Richard Wayne Mullins (October 21, 1955 – September 19, 1997) was an American Christian music singer and songwriter born in Richmond, Indiana. He died in an automobile accident in September 1997.
Mullins is best known for his worship songs "Step by Step" (later incorporated into his hit single "Sometimes by Step") and "Awesome God", both of which have been embraced as modern classics by many Christians. Some of his albums are also considered among Christian music's best, including Winds of Heaven, Stuff of Earth (1988), The World As Best As I Remember It, Volume One (1991) and A Liturgy, A Legacy, & A Ragamuffin Band (1993). His music has been covered by many artists, including Caedmon's Call, Five Iron Frenzy, Amy Grant, Jars of Clay, Michael W. Smith, John Tesh, and Third Day.[1]
Rich Mullins is also remembered for his devotion to the Christian faith, which was often an inspiration to others. He was heavily influenced by St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226). In 1997, he composed a musical called Canticle of the Plains, a retelling of the life of St. Francis set in the Old West. [2]
Life
Rich Mullins grew up attending Arba Friends Meeting, a Quaker church in Lynn, Indiana [3]. The Quaker testimonies of peace and social justice later inspired many of his lyrics. Mullins was baptized when he was in the 3rd grade [4]
In 1974-78, Mullins attended Cincinnati Bible College. He worked in a parking garage to help pay for his schooling. [5] From 1975 to 1978 he was the Music Director and Youth Director near Cincinnati at Erlanger United Methodist Church, Erlanger, Kentucky. [6]
In the 1980s he moved to Nashville, Tennessee to begin his professional recording career.[7] Mullins was engaged sometime between the late '70's and early '80's and had written the song Doubly Good To You (recorded by Amy Grant on her album Straight Ahead) for the wedding. However, his fiancée broke off the engagement, at which time Mullins wrote Damascus Road.[8][9]
In 1988, Mullins moved to Wichita, Kansas where, in 1991, he enrolled as a student at Friends University and lived with his best friend, David Strasser (a.k.a. Beaker). He graduated with a B.A. in Music Education on May 14, 1995 [10]. After graduation, he and Mitch McVicker moved to a Navajo reservation in Tse Bonito, New Mexico to teach music to children. They lived in a hogan at the reservation until his death.
The profits from his tours and the sale of each album went to his church, which divided it up, paid Mullins the average salary in the U.S. for that year, and gave the rest to charity.[11] Mullins was also a major supporter of Compassion International [12] and Compassion USA. [13]
His faith can be understood by a quote he gave at a concert shortly before his death. He stated that:
Jesus said whatever you do to the least of these my brothers you’ve done it to me. And this is what I’ve come to think. That if I want to identify fully with Jesus Christ, who I claim to be my savior and Lord, the best way that I can do that is to identify with the poor. This I know will go against the teachings of all the popular evangelical preachers. But they’re just wrong. They’re not bad, they’re just wrong. Christianity is not about building an absolutely secure little niche in the world where you can live with your perfect little wife and your perfect little children in a beautiful little house where you have no gays or minority groups anywhere near you. Christianity is about learning to love like Jesus loved and Jesus loved the poor and Jesus loved the broken. [4] [14]
Music career
As a musician, Mullins was primarily a pianist, but he showed a prodigious talent for unusual instruments. He was an expert player of the hammered dulcimer, lap dulcimer and the Irish tin whistle. Examples of this can be heard in Mullins' songs "Calling Out Your Name," "Creed," "Boy Like Me/Man Like You" and "The Color Green." Mullins' compositions were distinctive in two ways: unusual and sometimes striking instrumentation, and highly poetic lyrics that usually employed complex metaphors.
Mullins formed his first band in 1976-77 while attending Cincinnati Bible College. [7] His musical career formally began with Zion Ministries in the late 1970s, where he wrote music and performed with a band called Zion. [7] The band released one album in 1981 entitled Behold the Man.[7] While working for this ministry, Mullins penned a song called "Sing Your Praise To The Lord" which was recorded by singer Amy Grant in 1982 and became an immediate hit on Christian Radio. [7] In 1983 Debby Boone recorded Mullins' "O Come All Ye Faithful" (formerly titled "In Worship of the Coming King" - one of the CBC Band songs), for her Surrender album. In 1984 the song was also featured in a TV movie called Sins of the Past. [7]
In 1986, Rich Mullins released his eponymous debut album, followed in 1987 by Pictures in the Sky. [15]Neither album sold very well,[12] but the Christian radio hit "Awesome God" on his third album, Winds of Heaven, Stuff of Earth, brought his music to a wider audience.
