Andrae Crouch
Andrae Crouch
Andraé Edward Crouchwas an American gospel singer, songwriter, arranger, record producer and pastor. Referred to as "the father of modern gospel music" by contemporary Christian and gospel music professionals, Crouch was known for his compositions "The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power", "My Tribute" and "Soon and Very Soon". In secular music, he was known for his collaborative work during the 1980s and 1990s with Stevie Wonder, Elton John and Quincy Jones as well as conducting choirs that sang on...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionGospel Singer
Date of Birth1 July 1942
CitySan Francisco, CA
CountryUnited States of America
Every day, we hear that somebody got saved to our music from all over the world. The music reaches people. It can encourage them. I feel like I have to do it because there's somebody out there who needs to hear the gospel.
I love a song that will usher in the very presence of God. Then there's no Andrae; there's no fabulous band, there's no greatness of ours. I've had hundreds of concerts like that, and that's what I try to achieve.
When I finish a song, I thank God for bringing me through. You have to press on and know your calling. That's what I've been doing for all my life. I just went forward.
The Winans have been some of my favorite people, and Marvin certainly has a real anointing when he preaches and sings; he's a great interpreter of my music.
I have dyslexia, and I never did learn to read music, and I even had a problem in reading because everything was turned upside down, so I just had to draw from the lyrics and the voice that I would hear in my mind.
If you can't prove it in words, it ain't gospel. Soul music is just an expression of the mind, but your spirit has to be made alive - that's the real part, the part that God speaks to.
Sometimes when God brings things into an individual's life, it makes them totally depend on Him.
I was at a picnic, and there were a lot of songwriters. I remember praying, 'God I wish you would give me a song.' About five minutes later, my ears popped, and I saw everybody in slow motion. Nobody knew what I was experiencing.
The message is that I was reminding myself and informing others of the fact that God has always been good to me. No matter what you're going through, God is always with us. Life is a journey.
I think that some people still think that the formula other than gospel still is not strong enough to get that crossover appeal to people enough that they would play it all the time, or nonchurch people would accept it, but I disagree.
I started singing by default, I think. Because there was a guy in the group that thought the group wasn't going to ever be anything. And I was getting ready to record, and I'd never recorded my voice. It was always other people that I featured because I thought they did a much better job.
There have been times when we've been playing, and people who were sick were totally healed.
That's all I want in life is to be remembered as a guy that really loved God.
My mother's father was Jewish, so she was very conservative. She liked little, pretty music-orchestral-type things.