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 of 1997.
Mullins is best known for his praise choruses "Awesome
God" and "Step by Step", 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.
Rich Mullins is also warmly remembered for his sincere 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.
Life
Rich Mullins grew up attending Arba Friends Meeting, a Quaker church in
Lynn, Indiana [1]. The Quaker testimonies of peace and
social justice later inspired many of his lyrics.
In 1975, Mullins attended Cincinnati Bible
College. In the 1980s he moved to Nashville,
Tennessee to begin his professional recording career.
In 1988, Mullins moved to Wichita, Kansas where, in
1991, he enrolled as a student at Friends University.
He graduated with a B.A. in Music Education on May 14,
1995 [2]. 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 a small salary,
and gave the rest to charity. Mullins was also a major supporter of Compassion
International and Compassion USA.
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 began his musical career with Zion Ministries in the late 1970s, where he wrote music
and performed with a band called Zion. The band released one album in 1981 entitled
Behold the Man. 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. In 1983
Debby Boone recorded Mullins' "O Come All Ye Faithful" for her Surrender album. In
1984 the song was also featured in a TV movie called Sins of the Past.
In 1986, Rich Mullins released his eponymous debut
album, followed in 1987 by Pictures in the Sky. Neither album sold
very well, 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. 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 both volumes in different
versions, 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 Roman 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. Mullins had great respect for St. Francis, and even formed "The Kid Brothers of St. Frank" in
the late 1980s with several friends.
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.[3]
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.
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 Alyssa Loukota
and Tammy Pruitt.
Discography
-
Awards
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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