#279 THE WONDERS OF HIS LOVE by Philip Bailey (1984)

THE WONDERS OF HIS LOVE by Philip Bailey (1984)
Myrrh - MYR 1181

Producer:

Philip Bailey

File Under: Black Gospel / Soul / R&B

Time Capsule-Worthy Track:

I Want to Know You

Earth, Wind and Fire (Philip Bailey is 2nd from Left)

He's one of the founding members of one of the music world’s most influential, respected and internationally acclaimed bands. As a lead vocalist with Earth, Wind and Fire, Philip Bailey sold over 90 million albums worldwide, won eight Grammy Awards, four American Music Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Vocal Group Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame, long ago solidifying his place in music history. 

Oh...and He's also a follower of Jesus.

"God had always been beckoning me," Bailey revealed in a 2014 interview with FOX411. "Early on, as a kid, I just felt a strange and close connection with the Divine and then later on it became a more personal thing through Christian witnesses, people in my life who got a chance to talk to me and bring me to the knowledge of Jesus." 

God used another talented artist to witness to Bailey, one who also knew the ropes of the secular music industry, with its benefits, challenges and temptations. 

His name? Leon Patillo.

Leon Patillo

"Leon, who's a minister and a Gospel singer today, used to be Santana's lead singer," Bailey explained. "Earth, Wind & Fire were touring with Santana and it was just around the time that I had bought a Bible and we were on the road together. We met and he asked us did we know anything about it. On that six week tour, he taught us through the book of John. That's how our relationship began. I have a relationship with Christ and it is ongoing. I study my Bible and I do fellowship at a Church. It's a real-life thing."

Philip Irvin Bailey, born May 8, 1951, was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. 

"Music was the thing that caught my soul’s attention from the earliest I can ever remember,” said Bailey in a 2014 interview with his hometown newspaper, the Denver Post. "The first time I heard a professional jazz quartet practicing in a house down the street, it was almost like an out-of-body experience," he said with a broad grin. 

Bailey attended Denver's East High School, graduating in 1969. While there he studied bass and percussion and sang in gospel groups and choirs before ending up playing gigs at area bars and nightclubs several nights a week before he was even old enough to buy a drink. His musical influences during the high school days were diverse and included jazz greats Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Max Roach, Motown artists like Stevie Wonder, and white singers from the pop and rock worlds, such as Elvis Presley and Three Dog Night. 

Bailey was also influenced by female singers such as Dionne Warwick, Carole King and Sarah Vaughan. In fact, Bailey credits Warwick as the inspiration for his distinctive falsetto register. "I mean, I was like so into listening to her," Bailey told Tavis Smiley in a 2014 sit-down. "And it’s funny now ’cause we worked in a studio together and stuff, and I always told her, you know, how much I just embraced her phrasing, her lyric sense. I was always mimicking, you know, female vocals and stuff, I think, because of the emotion in the singing. There’s a tenderness and a nurturing and a feeling of empathy and compassion that comes across when females sing. You feel that, you know? It’s soothing, healing."

Earth, Wind and Fire

Bailey was invited to join Earth, Wind & Fire when he was still in college in 1972 by then-bandleader Maurice White. In a 2014 conversation with SoulTrain.com, Bailey professed nothing but respect and admiration for White. "Maurice was definitely like my big brother of sorts, a father figure of sorts, and in another way, a best friend and a mentor," Bailey says. "Given the fact that I didn’t have a lot of male counterparts growing up, Maurice ended up being one of the biggest male influences in my life, if not the biggest." 

Bailey (left) in the studio with Maurice White

The popularity and success of EW&F has been well-documented.  

The group gave Bailey (and his incredible four-octave vocal range) a platform and earned him a nice living...but he knew instinctively that there was more to life than hit songs and Grammys. "I always knew that whatever vision or destiny that God had for me, Earth Wind and Fire wasn’t it. That band gave me a platform to meet and help so many people, to learn a lot of new things, and to grow. But the group was a means to an end, a means to whatever my vision and destiny is." 

Bailey (r) on stage with Earth, Wind and Fire

"I still don’t know exactly what that is!" he admits. "It’s interesting that, in my life, it’s always been music. It’s kind of been like the pied piper and in some ways, it’s always been a means to just kind of follow my path to my own personal destiny that God had for me."

