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Hymn Writers

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The Hymn Society Website has a handy obits page, to help you keep tabs on the writers of slammin' tunes, who'll slam no more.

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John Paculabo, who amongst other things co-wrote "Colours of Day" (Light up the Fire) (which also went into the mainstream charts) has died of cancer. http://www.inspirema...iew&storyid=281

 

He was also behind some of the newer hymns that are starting to seep through in church, replacing some of the old "Sankey" dirges.

 

John was a truly top bloke and I speak from personal experience as he is a member of my Dad's family. RIP, John. Thoughts are with Julie, Lucy, Sam and Joe.

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John Paculabo, who amongst other things co-wrote "Colours of Day" (Light up the Fire) (which also went into the mainstream charts) has died of cancer. http://www.inspirema...iew&storyid=281

 

He was also behind some of the newer hymns that are starting to seep through in church, replacing some of the old "Sankey" dirges.

 

John was a truly top bloke and I speak from personal experience as he is a member of my Dad's family. RIP, John. Thoughts are with Julie, Lucy, Sam and Joe.

Sad news indeed. I only ever associated John Pac with that one song, Colours of Day (a firm favourite at our Parade services), and had no idea of how involved he was with Kingsway Music and the great contribution he made to giving the newer worship songs more exposure.

But...Sankey dirges? Shame on you. Some of us still enjoy singing them!

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Geoffrey Ainger, writer of "Mary's Child", a very pleasant and relatively new Christmas hymn, long time Methodist minister and someone that I'd seriously considered for next year's DDP, has died, aged 87.

 

I'm glad I didn't pick him, as Ainger died in January and coverage of his death was so bad, I've only discovered it today whilst checking if he remained (he isn't now) a good candidate - indeed even his former church where he wrote the hymn over gave him a brief menton in their recent update - http://www.loughtonm...ay_2013_web.pdf (page 7)

 

Maybe hymn writers aren't the "broadsheet" obit bankers they used to be.

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Geoffrey Ainger, writer of "Mary's Child", a very pleasant and relatively new Christmas hymn, long time Methodist minister and someone that I'd seriously considered for next year's DDP, has died, aged 87.

 

I'm glad I didn't pick him, as Ainger died in January and coverage of his death was so bad, I've only discovered it today whilst checking if he remained (he isn't now) a good candidate - indeed even his former church where he wrote the hymn over gave him a brief menton in their recent update - http://www.loughtonm...ay_2013_web.pdf (page 7)

 

Maybe hymn writers aren't the "broadsheet" obit bankers they used to be.

 

The Methodist Chursch has just adopted a new hymn book so there may be more opportunities for up to date resaearch during long sermons - most of the people in the old book must be dead already Sydney Carter and F Pratt-Green died in 2004 & 2000 respectively.

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I don't know if John Rutter (born 1945) and Sir John Taverner (born 1944) count as hymn composers, but they've done choral work and Christmas carols.........

 

Dunno if he counts a hymn composer, but he does count as a corpse.

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John Tavener unique pick 2011 and 2012

 

To say I'm gutted is an understatement.

 

He could well of won me the DDP this year if only I'd stuck with him :(

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Not another miss...

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Geoffrey Ainger, writer of "Mary's Child", a very pleasant and relatively new Christmas hymn, long time Methodist minister and someone that I'd seriously considered for next year's DDP, has died, aged 87.

 

I'm glad I didn't pick him, as Ainger died in January and coverage of his death was so bad, I've only discovered it today whilst checking if he remained (he isn't now) a good candidate - indeed even his former church where he wrote the hymn over gave him a brief menton in their recent update - http://www.loughtonm...ay_2013_web.pdf (page 7)

 

Maybe hymn writers aren't the "broadsheet" obit bankers they used to be.

The Methodist Chursch has just adopted a new hymn book so there may be more opportunities for up to date resaearch during long sermons - most of the people in the old book must be dead already Sydney Carter and F Pratt-Green died in 2004 & 2000 respectively.

 

 

Our church have deprived me of this pleasure by only purchasing a small number of copies so anyone who is not totally blind gets to sing following the words on a screen projected from a PC. Although some mirth can be obtained from spelling errors and the mumbling when the PC operator fails to put up the correct screen.

 

The only person who I can think of who would fit into this category is Graham Kendrick who is responsible for the abomination that is Shine Jesus Shine but he is only 64.

