Ralph Carmichael was born in Quincy, Illinois on May 28, 1927 and is a composer, arranger, songwriter, producer and record company executive.
His career began as arranger for Nat King Cole and expanded to other artists including Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby, Stan Kenton, Jack Jones, Peggy Lee, Julie London, Al Martino and Roger Williams. During the last years of the TV show "I Love Lucy" he became it's musical director. His movie score break came in 1958 with "The Blob".
Carmichael, raised in a Christian home, founded Light Records in the late 1960s and helped create and introduce contemporary styles of CCM into the Gospel music market early on with his musicals, arrangements and the producing of other artists' CCM albums. He was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall Of Fame in 1985.
Selected Discography:
1967: For Pete's Sake (Christian movie soundtrack)
1967: The Restless Ones And Other Original Ralph Carmichael Songs (Text on jacket: "A Rich New Sound In Sacred Music")
1969: Tell It Like It Is (Musical)
1969: I Looked For Love (album jacket features a guitar with psychedelic lettering and text "Contemporary Sound")
1969: Young (as Ralph Carmichael And The Young People)
1970: The Electric Symphony (with Clark Gassman featuring the Moog Synthesizer)
1970: His Land (Christian movie soundtrack featuring English rocker Cliff Richard)
1971: Our Front Porch (jacket text "Now Sounds Of The 70s")
1971: The Cross And The Switchblade (Christian movie soundtrack)
1971: Natural High (Musical with Kurt Kaiser)
1971: A New Day With The Certain Sounds (young adult choral group arranged by Ralph Carmichael)
1971: New Vibrations (Folk-rock musical by Tedd Smith, as Ralph Carmichael & The Young People)
1972: Requiem For A Nobody (Folk-rock musical by Tedd Smith, arranged and conducted by Ralph)
1972: Have A Nice Day (Ralph Carmichael & The Young People)
1973: I'm Here, God's Here, Now We Can Start (Musical featuring members of Andrae Crouch & The Disciples)
1973: New Wine (Musical about kids with Keith Miller)
1977: Specially For Shepherds: A Contemporary Christmas Cantata
External Links:
Ralph Carmichael at Discogs.com
Purchase Ralph Carmichael's music At Amazon.com
Ralph Carmichael at Wikipedia