Earth, Wind and Fire had always been known for combining a healthy amount of mysticism with their music. "People always associated that image with the whole band," Bailey told The Chicago Tribune in 1985. After all, Maurice White had named the group after elements on his astrological chart and also was prone to spouting "cosmic revelations" about karma and such. Eventually, White's mystical bent didn't really jell with Bailey`s Christian faith.  

Maurice White

"More than anything, Earth, Wind and Fire forced me to become more aligned with the Truth," Bailey said. "After the experience of working in that band, it became clear how fleeting and deceptive fame can be. I realized that there is no better form or reference than the Word of God, and it was my responsibility to be accountable for my faith. That is one reason I became more vocal about what I personally believe."

Bailey had been dabbling in gospel music (and the "gospel" side of CCM) for a while. In 1979, he appeared on Andraé Crouch's I'll Be Thinking of You album, and the very next year he joined with Deniece Williams, Billy Davis and Marilyn McCoo to present "Jesus At the Roxy," a gospel show at the famed LA night spot. Deniece Williams would later claim that over 300 people gave their lives to the Lord at that event. It's been said that both Bailey and Williams decided to become more active in Christian music following that event. 

In 1981, Bailey and Maurice White collaborated with The Hawkins Family on a live album, and in 1983 he joined up with Deniece Williams again for They Say, an atmospheric, slow praise song that became popular on Urban and black gospel radio and was later covered by inspirational gospel artist Sandi Patti.

Bailey in the studio with Phil Collins

Bailey had already stepped out from under the group umbrella with two mainstream solo projects - 1983's Continuation and Chinese Wall in 1984. Easy Lover, a duet with Phil Collins went to number two on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and topped the charts in the U.K. Chinese Wall, the album on which Easy Lover appeared, peaked at number 22 on the Billboard 200 and number 10 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts. 

The stage was set for Philip Bailey to "come out" and record a full-length CCM album. The Wonders of His Love, on Myrrh Records, climbed as high as #13 on the Top Contemporary Christian chart and #17 on the Top Gospel Albums chart. Produced by Bailey himself, the album was engineered by Jack Joseph Puig, and was recorded at Bill Schnee Studio, Mama Jo's Recording Studio and Hollywood Sound Recorders. The Wonders of His Love was mixed by Ross Palone at Hollywood Sound Recorders, and was mastered by Doug Sax at The Mastering Lab in Los Angeles.

The album owes a lot to black gospel/CCM pioneers like Andrae Crouch, Walter and Edwin Hawkins, and Jessy Dixon. Their influence can be heard in the grooves of The Wonders of His Love.

As a result of Bailey's connections in the secular music world, any number of excellent session players were available to him for this project. In addition to musicians like keyboardist George Duke, bassist Freddie Washington and percussionist Paulinho Da Costa, there were also a handful of artists who gave a helping hand who are familiar to Christian audiences - people like guitarist Dann Huff, bassist Abraham Laboriel and vocalist Teri DeSario. Bailey also employed the talents of several Earth Wind and Fire bandmates on The Wonders of His Love, most of them horn players.

The Wonders of His Love made Philip Bailey's faith in Christ known beyond any shadow of doubt. This wasn't just an album of vague references or spiritually-aware platitudes. It was clear that "this guy knows the Lord."

The record's opener is a standout track. I Will No Wise Cast You Out is a gospel/pop ballad that features a rock-solid rhythm section and Bailey's unmistakable falsetto. Don Myrick turns in a pitch-perfect saxophone solo and Bailey comforts the listener with words like these, written and delivered as if they came from God Himself:

Oh, I will no wise cast you out
My friend, why is it you doubt?
You doubt My love for you
Come on and take my hand
I will be with you
I will see you through   

The late George Duke's deliciously-80s synthesizer part kicks off I Want to Know You. The tempo picks up quite a bit here as Bailey presents the Gospel message in clear terms and expresses a longing to be closer to God in every way. This time, it's Andrew Woolfolk's tenor sax that's featured. One reviewer wrote that I Want to Know You was "a polished, glossy song that came radio-ready." The track fades out with Bailey asking the Scriptural question, "Oh, can't you see that the Lord, He is good?"

