting and accessible for her students. This led to a successful series of Rock Masses which she held at St Francis Xavier's Cathedral, Adelaide. Mead began making professional recordings of her music for schools and churches in 1973. Later that year, she went to

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

for a recording session with

Festival Records Festival Records, later known as Festival Mushroom Records, was an Australian recording and publishing company founded in Sydney, Australia, in 1952 and operated until 2005. Festival was a subsidiary of News Limited from 1961 to 2005. The com ...

produced by Martin Erdman. Festival asked her to record a cover of the

Donovan Donovan Phillips Leitch (born 10 May 1946), known mononymously as Donovan, is a Scottish musician, songwriter and record producer. He emerged from the British folk scene in early 1965 and subsequently scored multiple international hit singles ...

song "Brother Sun, Sister Moon" which had been written for the soundtrack of the

Franco Zeffirelli Gian Franco Corsi Zeffirelli (; 12 February 1923 – 15 June 2019) was an Italian stage and film director, producer, production designer and politician. He was one of the most significant opera and theatre directors of the post–World War II e ...

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

of the same name, but Martin Erdman wanted to record a rock

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

of the

to serve as the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

and so a

one-hit wonder A one-hit wonder is any entity that achieves mainstream popularity, often for only one piece of work, and becomes known among the general public solely for that momentary success. The term is most commonly used in regard to music performers with ...

was born. The single became the first Australian recording to sell over one million copies in the United States, earning a gold record award for Mead and Martin Erdman. Mead donated her share of the

royalties A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset or ...

to charity while Festival Records used their portion of the proceeds to refit one of their studios. The success of the single led to the recording of an

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

, ''With You I Am'', which reached No. 19 in July 1974. Her second album, ''A Rock Mass'', was a complete recording of one of her Rock Masses. Mead resisted the call to continue her pop career, despite intense media interest. She described the record's success as a "horrible time" in her life – worldwide success brought a pressure that led her to question her faith. Her third album, recorded in 1983, was filed away in the Festival vaults after Mead withdrew from the public eye. The tapes were later rediscovered by Martin Erdman and some tracks, including a new version of "The Lord's Prayer", were put together to become the 1999 album ''A Time To Sing'', which was released as part of the 25th anniversary celebrations of the hit single. Mead did not abandon her love of music and performance and returned to the arts later in life. In 1990, she had a record, ''A Day Will Come'', produced with the conservative Catholic charismatic religious group, the Romero Community. In October 2001, she directed the Romero Company's annual production at the Melbourne Trades Hall Auditorium, an inventive adaptation by Damien Mead of

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician. His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...

's ''

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' (, ) is a 19th-century French literature, French Epic (genre), epic historical fiction, historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published on 31 March 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. '' ...

''. In 2004, Mead received the Yamaha Golden Gospel Award in recognition of her services to Australian Christian music at the Australian Gospel Music Awards in

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

. 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. Also in 2004, Mead was named South Australian of the Year for her care of the homeless.

Death

Janet Mead died from cancer in Adelaide on 26 January 2022, aged 84.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

*
Archive

Video of the song ''The Lord’s Prayer'' by Sister Janet Mead
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mead, Janet 1937 births 2022 deaths 20th-century Australian Roman Catholic nuns 21st-century Australian Roman Catholic nuns Australian gospel singers Australian women singers A&M Records artists Deaths from cancer in South Australia Sisters of Mercy Musicians from Adelaide