Rebel for God

by Eddie DeGarmo

  When I met with Stacie, she told me her musical influences were R&B pop singers in the vein of Brandi, Monica, and TLC. Those were the popular artists of that genre in the late nineties, and Stacie was a big fan of their vocal style. She was a little white kid who sang like a black R&B singer. I was familiar with that phenomenon growing up in Memphis. That’s pretty much how they described Elvis.

  As soon as I started looking for songwriters and producers to work with her, I realized how few contemporary R&B producers there were in Christian music stylistically in sync with what was going on in the mainstream pop/R&B genre of that time. I worked with Tedd “T” Tjornhom, with Rebecca St. James, Code of Ethics, and ETW. Tedd had some mainstream R&B history when he worked with Dez Dickerson and Prince in Minneapolis. He produced several other hip-hop records as well. I tapped him to work with Stacie, and they came up with some good stuff.

  I also came across an African American producer, Michael Anthony “Mookie” Taylor. He was immersed in R&B music and got right to work making sure her sound was legit.

  I also wanted to make sure Stacie properly approached the Christian music market. I brought in Mark Heimmerman as a third producer. He experienced great success with dcTalk and had a solid feel for pop music.

  It worked like a charm. Stacie hit it off with all three producers. Each one brought a bit of a different flavor to the mix, and it all blended extremely well together.

  We weren’t into the project very long when both Tedd and Mookie separately asked me if I could help them with their music publishing. They had been writing songs with Stacie and neither one had a publisher. They needed some guidance about how to properly get their songs set up and published. Tedd also asked me if I would consider managing his producing career.

  Shortly after that I founded Meaux Music Publishing. The word “Meaux” has some meaning. It’s not the sound a kitty cat makes, even though I’ve heard it pronounced like that from time to time. It is based on the original French spelling of DeGarmo, or “deGarmeaux” as it was known back in the old country. In fact Pierre deGarmeaux landed in Albany, New York, in the 1600s. However, coming from Memphis, I also really like the true pronunciation of Meaux as “Moe,” as in “Mo music,” “Mo money,” “Mo betta,” “Mo barbeque,” etc. You get the idea. It fit my personality. It was also easy to clear the trademark.

  My first signings to Meaux Music were Tedd Tjornhom and Michael Anthony Taylor. That raised a few eyebrows at EMI and in the music community because both of these guys were known commodities in the industry. I went on to sign Pete Stewart of Grammatrain and Marc Byrd, who was in a rock band called Common Children. Both of those guys were go-to producers and writers. Pete was working with TobyMac and Michael Tait on their individual solo projects.

  Marc Byrd wrote several very well-known songs, including co-writing “God of Wonders,” which was recorded by Third Day and went on to become one of the most sung worship songs in the world. I first heard about him through Brad Ford, who was a founding member of the band Bleach on ForeFront, and who toured with Marc’s band Common Children.

  We signed several more songwriters at Meaux, including Robert Marvin, Anthony Phelon, Christy Byrd, Nathan Lee, Paul Meany of Mutemath, Shannon DeGarmo, and others. Meaux was definitely growing by leaps and bounds. We were placing songs on a lot of albums and our writers composed their share of hits. All that took place in the first two years of the business. We had some serious meaux-mentum!

  FORTY-SEVEN

  Blessed Messiah / ‘!Hero’

  There was definitely something special about the music and art of the 1960s. There was a creative energy passing through the atmosphere. It’s probably hard for younger people to appreciate, but the explosion of culture that happened when I was a teenager and continued into the seventies was about much more than just music.

  I loved and studied all of it. The British Invasion brought us The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Cream, Led Zeppelin, and so many more. American artists responded with grit, grease, and guitars of their own. Hendrix, Joplin, Buffalo Springfield, The Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and all the rest were the soundtrack of my coming-of-age.

  It seemed every few weeks some radical new sound or sight came down the pike. All rules were off. The young had the culture’s reins firmly in hand, and we were determined to change things. That was my culture. That was my generation.

