#297 SAY A PRAYER by Lenny LeBlanc (1983)

SAY A PRAYER by Lenny LeBlanc (1983)
Heartland Records - WU 38649

Producers:

Jon Phelps, Lenny LeBlanc


File Under: Pop & Soft Rock

Time Capsule-Worthy Track:

Say a Prayer

Having already experienced a great deal of success in mainstream pop music, Lenny LeBlanc brought his radio-friendly voice, soft rock sensibilities and hook-filled songwriting talents over to the CCM world following his conversion to Christianity in 1980. His initial Christian offering, 1983’s Say A Prayer, did not disappoint; the title track became a top-10 single. Granted, this was another rent district altogether from the success LeBlanc had with Falling in the late 70s. But his life was together and he was making good music that reflected the new priorities in his life. It was all good, as we used to say.

Lenny LeBlanc was born in 1951 and grew up in Daytona Beach, Florida. “Pete Carr and I had a local band back then and on weekends Duane and Gregg Allman would sit in with us,” Lenny recalls. “Daytona was a good town for music back then. It was a good place to start. You could make a decent living playing clubs.”

Several years later, Lenny’s friend and former band mate, Pete Carr, had become part of a happening music scene in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and he encouraged Lenny to join him there. LeBlanc has called Florence, Alabama home ever since.

Lenny found work as a studio bassist and background vocalist, and soon found himself earning a living doing what he loved – making music. Before long his talent was noticed and he was encouraged to send a demo tape to the famed producer Jerry Wexler. Wexler liked what he heard and Lenny LeBlanc inked a deal with Atlantic Records. After a mildly successful solo album, it was suggested that Lenny and his friend Pete form a duo. LeBlanc & Carr was born, and a song called Falling made them famous. They appeared on influential national television shows like American Bandstand and The Midnight Special; and you could hardly turn a radio on in the late 70s without hearing Falling.

L-R: Lenny LeBlanc, Dick Clark, Pete Carr

Falling was that quintessential 70s soft rock love song; if you’re a man of a certain age, it reminds you, in a good way, of the girl you had a crush on in high school. It was a huge hit, staying on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 28 weeks straddling 1977 and 1978. Carr eventually decided he was better suited for studio life and LeBlanc moved on to Capitol Records.

In 1980 Lenny LeBlanc heard from an old friend that he knew as a Vietnam vet and a drug smuggler. Not just a drug user, a smuggler. The guy had surrendered his life to Jesus. He asked Lenny if he was saved. Lenny said yes…but now admits that at the time he didn’t even know what 'saved' meant. 

“He said, ‘Lenny, I’m going to Heaven and I want you to be there with me,’” LeBlanc remembers. “I really knew this guy. He had been like a brother to me growing up. Something profound was going on, and I knew that my own life was about to change.”

The friend sent Lenny a Bible and he began to read it. Within weeks, he too had decided to follow Jesus. “Finding Jesus was like a sign post in my life,” Lenny says. “My friends would come over and they would say, ‘What has happened to you?’ They could just see it in my countenance, that something was different.” Lenny adds, “Whatever storm comes, I know I can look back and never refute what happened to me.”

Lenny had already grown somewhat disenchanted with the music business. Yes, it paid the bills, but it had cost him his first marriage and just wasn’t providing any real sense of peace or fulfillment. So he began to transition to CCM without even knowing what was happening. 

“At the time I got saved, I was still signed to Capitol Records,” LeBlanc recalls. “I had one record left on my contract to fulfill. So I would sit down and try to write a love song, but before I got halfway finished with the song, it’d be about Jesus! That’s what was happening in my heart. I didn’t care anymore about writing love songs; I wanted to write about this amazing God that had changed my life and gave me peace for the first time! So I had a dilemma. The record company was not going to want these ‘Jesus songs.’ I knew that right away. So I called my manager in Los Angeles and I asked him if he thought Capitol would let me out of my record deal. He thought I’d lost my mind, and so did most of my friends. All of my income was tied to that record deal. Because there was a songwriting deal in there, a publishing agreement, a recording contract – that’s where I earned my living. Now, I think I could’ve been a pop artist and a believer. I think we need believers in pop music, and there are many of them in country music and pop music. But for me – I felt God leading me somewhere different. And keep in mind that 'Contemporary Christian Music' was very small as a genre, it was kind of still in its infancy at that time.” 

