American; a Contemporary Christian Music label, originally out of Waco, Texas. Light was - and still is - the record division of a publishing company called Lexicon Music. Lexicon was formed in 1967 as a 50-50 joint venture between composer / arranger / conductor Ralph Carmichael and Jarrell McCracken of Word Records; its Light label was created initially as an outlet for Carmichael's recordings ('Billboard', 14th October 1972). Lexicon / Light operated under the same roof as Word and Word's subsidiary Canaan, as did a fourth Christian label, Sacred. 'BB' of the 7th of November 1970 noted that a Carmichael song, 'Love Is Surrender', had been covered by The Carpenters, and quoted him as saying that he hoped that other crossovers into the Pop field would follow - before launching Lexicon he had enjoyed success in the secular music business, arranging for the likes of Nat King Cole and Bing Crosby.
Lexicon and Light flourished. 'BB' of the 14th of October 1972 was able to report that Carmichael had assembled a group of forty-six composers and forty artists who between them were catering for all religious tastes; Light's catalogue included a Folk Rock Mass and the first album of Moog renderings of religious music. Britain's Cliff Richard had several releases out on the label, but its biggest artist by far turned out to be Andraé Crouch & The Disciples. The 'BB' article commented that they were already 'big in Jesus music', and their brand of Gospel R&B / Gospel Soul became increasingly popular as the decade went by. There was some resistance to Light's wide range of music from more traditionally minded radio stations, so in 1973, in attempt to break down the barriers, Carmichael began to make records of 'radio programmes' of his artists; they were made available free of charge to any station which was prepared to air them on a regular basis. Carmichael criticized some traditional stations for being 'opinionated', and said that he himself was quite prepared to make Christian music in a variety of styles, from Country through 'Fred Waring style' to Folk and Rock ('BB', 29th September).
ABC bought Word in 1974, and thus gained a 50% stake in Lexicon and Light. It held it until 1980, when Carmichael bought out Word's holding and became the sole owner. During that period Andraé Crouch was hailed as 'The best Gospel Music singer in the business by a reviewer in 'BB' of the 26th November 1977; a few months later he was presented with an award for a million album sales - very good figures for a non-mainstream genre ('BB', 7th January 1978).
Both companies continued to do well as the decade neared its end. 'BB' of the 6th of January 1979 carried a report that Lexicon Music's sales had increased by 50% the previous year in the USA, and by 100% in Canada. In addition they had increased by 400% in Britain, but presumably from a fairly low base. 'BB' of the 9th of June 1979 commented that Light - which by now was based in Los Angeles - appealed to White audiences as well as Black ones, and a kind of confirmation of this came in the same issue, with the news that Andraé Crouch had signed an agreement with Warner Bros. Under the agreement Crouch would continue to record for Light but Warner would release his product as well, with some lyrical and musical changes, and aim it at a secular audience. Crouch's material certainly had an appeal beyond the usual Christian one. He and his sister Sandra received a gold disc for their song 'Love Is The Answer', which featured on Paul Simon's 'Live Rhymin'' album, and both Stevie Wonder and Joe Sample contributed to his 'I'll Be Thinking Of You' LP ('BB', 3rd November 1979). All in all, Lexicon Music and Light exited the decade in a very healthy condition. The remainder of their history is beyond the scope of this site, but they are still going today.
Britain being far less Christian than the USA, Light didn't make much of an impact here outside Contemporary Christian Music circles. It concentrated on albums, the first of which came out in 1972. The only UK Light single from the '70s was the one shown above, Andraé Crouch's 'I'll Be Thinking Of You' b/w 'I've Got The Best' (WS-102; 1979), but a previous Light album and single by the same artist had appeared on the DJM label as the result of a licensing deal - the single was 'You Gave To Me' b/w 'Polynesian Praise Song' (DJS 10736; 1/77). A promo-only edited version of 'I'll Be Thinking Of You' was made available in 1980, at the same time as the associated album came out. The same two non-edited sides were re-reissued in 1981 through Spartan as a double 'A' side in a picture sleeve, with the old 'B' side 'I've Got The Best' getting top billing and the credits pointing out that Stevie Wonder was involved. On that occasion the catalogue number was WS-104. The WS-100 numbers were taken from a series used by Word (q.v.), which handled Light in this country. Manufacture was by CBS.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.