Bailey and Jeanette Hawes (more about her later) trade off vocal lines on God is Love, a testimony-type song in the traditional black gospel vein. This one, as well, boldly shares the Gospel message in unmistakable terms.

Sing A New Song goes even more traditional, opening with what sounds like a full-on black church choir. Interestingly, Bailey comes in about a third of the way into the song and uses his trademark falsetto to deliver these lines:

When I think about the songs I used to sing
Old sounds that don't mean a thing
Those memories sing silently behind me
Jesus gave me a brand new song
One I can sing my whole life long
Those melodies mean everything
And that is why I sing

Sing A New Song transitions through two different rhythmic changes, ending up in a fast "praise break" tempo that no self-respecting African American Church Lady would be able to resist.

Leonard Caston's piano shines on Safe In God's Love. Caston wrote this song, an ultra-traditional tribute to the love of God. This is another one that was probably sung by many black church choirs back in the day.

Side Two of The Wonders of His Love opens with one of the record's true highlights. I Am Gold is a funky, R&B masterpiece about perseverance. Bailey puts on a clinic with his voice on this track. Philip Bailey is credited as a co-writer on four of the album's nine songs, including this one:

Count it all joy
When you're feeling the pain
For new wisdom you'll gain
Tribulation worketh patience in your life


I've been tried in the fire
And the flames get so high
That I can't see the sky 
For the smoke in my eyes

But each time I survive
Makes me not ashamed to stand and testify

Little child
You've had more than you share
Of all the heartache you can bear
And it seems that life is so unfair

Through it all
You'll learn to stand up tall
'Cause God above won't let you fall
'Cause He hears His children when they call

I am gold
I've been tried in the fire
I've been tried in the fire
I can climb higher and higher

Side Two of The Wonders of His Love could only contain four songs, as each track clocked in at 5 minutes or longer.

He Don't Lie gives us a chance to enjoy Bailey's lower vocal register. Extolling the character and attributes of God, it's a smooth, gospel R&B track that would've been right at home on Andrae Crouch's Don't Give Up record.

The title track, with its complex rhythm and melody, is another high point...and a perfect vehicle for the great bassist Abraham Laboriel to show off a bit. Rahmlee Michael Davis is also featured on trumpet on this song. Lyrically, it's another testimony to the love of God, as it is experienced by people around the world. 

The beating drums in deep forgotten forest floors
A rhythm dance in tribal doors
Reach the river shore
Pounding the wonders of His love

A samba sways in cooling rain when sun gets hot
Siesta time they close the shop
The guitars gently rock
Strumming the wonders of His love

Oh, eyes have seen 
All the ordinary things of every day

They're more than what they seem

Yes, ears have heard 
All the symphonies of sounds in every way
Telling all the world
The wonders of His love

It's Mardi Gras
A band is playing in the street
An easy syncopated beat
Hear the trumpet sing
Wailing the wonders of His love

Graffiti walls
A crowd is gathered round to watch
The kids are breakin' and they pop
The blaster never stops
Blaring the wonders of His love

Come everyone
We'll sing a song
We'll celebrate the love
And greatness of the Holy One
In every place, in every face
Shine the wonders of His love

'Wonders' is one of those happy songs...just a joy to listen to, rarely failing to bring a smile.

The album wraps with a moving ballad called Make Us One, an epic plea for unity that lasts nearly 6 minutes.  

The Wonders of His Love made it to #18 on the CCM charts and is said to have "paved the way for other black artists to break an unwritten CCM color barrier." 

It was not a one-off attempt by Bailey to exploit the Christian marketplace. His second Christian album, Triumph, was released two years later, and it won a Grammy for Best Gospel Performance, Male and reached number 18 on the Top Contemporary Christian charts. In 1989, he released a third Christian album, Family Affair. Bailey also played percussion and sang on a King Baptist Church Mass Choir album in 1990 (Holding On To Jesus' Hand).