  Those of us who found our faith during those years were determined to apply the creative energy of the day into our own spiritual pursuits. It wasn’t some kind of calculation back then. It was more like instinct.

  I grew up playing in rock bands, so that’s what I continued to do as a Christian. It made perfect sense to me. But one thing I always wanted to do, and never had the chance, was to write, produce, and stage a full-blown rock opera. Shows like Tommy, Hair, Godspell, and Jesus Christ Superstar really blew my mind. Heck, I asked Susan to marry me after we saw that last one.

  Rock operas, in many ways, were the ultimate expression of our cultural revolution. The heartwarming musicals like Oklahoma and The Sound of Music gave way to socio-political dramas. They took rock ‘n’ roll to Broadway and the West End in London.

  Besides sounding and looking cool, those productions were perfect for diving deeper into the social message and ideas lurking within the music. They reflected, and helped to shape, the values and ideas of the counter-culture. I dreamed of creating an updated, modern, culturally relevant, rock ‘n’ roll reimagining of the Jesus story. I wanted it to be something that would reach unbelievers and encourage believers. I wanted to include a wide range of musical styles right in step with the youth of the day.

  I started really thinking about writing an urban rock/hip-hop opera about Jesus while I was still on the road with D&K. Life was a bit too busy at that point to really do anything about it, though. Then the ForeFront years filled most of my time with label work. During that time, the idea came back alive. I was driven to see it come to reality.

  The concept was simple. What if, instead of being born 2000 years ago, God decided his Son should come to earth today? I placed the story on the gritty streets of New York City, today’s cultural epicenter. I couldn’t fathom a modern musical on the streets of New York without incorporating hip-hop music, so I did.

  Jesus would be surrounded by street gangs. The disciples were a gang. The religious authorities were a gang. The Romans were the cops and government figures. My hope was the contemporary setting would allow the audience to relate their own experiences to the story of Jesus.

  I was going to need help, and lots of it. I took the idea to my dear friend Bob Farrell. Bob had experience writing major long-form thematic works, including Le Voyage, Emmanuel, and Savior. I knew nothing about theatrical music, but I could see the play with my mind’s eye. I knew how I wanted the music to sound. I shared my concept with Bob and invited him to co-write it with me. He immediately said yes.

  Writing always came easily for Bob and me. We were a good team. This project definitely put us to the test, though. We started by writing the title track, “Hero,” while on vacation with our wives in 1994. We wrote it on a beach in St. Thomas. That was the easy one. No suffering there. The rest of the musical, however, gave new meaning to the word “grueling.”

  !Hero was my version of “the agony and ecstasy.” It took over five years to write. Staying true to the boundaries and dynamics of the Gospel story was our top priority, but we definitely needed to take some creative and dramatic license with how we told it.

  Translating the social, religious, and cultural tension that made first century Israel such an explosive powder keg into a modern, urban setting was a major creative challenge. Sadly, it doesn’t seem the world has become any saner in the last 2,000 years. It’s not that far-fetched. The world is still a nasty place. I was determined to capture the proper amount of intensity through the songs, the sets, and the brief spoken parts—not a simple task.

  I had never written a play
before. I had a lot of learning to do. My lack of experience was both an advantage and a challenge at the same time. We weren’t held to preconceived ideas of what plays or musicals should be. We were limited only by our imaginations. I also had no idea how challenging that kind of writing was.

  As if writing and producing a large-scale musical wasn’t enough, I also wanted a book version of !Hero. I reached out to Stephen Lawhead, who was well established as a best-selling author by that point. It had been nearly twenty years since he was D&K’s manager, but we never lost touch with each other.

  I sent him the demos for the songs just to see if he thought there was a book in it. He suggested we try to create a graphic novel of the story. I had never heard of a graphic novel; Stephen explained it was like a sophisticated comic book. His son Ross was an illustrator and they agreed to develop a graphic novel for !Hero Once it was completed they began to work on a three-part novelization of the whole thing, too. Although those novels were never completed back when !Hero was touring, I’m happy they will soon be released. Good things come to those who wait, I guess.

