The Life of Billy Ray Hearn

A short autobiography with some philosophy

I was raised in a Southern Baptist family. Mother played piano and organ for church services in Calvary Baptist Church, Beaumont, Texas. One uncle was a Minister of Music and Education and two other uncles were Baptist Pastors.

Even though I lived in a Christian home and my life style was what you would say was Christian, my faith was not important to me until I was in the Navy, age 17-19, stationed in Pensacola, Florida. Dr. Wallace Rogers, Pastor of the First Baptist Church, influenced me greatly and under his mentoring I dedicated my life to Music Ministry. After discharge from Navy in 1948 I entered Baylor University, Waco, TX to earn a Bachelor of Music degree in Church Music. My faith was very important to me while a student at Baylor. I was very active in the Christian community of the campus: A member of the original BRH Choir, first student to lead the hymn singing in the Baylor Chapel services, active in the Baptist Student Union.

My first “jobs” were directing music in churches (FBC Hearne, TX) and leading music for Youth Revivals sponsored by the Texas Baptist Convention Youth Dept. in the summers of 1949 and 1950. US Navy called me back to service for Korean Conflict (Jan 1952) and stationed me in San Diego, CA. While there for 16 months I served as Min of Music at the Highland Ave Baptist Church, National City, CA. As a Minister of Music I expressed my faith and beliefs regularly hoping to influence other people to give their life to Jesus Christ..After being a Minister of Music in several large churches for 15 years, 1954-1968 (Trinity Baptist, San Antonio, North Ft. Worth Baptist while doing graduate studies at the Southwestern Baptist Seminary Ft. Worth, Baptist Tabernacle, Atlanta, GA, and First Baptist Church, Thomasville, GA) I was hired by Word Records, Waco to be Director of Music Promotion in 1968.

For the first 4 years at Word I helped establish Contemporary music...

Publicity Bio from EMICMG

Biography

Legacy-leavers are hard to come by; it takes a committed kind of vision to keep your eyes open enough to see opportunity, to take risks. EMI Christian Music Group founder Billy Ray Hearn has spent the past 50 years becoming such a visionary. With a life committed to risking everything for the sake of the Gospel, he has built a far-reaching legacy of its message and music, a legacy that will continue to unfurl for generations to come.

With lifelong decisions made from the need to bring together faith, music, and cultural relevance, Billy Ray Hearn has been referred to as the ‘father' of contemporary Christian music. His history is full of firsts: he was the first to graduate from Baylor University with a degree in church music. From there, the rest is history. His involvement with the wildly successful and innovative youth musicals, Good News and Tell It Like It Is, sparked the idea that contemporary music had a place in the Church. In 1972, Hearn started Myrrh Records—one of the first labels devoted to contemporary Christian music—at Word Inc. in Waco, TX.

Hearn had great faith in the music and vision of the Jesus Movement of the 1970s. And so, in 1976, he formed his own label, Sparrow Records in Canoga Park, CA with a small roster of artists, whose music has since inspired a genre: 2nd Chapter of Acts, Barry McGuire, Keith Green, and John Michael Talbot. Later, by the 1980's: Margaret Becker, Steve Taylor, and Steve Green.

In addition to finding and signing great artists, Billy Ray Hearn has a love for producing. Among his best is his Dove Award winning recording of Handel's Messiah with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir. He also produced the highly-acclaimed hymns albums; Hymns Triumphant, its sequel, Hymns Triumphant, Volume II and Executive Produced the 2 million selling/Grammy Award winning I Love To Tell The Story by Andy Griffith.

In 1992, Hearn sold Sparrow to EMI Music, and the label continued to thrive, with the growth and success of such landmark artists as Steven Curtis Chapman and BeBe & CeCe Winans.

Though he semi-retired in 1996, Billy Ray has continued to play a pivotal role in the industry he helped create. Recognized as one of the foremost visionaries and innovators of Christian music, Hearn is a member of the Gospel Music Hall of Fame and in 1999 received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Gospel Music Association. He continues to produce recordings of orchestral and choral works of the church and is active in many charitable endeavors including work with the Nashville Symphony, Baylor University where he was a Regent for nine years, the American Cancer Society, Nurses for Newborns, Easter Seals, and chairs his own Sparrow Foundation. Recent awards include Lifetime Achievement Award from Music California an anual gathering of Music Ministers nation wide, The Baylor University School of Music Distinguished Service Award, and the Baylor University Center for Christian Music Studies Award for Exemplary Leadership in Christian Music at their annual Alleluia Conference.

If you ask the father of Contemporary Christian Music his life philosophy, the secret to his success, he'll tell you this: "I've always been led by the importance of doing what God says to do, the importance of the family, and the importance of always doing the right thing, whether it's good business or not." These are to sustain a legacy.

Billy Ray Hearn's journey has led him to be a leader, a teacher, an artist, a producer, a visionary, a philanthropist, along with countless other roles including father and grandfather.

Even still, you never know what he's going to do next.

Interests

Music, Travel, Food & Wine, Nashville Symphony, Charities, Tennessee Titans, church, family.