Philip Bailey is the father of seven children. One of his children, Pili Bailey, is the daughter of Jeanette (Hawes) Hutchinson of the R&B hit group The Emotions. Bailey revealed his affair with Hutchinson in a 2014 autobiography titled Shining Star: Braving The Elements of Earth, Wind & Fire. Bailey says he confessed the affair to his then-wife Janet, took care of his responsibilities and became a constant figure and loving father to his daughter Pili. Philip and Pili are said to be very close to this day. Of course, this episode was not without negative fallout. In response to the hurt of this news and the stress of being essentially a single mom (while Bailey was always on the road), Janet developed a drug and alcohol addiction. Philip and Janet remained married for many years but eventually divorced. Bailey is currently married to singer/songwriter Valerie Bailey (formerly Valerie Davis).

While promoting the autobiography in 2014, Bailey was asked if he still goes to church. "I sure do," he answered. 

Although his definition of "church" is a little creative. 

"I have a group of guys, friends of mine that I have been praying with on Saturday mornings at 6 o'clock for over 35 years. Even when I'm going through airports, whatever, 6 o'clock West Coast time, wherever I am, they're going to call and I'm going to know that they're going to be on the line. They happen to be my best friends. Two of them are pastors. One of them is an attorney and an elder at his church. Fellowship really is about loving all people of like mind, affirming your faith in that relationship." 

When told that 6 a.m. on Saturdays seems a little extreme, Bailey laughed and said, "Six o'clock happens to be the time we chose because it's before everything else gets started. It's when you first wake up in the morning. The best and freshest time of your day. We chose 6 o'clock because in all likelihood all the different households wouldn't be up yet and we get a chance to talk. We talk about everything. We need to write a book about our men's fellowship because we've seen each other go through so many different things in these 35 years. It's really very interesting."

In May 2008, Bailey was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music at Berklee's commencement ceremony where he was the commencement speaker. 

"I still love music," he said in a 2014 interview. "It still really gets me high, you know, to hear the chord changes in music and all the harmonies and overtones and to feel, you know, the magic of the rhythms and just to play."

As for the future? 

"The story continues," Bailey smiles. "I never put a ceiling on what I’m going to do or where I’m going or where God’s going to lead me.”

Fun Fact:

Earth, Wind and Fire never made a live appearance on Soul Train. Why not? "We didn’t want to lip sync," explained Philip Bailey, "and Don Cornelius didn’t let you have set-ups so that you could play live. Maurice didn’t want us to lip sync so we never did Soul Train. I did perform as a soloist on the show, though."

#280 I KNOW YOU THINK YOU KNOW by Tim Miner (1988)

I KNOW YOU THINK YOU KNOW by Tim Miner (1988)
Sparrow - SPR 1162

Producers:

Tim Miner, Brian Tankersley, Don Wallace, James Everette

File Under: Urban/Soul/R&B

Time Capsule-Worthy Track:

Did I Forget To Say

He was a cross between Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, and Michael McDonald...with better hair. Much better hair. 

I'm surprised Tim Miner's 1988 hair doesn't have its own Facebook page or Twitter account. It was glorious. In fact, in the album liner notes for I Know You Think You Know, we learn that Tim's hair was cut by Laurie Pittman and styled by Kimi Messina, and that Cynthia K. Cruz did his makeup. I'm not kidding.

The emphasis on style and cosmetics should not be allowed to take attention away from the music - which was pretty impressive, by the way. I Know You Think You Know might've had a clunky, confusing title that didn't exactly roll off the tongue...but the tunage contained therein was good stuff. 

Miner's soulful vocals were a rare treat, and on this record he was backed by an all-star team of backing singers that included then-wife Cindy Cruse, BeBe Winans, Donnie McClurkin, Janice Archer Cruse, The Winans, David Pack and Nicole "Bubbles" Bruce (who would later be known as Nicole C. Mullen). The album also featured performances from some top-drawer musicians, including bassist Tommy Sims and guitarists Michael Landau and Phil Keaggy. 

Born in 1964, Tim Miner grew up in the Church - specifically, his grandfather's church in Dell City, Oklahoma. Tim's father was also a pastor and evangelist, but he passed away when Tim was just a toddler. 

"When my Dad passed away, my Mom was nineteen, I was two, my sister was one, and my mother was seven months pregnant," Tim revealed in a recent interview. "My Mom is the strongest woman I've ever met in my life." 

"We did not grow up with money," Miner said. "Single mom with three kids. I grew up in a house where it was a big deal to eat certain cans of soup that had meat in them." 