  The music on !Hero was ambitious, to put it lightly. The soundtrack included thirty-two songs performed by Michael Tait, Rebecca St. James, Mark Stuart, T-Bone, and several other artists. Pete Stewart agreed to produce the album. It took him a full year to record it.

  Along with the record, there was a stage play to produce, and the whole thing needed to be able to tour. It took a staff of thirty-seven people to make it all work. It was certainly the most massive live production I ever undertook. Once things were up and running with Meaux Music, that was exactly what I did.

  Our little company was operating at full capacity to say the least. We had only been in business for two and a half years at that point. !Hero was a much more expansive, and expensive, undertaking than I expected. The final product, however, was turning into something really special. It was a massive amount of work, but worth it all.

  And then, just as !Hero was nearing completion, my life and career took another unexpected turn.

  One day Bill Hearn and Richard Green asked me to join them for a lunch meeting. I didn’t know what the meeting would be about, but I knew they must have something in mind. We went to a small, quiet, boutique restaurant where we could talk.

  Richard began by giving me props for Meaux Music and what we were able to build in such a short time. There were nine specific songwriters we successfully signed despite direct competition from EMI Christian Music Group. We went head to head with the biggest publisher in Christian music and were nine for nine. Among other things, that definitely got their attention.

  Bill asked if I would consider becoming the president of EMI CMG Publishing.

  Wow. I told Bill I was honored to be asked, but wasn’t sure it was the right time. “I’m having a good time building Meaux Music,” I said, “and it’s too early for me to sell it.”

  Then Bill really caught me off guard. “I agree,” he said. “You can run them both at the same time if you want. I think there are some things we can do to reduce any potential conflicts. If we can agree on those things, I see no issue with you running both companies.”

  That was a surprising offer for sure. I thanked them both and asked for some time to ponder. They graciously agreed we would circle back around in a few weeks.

  I went home and discussed the idea with Susan. On a professional level it seemed like a great opportunity to be back with what I considered the premier company in Christian music. On a personal level it made some sense as well.

  Much to my financial chagrin, I rode the tech bubble of the late nineties all the way to the heavenly heights of the market. When the bubble burst in 2001, however, I rode it all the way back down to the pit of investment hell. In retrospect, I have to give Susan credit for seeing the meltdown coming. I must also take the fault for being stubborn and blind to the truth. I sure wish I listened to her at the time. We were stung, but still completely okay. It was a good lesson for me to learn. Susan has always said, “Eddie, you are great at making money. Unfortunately, you are also one of the greatest at losing it.”

  Buy high and sell low. That’s my motto!

  Together we decided the opportunity to run EMI CMG Publishing was too good to pass up, especially given the fact I could continue on with my endeavors at Meaux Music.

  I went to dinner with Bill Hearn and accepted the offer. We talked a lot that night about different facets of the music business and how it was changing. He told me about some exciting momentum they were experiencing around newer styles of modern worship music. One UK band in particular, called Delirious, was really moving the needle, not just at radio or in terms of sales, but by putting out songs people wanted to sing at church.

  That’s a big part of the music publishing business, and it was becoming increasingly important. Modern worship music was still relatively young then. Bill also told me EMI CMG was in dialogue to acquire half of a British catalog of worship songs called Thank You Music. They saw promise with the fledgling genre in general, and this group of songs in particular.

  Modern worship was different in that the songs were the big stars, rather than the artists. It was also all about church, not crossing over into the mainstream. In many ways this new movement reminded me of the early days of Jesus Music, since long gone. There were even massive festivals where tens of thousands of young people gathered to sing songs about Jesus. It was definitely an exciting new development.

  I explained to Bill I didn’t know much about modern worship or the music publishing aspect that supported it. I said Meaux published a few songs like “God Of Wonders” and “Show Me Your Glory,” which were showing promise and growth in the Church and that was about the depth of my knowledge.

