Legendary musician Andrae Crouch passed away on Thursday 8th Jan, at the age of 72.
Crouch had worked with the likes of Madonna, Diana Ross and Elvis Presley, but Michael Jackson fans will remember him for his additions to Man in the Mirror , Will You Be There, Keep the Faith and Earth Song. Crouch also provided vocals on the Invincible album.
In 2012, Crouch was interviewed by Spike Lee as part of the Bad25 Documentary. He shared memories of how on conclusion of the recording of Man in the Mirror, everybody agreed something was missing. The choir where quickly called back to the studio to add the additional word “Change” which provided a beautiful ending to a powerful song before Michael finishes with; “Make that change”.
The Andrae Crouch Singers featured on Will You Be There‘s stunning introduction and Keep the Faith’s powerful conclusion, which; along with his sister Sandra, Crouch organised the choir arrangements. The results were highly praised and so it’s no surprise that Michael knew to bring Crouch back for Earth Song.
Andrae and Sandra also confirmed they visit Michael in the two months prior to his death. Once at the recording studio where they prayed together and according to Crouch, Michael hand him a CD with 2 new songs he’d been working on (that remain unreleased) and said “Andrae, I trust you with this!”
Also notably, Crouch provided choir arrangements for Madonna’s major hit Like A Prayer which reached number 1 all over the world and achieved platinum status in the U.S.
In 2004, Crouch received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in the field of Gospel music. Through-out his career, Crouch released 9 solo albums with 1984’s No time to lose reaching number 1 on the US gospel charts.
Source : Pez Greaves for MJVibe.com
The Andrea Crouch Singers also featured on the song Morphine.
May he Rest in peace.