But Lenny just didn’t have the desire to write straight pop songs anymore. He wanted to write about God. 

“So financially, everything went south,” he laments. “We lost just about everything. I had just started dating the woman who was to become my wife at about the time I got saved; she got saved along with me. We got married a few months later, and we struggled for about five or six years. We drove old, clunky cars, and at one time a bicycle was all I had for transportation. But I had peace. I had that peace that no one can give you. Money can’t give it to you; fame can’t give it to you. I was happy singing songs about the Lord, and I never dreamed that God would give me the opportunities that He has.” 

I’ll mention those “opportunities” at the end of this post, but Lenny ended up doing skilled carpentry work to earn a modest living and along the way began to design and build handmade furniture. Eventually, music came knocking again, and Lenny recorded a full-length Christian album for Heartland Records in 1983, the warmly-received Say a Prayer. 

Lenny’s songwriting talents are on full display here; it’s a record full of musical hooks that get stuck in your head for hours at a time. Musically, it’s the kind of pop and soft rock that LeBlanc was known for, the perfect vehicle for his smooth, comfortable, distinctive vocals. There are a couple of straight-ahead rock and roll songs on Say a Prayer (Give Your Heart to the Lord and I Don’t Understand) but the majority of this project is accessible, radio-friendly fare. Recorded in Nashville, Orlando and Muscle Shoals, the album featured an impressive lineup of musicians, including Will McFarlane, Jon Goin, David Hungate, Larrie Londin, Farrell Morris and Shane Keister. Michelle Pillar sang back-up vocals. The album cover, designed by The Malone Group in Jacksonville, Florida, shows a cleaned-and-scrubbed Lenny holding the famous painting of an old man praying over a meal (along with a very-80s graphic treatment of his name).

LeBlanc's sophomore CCM release, 1984’s Person to Person was similarly pleasant – well played, sung and produced. Looking back, perhaps Say a Prayer and Person to Person got lost in the crush of CCM records coming out in the early 80s, most of which were either delving headlong into arena rock or new wave.  

Lenny in the 1980s

LeBlanc has recorded several albums over the years, but he truly found his voice and his calling as a worship leader and a writer and composer of worship songs. Like his friends Terry Clark and Kelly Willard, Lenny was worship before worship was cool. His songs like Above All, There is None Like You and We All Bow Down have been recorded many times and sung the world over by believers in large rallies, church services, home groups and quiet personal devotions. Lenny has also found songwriting success as popular secular acts like Sawyer Brown, Randy Travis, Ricky Skaggs, Willie Nelson and others have recorded his songs. 

Today, LeBlanc still makes his home in the deep South (with his wife Sherrie), still has a passion for creating high-end, custom furniture pieces, and literally travels the world, sometimes alone and sometimes with his friend Don Moen, training worship leaders and helping God’s people discover intimacy and authenticity in worship. 

Falling? Yeah, he still sings it now and then. In fact, he recorded a new acoustic version of the song a few years ago. You just can’t keep those awesome, mushy 70s romantic soft rock ballads down for very long. They’re always going to pop back up now and then and visit for a while…you know, like an old friend.

Trivia:

• LeBlanc & Carr were originally expected to be on board the airplane that crashed in 1978, killing several members of the band Lynyrd Skynyrd. “They offered Pete and me two seats on the plane because they had them available,” recalls Lenny. “We declined because the rest of our band was driving, and we didn’t want any dissension to arise in the band.”

• Lenny LeBlanc has written songs that have been recorded by Olivia Newton John, Willie Nelson, America, Roy Orbison, Michael W. Smith, Rebecca St. James, John Tesh, Twila Paris, Jamie Owens Collins, and Kelly Willard. He has sung background vocals on projects by Michelle Pillar, David & the Giants, Annie Herring, Twila Paris, Kelly Willard, and many more. 

• Falling was named a BMI Millionaire Song signifying one million or more radio airplays. It was also named one of Billboard’s All-Time Favorite Top 40 Hits.

Lenny LeBlanc today