  “You’ll pick it up quick and do just fine,” he said.

  Famous last words.

  FORTY-EIGHT

  Rebel for God

  In a span of just a couple years I transitioned from co-owning and forging the largest independent Christian music label in the world, to being an unemployed entrepreneur once more. Then, after building Meaux Music, I became a playwright and stage producer. Then, just like that, I was presiding over the music publishing resources of the largest company in Christian music. It was a time of rapid change, fast learning, thrilling success, and tragic heartache. It seems that’s the way life rolls for me.

  I began my new position at EMI CMG Publishing on April 1, 2002, precisely three years to the day after leaving ForeFront. It was an exciting time for sure, but much was required of me. I was by no means any kind of expert in the business world of music publishing and had no experience managing a publishing entity the size that EMI CMG operated, so I had plenty to learn. I was a good song man, though. I was good with songwriters and artists, but had only dived as deep into the business of music publishing as my independent roots would allow. I had a lot to learn about my new world. Fortunately, I had a great team to work with there.

  The first major deal I had a role in was EMI CMG’s acquisition of Thank You Music. I got to be part of the closing team on that very big transaction. John Paculabo, also known as John Pac, was the managing director of a British label and publisher called Kingsway Music. They were the company that owned the Thank You Music catalog. I met John years before with Bob MacKenzie of The Benson Company. Bob and John shared orchestras and studios in London from time to time, when they were both making records. It was a good way to control costs.

  The negotiations to purchase half of Thank You Music started well before I joined the team, but it was my job to integrate the businesses and to make sure the songwriters were served well by our Nashville based family. Thank You Music would be owned and operated as a joint venture between Kingsway Music and EMI Christian Music Group. Kingsway would continue to manage the business in the UK and Europe, and EMI CMG would manage it in the rest of the world.

  Shortly after my first day, I flew to the UK with Bill Hearn and Peter York to meet the staff and songwrit
ers of Thank You Music. I’ll never forget that day. I met with Matt Redman, Tim Hughes, Stuart Townend, Keith and Kristyn Getty, and Paul Oakley, just to name a few of the very talented Thank You Music writers.

  It was an interesting experience for me as most of the artists I was around and worked with up to that point came from more of a rock-n-roll, hip-hop, or pop-based perspective within the Christian and mainstream music genres. It felt like the DNA of the worship artists and writers was a bit different. A lot of these guys and gals were bi-vocational, much like I was for the first four years of D&K. In their cases, though, most of them led worship music on a church staff and then wrote songs on the side. That gave them an interesting point of view about mixing business with the church. I learned a lot about that issue in the years following.

  John Pac taught me a lot about the world of worship music and the business that happens around it. He had a wealth of knowledge, loads of experience, and a passionate vision for the future. He was also a great teacher. Worship and business can certainly be a peculiar dynamic. We are peculiar people.

  EMI CMG also operated a joint venture with sixstepsrecords, including sixsteps publishing, a brand new company grown from the ministry of college evangelist Louis Giglio, his wife Shelly, and the songs of his worship leaders, including Chris Tomlin, David Crowder, and Charlie Hall. Most people would know this group as the team behind Passion Music and the Passion Worship Events.

  At that point, worship music was not played on Christian radio very often, so we needed a different way to promote the songs to the church. EMI CMG started a song promotion program called Worship Together a couple of years before my arrival. The goal of Worship Together was to introduce new modern worship songs to worship leaders around the world. That was also right around the time websites really became a popular tool for marketing. When I joined the company, the WorshipTogether.com site had some 80,000 members of worship leaders. I was blown away by that number back then. When I retired, thirteen years later, we had grown that program to reach over 750,000 members worldwide, and incredibly we published seventeen of the top twenty worship songs in the world. I’m still in awe we were able to build the membership of WorshipTogether.com that dramatically. It became a very powerful voice to get the songs recognized.