Paul Clark is a musician who was involved in the

Jesus music Jesus music, known as gospel beat music in the United Kingdom, is a style of Christian music that originated on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This musical genre developed in parallel to the Jesus movemen ...

movement and early

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 ...

industry. He was born in Kansas City and recorded his first album in 1971, ''Songs from the Saviour Vol 1''.Christianmusic.org
Its songs became one of the first signs of the growing "

Jesus movement The Jesus movement was an Evangelicalism, evangelical Christian movement which began on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s and primarily spread throughout North America, Europe, and Central America, before it su ...

" of the early 70s. He went on to record further albums including ''Songs from the Savior - Volume Two'', ''Come Into His Presence'' and ''Good To Be Home'' with Paul Clark and Friends (including Phil Keaggy, Jay Truax, John Mehler, Bill Speer, Mike Burhart, and more), then launched the well received, award-winning 1977 album ''Hand to the Plow''. In 1978 he followed up with ''Change in the Wind'' and in 1980 with ''Aim for the Heart''. These three albums had some jazz influences and were well-produced in the context of other Christian music of the time. ''Aim for the Heart'' featured

Abraham Laboriel Abraham Laboriel López Sr. (born July 17, 1947) is a Mexican-American bassist who has played on over 4,000 recordings and soundtracks. ''Guitar Player'' magazine called him "the most widely used session bassist of our time". Laboriel is the f ...

on bass along with Harlan Rogers, Hadley Hockensmith and Bill Maxwell and was certainly jazz influenced. Those four went on to become members of

Koinonia () is a transliterated form of the Koine Greek, Greek word , which refers to concepts such as fellowship, joint participation, the share which one has in anything, a gift jointly contributed, a collection, a contribution. It identifies the ideal ...

jazz band from 1982 till about 1990. Clark is recognized as one of the founding fathers of the Jesus Movement and the contemporary

Christian music industry The Christian music industry is one aspect of the broader music industry, with a focus on Christian music and subgenres such as gospel music, southern gospel, contemporary Christian music, contemporary worship music, and even traditional church mus ...

. During his 13-year association with Word Records in the 1970s and 1980s, Clark's songwriting, record producing and performances placed him in the forefront along with artists like

Phil Keaggy Philip Tyler Keaggy (born March 23, 1951) is an American acoustic and electric guitarist and vocalist who has released more than 55 albums and contributed to many more recordings in both the contemporary Christian music and mainstream markets. H ...

2nd Chapter of Acts The 2nd Chapter of Acts was a Jesus music and early contemporary Christian music group composed of sisters Annie Herring and Nelly Greisen and brother Matthew Ward. They began performing in 1972 and enjoyed their period of greatest success du ...

Love Song A love song is a song about romantic love, falling in love, heartbreak after a breakup, and the feelings that these experiences bring. A comprehensive list of even the best known performers and composers of love songs would be a large order. ...

Larry Norman Larry David Norman (April 8, 1947 – February 24, 2008) was an American musician, singer, songwriter, record label owner, and record producer. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of Christian rock music and released more than 100 album ...

Andraé Crouch Andraé Edward Crouch (July 1, 1942 – January 8, 2015) was 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 profess ...

, Honeytree,

Keith Green Keith Gordon Green (October 21, 1953 – July 28, 1982) was an American pianist, singer, and songwriter in the contemporary Christian music genre, who was originally from Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York. His most notable songs are " There ...

Randy Stonehill Randall Evan Stonehill (born March 12, 1952) is an American singer and songwriter from Stockton, California, best known as one of the pioneers of contemporary Christian music. His music is primarily folk rock in the style of James Taylor, but ...

Barry McGuire Barry McGuire (born October 15, 1935) is an American singer-songwriter primarily known for his 1965 hit " Eve of Destruction". Later he would pioneer as a singer and songwriter of Contemporary Christian music. Early life McGuire was born in O ...

, and many notable others.

Discography

* ''Songs from the Savior, Vol. 1'' 1972 * ''Songs from the Savior, Vol. 2'' 1972 * ''Come Into His Presence'' (Paul Clark and Friends) 1974 * ''Good To Be Home'' (Paul Clark and Friends) 1975 * ''Hand to the Plow'' 1976 * ''Change in the Wind'' 1978 * ''Aim for the Heart'' 1980 * ''New Horizon'' 1981 * ''Drawn to the Light'' 1982 * ''Out of the Shadow'' 1983 * ''Awakening from the Western Dream'' 1988 * ''When the Moon is Behind the Clouds'' 1992 * ''Private World'' 1995 * ''Resonate'' 1996 * ''Christmas'' 1998 * ''Call of the Canyon'' 2001 * ''Approaching Jerusalem'' 2009 * ''Down at the Whistle Stop'' 2014 * ''Branching Roots'' 2016

References

External links

* * Partial list of Clark's musical works {{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Paul American performers of Christian music American male singers Musicians from Kansas City, Missouri Living people Singers from Missouri Year of birth missing (living people)