[Miner later wrote and recorded a song called Yesterday that served as a loving tribute to his mother.]

During his pre-adolescent years, Miner discovered he could sing and hit the road with his mother and sisters. 

"We kind of learned to play our instruments in church," Miner said in a 2015 interview with Keri Murphy. "If the drummer didn't show up, my Mom would say, 'Tim, go get on the drums.' I said, 'Mom, I don't play drums.'" 

"'Timothy George Miner, I said get on those drums!'" 

"A couple of weeks later it would be like, 'Tim, go get on the bass.' So I learned how to play all those instruments out of sheer fear that my mother was going to do something terrible to me," he joked. 

"But I'm so thankful," he continued, "because my Mom gave me the permission to play. You know, she was like, 'Of course you can.' And I would say, 'But I've never done it before.' And she would say, 'Of course you can. And not only that, you can play any instrument you want.'"

That combination of fear and encouragement was apparently a powerful motivator. Tim Miner plays seventeen different instruments..."and can't read a lick of music," he says with a smile. (He played bass, guitar, and keyboards on I Know You Think You Know, in addition to engineering, mixing and producing the album.)

By the time he was in high school, he had formed a group called Light. By the time he was old enough to drive, Tim had a record deal with Sparrow/Nissi Records. The cover of his eponymous debut shows a smiling, fresh-faced Tim Miner and the album served as an effective introduction to this R&B-loving, soul-stirring white boy. It contained a pro-life song (Endangered Species), a duet with future spouse Cindy Cruse (Always), and my personal favorite, a song written by Hadley Hockensmith and Billy Batstone titled 21st Century. 

It was right about here that Tim Miner married Cindy Cruse, a beautiful 22-year old who'd literally grown up traveling and ministering as part of The Cruse Family CCM group. Tim and Cindy settled in Dallas, Texas and bought a recording studio. 

For some reason, it would be another four years between Tim Miner and I Know You Think You Know. But it was worth the wait. I Know You Think You Know was in some ways the ultimate skating rink album (I mean that in a good way). And it showed considerable growth.

A rocker titled Hey You! warns against pointing fingers and judging others, and contains a guest performance from the now-deceased rapper D-Boy. 

Cover me was a ballad that Christian radio absolutely loved. It features a simple message and a bevy of background vocalists, with Miner's effortless falsetto soaring above it all. 

The Fairlight synthesizer (popular for about the same length of time as Simmons electronic drums) was showcased on Degeneration. The Fairlight was programmed by the prolific Rhett Lawrence.

The Winans lend their considerable talents to a breezy R&B track called You Know I Love This Feelin'. Just listening to Miner's vocal performance on this song alone, I'm guessing that if we spent a few minutes on ancestry.com, we might discover some African-American heritage somewhere in his background. I'm kidding, of course. Miner actually revealed in a recent interview that two 45 rpm records made their way into his home when he was a kid - one by Aretha Franklin and one by Stevie Wonder. Other than those two records, there was only Southern Gospel music in the house. Miner says he nor his mother had any idea how the records got into the house, but he would stand for hours and sing, mimicking what he heard on those 45s, with a hairbrush in his hand that he pretended was a microphone. 

"The way that I sing today is because of those two records," Miner said.

[This was alluded to in a song called White Boy that Miner recorded a few years later. In the song he mentions Franklin and Wonder by name.]
  

Miner showed an ability and a willingness to take on social issues in an effective way. Too Casual laments the hook-up culture (yes, in 1988) and it contains a Phil Keaggy guitar solo to die for; Smarter Than Crack was a funky number that shamed drug users and dealers in the "Just Say No" Eighties. Miner did his best Michael Jackson impersonation on both songs.

The record's undisputed highlight was an R&B-influenced ballad called Did I Forget To Say. "This release is Tim Miner's crown," said one reviewer. "And this song is the biggest diamond on that crown." This was another song that was perfect for Christian radio in 1988.

After I Know You Think You Know, Tim recorded sporadically, and for two different labels. A True Story was released on Frontline in 1990, but a life-long dream came true for Tim when he was signed to Motown in 1992.

Kerri Murphy and Tim Miner in 2015

"It was my goal as a five-year-old kid," Miner told Keri Murphy in 2015. "The Motown label has a map of Detroit. And I wanted that logo on my album. I said that at five. And I think I was twenty-something when Stevie [Wonder] gave me my deal at Motown." 