In the early 1990s, Mullins released a pair of albums entitled The World As Best As I Remember It, Volume One and Two.[16] These albums featured more of a stripped-back, acoustic feel than his earlier work, with nods to Irish music. "Step By Step", a song written by good friend Beaker and included on volume one, and incorporated into "Sometimes By Step" with addictional lyrics by Mullins on volume two, became an instant hit on Christian Radio, and, like "Awesome God", it became a popular praise chorus.
In 1993, Mullins assembled a group of Nashville musicians (including Jimmy Abegg, Beaker, Phil Madeira, Rick Elias, and Aaron Smith) to form A Ragamuffin Band, whose name was inspired by the Christian book The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning. The band recorded A Liturgy, a Legacy, & a Ragamuffin Band, which was later named the #3 best Christian Album of All time by CCM Magazine. Liturgy was a concept album that drew its inspiration, in part, from the Catholic liturgy. The Ragamuffins also appeared on Mullin's 1995 record Brother's Keeper.
In 1997, Mullins teamed up with Beaker and Mitch McVicker to write a musical based on the life of St. Francis of Assisi, entitled The Canticle of the Plains. [2] Mullins had great respect for St. Francis, and even formed "The Kid Brothers of St. Frank" in the late 1980s with Beaker.[17]
Death and legacy
Mullins was killed in a car accident on September 19, 1997. He and his friend Mitch McVicker were traveling on I-39 north of Bloomington, Illinois to a benefit concert in Wichita, Kansas when his Jeep flipped over. Neither man wore a seat belt. Both were thrown from the vehicle. A passing tractor-trailer swerving to avoid the Jeep killed Mullins. McVicker was badly injured but survived.
His funeral was open to the public and had a massive gathering. He was buried alongside his baby brother who died as an infant and his father in Hollansburg, Ohio.[18]
Shortly before his death, Mullins had been working on his next project, which was to be a concept album based on the life of Jesus Christ and was to be called "Ten Songs About Jesus". On September 10, 1997, nine days before his death, he made a rough micro cassette recording of the album's songs in an abandoned church. This tape was released as disc 1 of The Jesus Record, which featured new recordings of the songs on disc 2 by the Ragamuffin Band, with guest vocalists Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, Ashley Cleveland, and Phil Keaggy. Ironically, "Heaven In His Eyes" was not a new song, but one that had been written over two decades earlier, a beloved favorite of Rich's. At the time of his death, Rich was planning to convert to Roman Catholicism. The date on which he was going to be converted is unknown as sources disagree on the date. Mullins had been studying the faith for a few years prior and had taken classes on the faith before he made his decision.[19][20]
In 1998, the tribute album Awesome God: A Tribute to Rich Mullins was released, featuring favorite Mullins songs reinterpreted by his Christian music peers.
Mullins' family founded The Legacy Of A Kid Brother Of St. Frank to continue his mission to develop programs of art, drama and music camps for Native American youth and provide a traveling music school serving remote areas of the reservations. Today it is administered by Tammy Pruitt.
Discography
-
Awards
References
- ^ Rich Mullins song list
- ^ a b "Mullins Takes Risk with Show on Saint, But Fans Keep Faith".
- ^ Quaker Life - A Ragamuffin music man: Rich Mullins
- ^ a b "Lufkin Texas, July '97".
- ^ Rich Mullins Mailing list 103 - kidbrothers.net
- ^ erlangerumc.org/mullins
- ^ a b c d e f "Rich Mullins timeline 1 - audiori.com".
- ^ Brothers Keeper radio special
- ^ 20: the Countdown Magazine remembers Rich Mullins
- ^ Rich Mullins timeline 5 - audiori.com
- ^ Homeless Man video transcript - kidbrothers.net
- ^ a b "Music and More Interview with Jon Rivers".
- ^ Rich Mullins Mailing List 143 - kidbrothers.net
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQnFU5JvuWY&mode=related&search= (The quoted speech begins at 7:40 of this video reference.)
- ^ Rich Mullins timeline 2 - audiori.com
- ^ Rich Mullins timeline 4 - audiori.com
- ^ richmullins.com/kidbrothers
- ^ findagrave.com - Rich Mullins
- ^ Catholic World News : Christian Singer Rich Mullins Dies; Planned To Become Catholic
- ^ Rich Mullins, Enigmatic, restless, Catholic
Further reading
- Manning, Brennan. The Ragamuffin Gospel: Embracing the Unconditional Love of God (Multnomah, July, 1990) (ISBN 0-88070-631-7)
- Smith, James Bryan. Rich Mullins: His Life and Legacy: An Arrow Pointing To Heaven (Broadman and Holman, September, 2000) (ISBN 0-8054-2135-1)
- Mullins, Rich, and Pearson, Ben. The World As I Remember It: Through the Eyes of a Ragamuffin (Multnomah, March, 2004) (ISBN 1-59052-368-7)
External links
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