Andrus, Blackwood & Company was a racially integrated

Contemporary Christian Music Contemporary Christian music, also known as CCM, Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christian faith and s ...

group, releasing six albums between 1977 and 1984. The group was composed of two former members of

The Imperials The Imperials are an American Christian music group that has been active for over 55 years. Originating as a southern gospel quartet, the innovative group would become pioneers of contemporary Christian music in the 1960s. There have been many ...

Sherman Andrus Sherman Andrus (born June 23, 1942) is an American gospel singer, who is probably best known as the man who broke the "color barrier" by becoming the first African-American lead singer of a mainstream Christian music group (The Imperials). He ha ...

and

Terry Blackwood Terry Blackwood is a contemporary Christian musician who is best known as lead singer for Christian pop act The Imperials. He was with the group for nearly a decade, joining in 1967 and remaining with them through 1976. At that time, he left the g ...

as co-lead vocalists. Rounding out the group's first touring band in 1977 were Rocky Laughlin on bass, Tim Marsh on drums, Bob Villareal on guitar and backing vocals, and Karen Voegtlin on keyboards and backing vocals. Other alternating band members between 1978 and 1986 included Billy Blackwood (cousin of Terry Blackwood) on drums, John Mays on bass, Mark Hughes on bass (later with Dobie Gray and owner the world's largest used music store, Mr Mark's Music in Nashville (1980–90, 2000-2016-current), Jeff Chambers on guitars, Randy Dennis on keyboards, David Ennis (later with country group

Restless Heart Restless Heart is an American country music band established in 1984. The band's members are Larry Stewart (lead vocals), John Dittrich (drums, vocals), Paul Gregg (bass guitar, vocals), Dave Innis (piano, keyboards, guitar, vocals), and Greg Je ...

) on keyboards, Gerritt Wilson on Synths, David Hassell on keyboards and vocals, Mark Burchfield on bass. David Hassell also worked as office manager and tour manager for the group. The group's final performance came in June 1986 at

Six Flags Six Flags Entertainment Corporation is an American amusement park corporation, headquartered in Arlington, Texas. It has properties in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Six Flags owns the most theme parks and waterparks combined of any amu ...

theme park in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, IL. At the time the two had left the Imperials, it was one of the most commercially successful acts in CCM. While not songwriters themselves, Andrus and Blackwood were good judges of what CCM radio wanted, developing relationships with Bruce Hibbard, Hadley Hockensmith, Phil Johnson and Tim Sheppard among others. It paid off with a top 10 title track to their 1979 sophomore double-album ''Following You''.Brothers, Jeffrey. (1999). CCM Creative Ventures, Tennessee: CCM Books. 1st ed. ISBN not listed in CIP data, P. 18, "Hot Hits:Christian Hit Radio 20 Years of Charts, Artist Bios and More" During the group's tenure, they placed eight hits on the Christian radio charts including 3 No. 1 hits, "Jesus, You're So Wonderful" (20 weeks, 1980–1981).,"Soldier of the Light" (23 weeks, 1981). and "Step Out of the Night" (4 weeks, 1983). The group appeared as headliners for every major

Christian music festival A Christian music festival (also known as a Jesus music festival or simply a Jesus festival) is a music festival held by the Christian community, in support of performers of Christian music. The festivals are characterized by more than just music; ...

during the late 1970s to mid-1980s, including Disney's Night of Joy, They also appeared on PBS's ''

Austin City Limits ''Austin City Limits'' is an American live music television program recorded and produced by Austin PBS. The show helped Austin become widely known in the United States as the "Live Music Capital of the World", and is the only television show t ...

'' musical TV program in 1983. Andrus and Blackwood occasionally performed in group now called "Elvis' Imperials" with another former Imperials member, Joe Moscheo until Moscheo's death in 2016.

Discography

Discography on Christian Music Archive
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References

{{Authority control Performers of contemporary Christian music