Miner's Motown album (1992)

Miner was one of the first white singers ever signed by Motown. He says the art department didn't quite know how to present him. "They didn't know what to do with me," Tim laughed. "They were like, 'Is he Asian? Is he Hawaiian? Is he Hispanic?' So I had super long hair and they put it in a braid. They tried to make me look as black as they could." 

Miner's marriage to Cruse lasted eleven years. "I was raised to believe that marriage was forever," Cindy Cruse-Ratcliffe said recently on the Daystar television network. "My Mom and Dad have been married for fifty-five years. So that's just the way we were raised and grew up. And unfortunately, that wasn't the case for me. My marriage didn't last. It was a very tumultuous marriage. I spent many nights alone, by myself in my home. But I stayed close to the Church. I received counseling from fabulous people. I did all that I knew to do. I believed and I fasted and prayed, I did it all."

I had come from a family of ministry," she said. "I was raised Southern Baptist. And I still love the Southern Baptists. That's how I was raised. But if you go through a divorce, pretty much, your ministry is discounted after that. At least that's the way it was at the time. And I just didn't know what God had for me. I didn't know how the future was going to look." Turns out she needn't have been worried. She remarried and has been leading worship at Joel Osteen's megachurch in Houston, Texas since the year 2000. 

Left: Cindy Cruse Miner in 1991
Right: Cindy Cruse Ratcliffe in 2014

Tim Miner recorded three albums for Dream Nation Entertainment in the early 2000s. He says he's written over 4,000 songs over the years. His songs have been recorded by Kim Boyce, Leon Patillo, Al Green, Justin Bieber, Steve Perry, Crystal Lewis, Gladys Knight, Paula Abdul and many others. Miner has also served as a worship pastor for several churches and home Bible studies over the years. These days, he scores films and television shows in addition to producing and writing. 

Tim and Hope Miner

According to the internet, Miner and his wife Hope have been through a bankruptcy and are being sued for fraud related to a talent development business that they own and operate. These reports say that the Miners "prey on religious people who want to break into the entertainment industry" and come from three different sources. While the complaints seem sincere, they also sound a bit sketchy. Certainly, not everything you read on the internet is true, so take it with a grain of salt. 

Perhaps Miner's finest song overall is a tender ballad titled Forgive Me, which first appeared on True Story and was also included on his Motown album. In fact, the self-titled Motown release contained several songs that were unabashedly songs of faith (in addition to several more traditional love songs). When he got the chance to cross over, Tim Miner didn't forget to take the Cross over...and for that he is to be commended.

But I still think he should've signed a major endorsement deal with a shampoo company in the 80s...

Fun Facts: 

• A portion of I Know You Think You Know was recorded at Eat Yourself Into A Coma Studio.

• Miner's rendition of The First Noel on the iconic Sparrow Christmas sampler from 1988 is considered a classic. His friends and label mates BeBe and CeCe Winans wanted to do the same song, but Miner had chosen it first. BeBe and CeCe recorded Silent Night instead.

#281 THROUGH HIS EYES by Steve Archer (1984)

THROUGH HIS EYES by Steve Archer (1984)
Home Sweet Home Records - HSHA005

Producer: Chris Christian

File Under: Blue-Eyed Soul/CCM

Time Capsule-Worthy Track:

Through His Eyes of Love

Family groups don't last forever. Eventually everybody grows up...some get married and have kids...then there are bills to pay and the cares of life creep in...and before you know it, the group is history. It happened to the 2nd Chapter of Acts. It happened to the Boones. It happened to the Cruse Family. It even happened to The Archers.

The Archers performing at the White House in the late 70s

By the mid-1980s the sibling trio known as The Archers was an established brand in CCM. From the early days of the Jesus Movement, they had been there - providing Christian youth groups with funk, soul and R&B created by white people! They were hip enough to appeal to the teenagers and safe enough to gain the approval of moms and dads. Steve Archer's voice was the one most closely associated with the Archers sound; when the time came to pull the plug on the group, Steve was already pursuing a solo career.