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McNeil Robinson II, a performer, conductor, and composer of both Christian and Jewish service music, died May 9. Obit says he was a master of improvisation; played music of all eras, and among his compositions wrote hymnals. Could have put him in Christian music or Minimalists, but I'm taking advantage of rare opportunity to add to this thread.

SC

http://www.mcneilrobinson.com/biography/

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In the Death By Jazz thread:

 

The Man In Black wrote:

 

Saw that documentary and was able to match the artist with the 'Take 5' tune. I thought 'Fancy that. Really good.'

Then having left the radio on on Sunday while listening to the cricket, I heard the Sunday church service from Sheffield. The opening hymn was 'Sing All the Lord's Goodness'....

2 min 5 sec in...

Written in 1949 by Ernest Sands...

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And so, here's some further Anglican composers worthy of future consideration:

 

Malcolm Archer (b. 1952)

John Barnard (b. 1948)

Harry Bramma (b. 1936)

David Briggs (b. 1962)

James Douglas (b. 1932)

Jonathan Dove (b. 1959)

Martin How (b. 1931; d. 2022)

Grayston Ives (b. 1948)

Francis Jackson (b. 1917; d. 2022)

Roger Jones (b. 1948)

Peter Nardone (b. 1965)

Barry Rose (b. 1934)

John Rutter (b. 1945)

Richard Shephard (b. 1949; d. 2021)

 

Additionally, Wiki has only one living Scottish hymnwriter as far as I know:

 

John L Bell (b. 1949)

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Also, Timothy Dudley-Smith, former Bishop of Thetford and author of (the dirge) Tell Out My Soul, still with us, and 92 in a few months.

 

Brian Wren (b. 1936) is alive too, but he was URC.

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1 hour ago, msc said:

Also, Timothy Dudley-Smith, former Bishop of Thetford and author of (the dirge) Tell Out My Soul, still with us, and 92 in a few months.

 

Brian Wren (b. 1936) is alive too, but he was URC.

There are many more dirges than Tell Out My Soul. A lot of hymns will have more than one tune they can be sung with. My Mum used to play piano at the local Methodist church and one of the preachers was always hopeless at choosing hymns so she let my Mum choose.

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Another one for this thread is Graham Kendrick (b.1950) writer of the wretched 'high on emotion, low on theology' Shine Jesus Shine.

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Kinda glad I started this thread - hadn't considered it's use as a means of discovering stuff so strange and sincere it takes appreciation to a whole new level. Oddly, was just gifted a compilation of the Edwin Hawkins singers - kinda hippy gospel stuff, awesome

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1 hour ago, charon said:

 

 

Kinda makes the point I made in starting this thread (so long ago that it'll soon be old enough for R Kelly to continue shagging it!)

 

These people live clean lives and peg out late. Would anyone risk a DDP theme team on this topic?

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On 20/07/2018 at 01:16, YoungWillz said:

And so, here's some further Anglican composers worthy of future consideration:

 

Malcolm Archer (b. 1952)

John Barnard (b. 1948)

Harry Bramma (b. 1936)

David Briggs (b. 1962)

James Douglas (b. 1932)

Jonathan Dove (b. 1959)

Martin How (b. 1931)

Grayston Ives (b. 1948)

Francis Jackson (b. 1917)

Roger Jones (b. 1948)

Peter Nardone (b. 1965)

Barry Rose (b. 1934)

John Rutter (b. 1945)

Richard Shephard (b. 1949)

 

Additionally, Wiki has only one living Scottish hymnwriter as far as I know:

 

John L Bell (b. 1949)

Richard Shephard , 71, dead.

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On 17/12/2021 at 15:35, Spade_Cooley said:

Contemporary hymnwriter Susan Palo Cherwien is in hospice care, for those of you who need a hymnographer in the 2022 DDP.

 

Dead

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On 20/07/2018 at 01:16, YoungWillz said:

And so, here's some further Anglican composers worthy of future consideration:

 

Malcolm Archer (b. 1952)

John Barnard (b. 1948)

Harry Bramma (b. 1936)

David Briggs (b. 1962)

James Douglas (b. 1932)

Jonathan Dove (b. 1959)

Martin How (b. 1931)

Grayston Ives (b. 1948)

Francis Jackson (b. 1917)

Roger Jones (b. 1948)

Peter Nardone (b. 1965)

Barry Rose (b. 1934)

John Rutter (b. 1945)

Richard Shephard (b. 1949)

 

Additionally, Wiki has only one living Scottish hymnwriter as far as I know:

 

John L Bell (b. 1949)

Francis Jackson reportedly dead: 

Picked hither and thither.

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