Steven Mark Archer was born January 5, 1953 in Mojave, California. His dad was an Assemblies of God pastor, and Steve started singing in church while he was still in elementary school. As the primary lead vocalist for The Archers, Steve was appreciated for his blue-eyed-soul performances as well as his heartfelt ballads. He did write songs from time to time, but he could also take songs written for him by full-time songwriters, and bring those songs to life in a way that really connected with his audience.

Chris Christian (L) with Steve Archer

In 1982, while still performing with The Archers, Steve signed with Chris Christian’s Home Sweet Home Records and recorded his first solo album, a record titled, appropriately enough, Solo. The Archers began to pull back from the rigors of the road in the mid-80s, and that's when Steve expanded his solo work, recording and touring nationally without brother Tim and sister Janice alongside. He released Through His Eyes in 1984. 

Through His Eyes opened with a happy, bouncy pop song called I'll Do My Best. Music video was just coming into vogue, and I'll Do My Best is remembered for one of the cheesiest music videos of all time. So cheesy, in fact, that it's awesome.

On the one hand, the video offers up a great cinematic representation of Southern California in the Eighties, complete with a convertible, a parrot, people on pay phones, and what looks like the scary clown from the movie Pee Wee's Big Adventure. On the other hand, the production values left a lot to be desired.

A 'screen capture' from the music video for "I'll Do My Best"

The title track was also given an over-the-top video treatment, complete with overacting and a few video stereotypes. Steve, who doesn't play piano, is sitting at the piano singing Through His Eyes of Love in an abandoned warehouse, with fog inexplicably swirling around on the floor. Meanwhile, a pretty, blonde, homeless girl wakes up in another warehouse, rejects an offer of booze from three black guys, and somehow happens to hear Steve rehearsing as she stumbles past the building where he is playing and singing. [We are left to wonder why Steve chose a run-down building in such a sketchy part of town as his rehearsal hall.] The girl comes inside and is transfixed on the young man singing at the piano. Neither of them seem bothered by or even curious about the copious amounts of fog swirling around beneath the piano. Yes, it's cheesy by today's standards...but it also takes you back to the days of "Real Videos" and makes you miss the Eighties (when every single worth its salt had an accompanying music video of some sort). And rumor has it that this video for Through His Eyes of Love was the first-ever music video for a CCM recording.

The song itself was quite successful, going all the way to Number 1 on the CCM charts.

"I've received a lot of letters and messages on social media from people whose lives were touched by this song," Steve Archer said. "It just simply says 'Through His eyes of love / See yourself the way He does.' Because He sees you perfected in Him."

Somewhere someone can't go on
Giving up, their hope is gone
Somewhere there's a heart that cries
Where everything is seen through sorrow's eyes

It doesn't matter, lonely one
Where you've been or what you've done
'Cause He can make a miracle
Change your life to something beautiful

Through His eyes of love
See yourself the way He does
Through His eyes of love
You're perfect through His eyes of love

Through His Eyes of Love is a song that Steve Archer performs in concerts to this day.

In a 2016 interview with radio host Leah Tillock, Steve talked about how all of us are in need of God's love...because all of us are subject to problems and challenges and difficulties

"As we know," Steve said, "in the Christian music industry as well as in the secular music industry, artists went through a lot of ups and downs and ins and outs and difficulties. It's life, is what it is. Because you're involved in music ministry doesn't mean that you're not facing life just like everyone else. And it's hard on a person - especially when you're young and you're dealing with your ego, you're dealing with a lot of attention that you're not used to. And it's hard on marriages, it's hard on children, you know, traveling and being away from home and having to leave for weeks at a time. You know, we're not naive about a lot of the things that have happened down through the years and the difficulties on artists. But I think the ones that have stood the test of time haven't made it about fame or about notoriety or necessarily building a financial kingdom, but they kept the creative process going, and they stayed true to 'this is about ministry, this is about reaching people with the gospel of Jesus Christ.' And we love music, we love to sing, we've been gifted to do this, but most importantly, when God anoints it - when God anoints the song and when God anoints the artist, and that goes out - the Bible says that God's Word doesn't return void." 

Believe It was a mid-tempo pop song that songwriter Dwight Liles brought to the table. 

"I remember the day I wrote Believe It," recalls Liles. "I had been experiencing some writers' block and had been kind of frustrated that Chris Christian wasn't getting blown away by my new songs after initially really liking the early ones that had been my first successful cuts. So I took an afternoon and went over to the church we were attending at the time and sat down at a piano in a Sunday school room and improvised for probably about an hour until I stumbled on the chords that form the backdrop for the chorus. Suddenly, the song just started falling together out of nowhere. Chris liked it immediately when he heard it, and it ended up being recorded by both Steve Archer and the Gaither Vocal Band."

Liles also wrote another song on the project, called Renew Me, Lord. Dwight says it was "just a little gospel rocker that I kinda dashed out one day."  

"At that time I wasn't yet active in the Nashville songwriting community," Liles points out. "I was just writing things on my own and turning in the cassettes to Chris Christian. Chris didn't want finished demos. He liked raw worktapes. He was very good at just hearing a hit in its most uncluttered form - unlike a lot of A&R people at the record companies, who virtually needed to hear the record and required full production demos."

Overall, Through His Eyes is quality, pop-oriented easy listening. The "CCM sound" that Chris Christian had pioneered in the late 70s and worked hard to perfect in the early 80s was on full display. Incidentally, New Heart sounds for all the world like an Archers song, and Unless God Builds Your House benefits from an amazing lead guitar solo. Steve's trademark funk and blue-eyed soul was front and center on the song Blood of Jesus. 

Archers albums were always expertly played by some of the best studio cats around. Through His Eyes carried on that tradition, with Nathan East on bass, John Robinson playing drums, Dann Huff and Michael Landau on guitars, and Robbie Buchanan playing keys. "There were some amazing musicians on this project," Steve said, "and it was beautifully engineered by Jack Joseph Puig."

One misstep was the cover of Mark Heard's Eye of the Storm. On one hand, it was refreshing to hear a different take on the song. When cover versions closely mimic the original, it leaves you scratching your head and wondering, "What was the point of that?" So Chris and Steve get points for doing something different. The problem was that it was just a little too different. It just didn't quite work. Steve's version couldn't decide quite what it wanted to be. The violins were a little irritating, and the authenticity of Heard's original was missing. I'm sure the inclusion of this song was Chris Christian's idea since he had also signed Heard to Home Sweet Home records and, I believe, controlled Heard's publishing at that time as well. In the end, it just didn't feel like a Steve Archer song.

Christian radio loved this record. Steve's singing voice was imminently listenable. There was a smoothness and a familiarity (due to all of those years with The Archers) that made him seem like a welcome friend. There was a comfort level that was, well, comforting. Through His Eyes set Steve up for further success as a soloist.

He went on to record well-received duets with Debbie Boone, Marilyn McCoo and Teri Desario and recorded successful albums such as Action and Off the Page. Steve began performing up to 200 solo dates per year; he joined with siblings Tim and Janice again in 1991, to record a final Archers album, Colors Of Your Love. The group disbanded for good in 1993 but not before touching hearts and lives by the hundreds of thousands.

At the time of this writing, Steve Archer continues to travel, minister and record. One of the most humble and genuine men you'd ever want to meet, he has recently relocated to the North Texas area and enjoys spending time with kids and grandkids. 

"One of the most exciting things that I see now," Steve told Leah Tillock in a 2016 conversation, "especially when I go on social media, is I see these testimonies of people whose lives were touched back in those days when they were teenagers or when they were in high school or when they were in college, and how they gave their hearts to the Lord, and many ended up getting involved in ministry themselves, many of them becoming music ministers or evangelists or missionaries or pastors and just on and on through the years. Seeing those testimonials that are written out for you to read - you know, I was at one of your Jesus festivals back in nineteen seventy-something, and I gave my heart to the Lord and it changed my life forever. That is the bottom line. That's the most important thing. And that keeps you from being overwhelmed or being discouraged. You know, it's hard to even get your music out there anymore. It's hard to even get your music heard on the radio because there's so many new things happening out there. But when we do go out and we're able to minister, we're seeing people respond - not only those familiar with our music but also with those that are new to it. And they're like, 'Man, these songs are great! These songs really touch my heart. These songs are anointed!' That's what keeps us going - not only our love for the Lord and our love for the gift that he's given us, singing and playing music and collaborating with other artists, but just seeing that it still is life-changing."