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Bill Gaither

b. 1936 Person Name: William J. Gaither Author of "We are So Blessed" in The Celebration Hymnal

b. 1942 Author of "We are So Blessed" in The Celebration Hymnal Gloria Gaither (born March 4, 1942) is a Christian songwriter, author, speaker, editor, and academic. She is the wife of Bill Gaither and also sang in the Bill Gaither Trio, one of the most influential groups in recent Christian music. She was born Gloria Lee Sickal in 1942 in Michigan, a daughter of pastor Lee Sickal and Dorothy Sickal. She spent most of her childhood and high school career in the Battle Creek area of Michigan, working a brief time for the Kellogg Company. When Sickal graduated from high school, she attended Anderson University in Anderson, Indiana. There, she triple majored in English, French, and Sociology. Upon her graduation, she took a job at Alexandria Monroe High School as a French teacher. There, she met Bill Gaither, who was teaching English at the time. She married Gaither in 1962, and they began writing songs recreationally. By the end of the 1960s, Gloria, Bill, and his brother Danny Gaither were touring steadily, as the Bill Gaither Trio. After touring with the Bill Gaither Trio, Gaither drew her focus to the Gaither Homecoming series. She has been an active presence in every video production. Gaither is currently the scriptwriter and narrator for the Homecoming series. In 1991, she attended Ball State University and received a Master of Arts in Literature. She taught as an adjunct professor at Anderson University for periods in the late 80s and late 90s. In 1996, she spearheaded the creation of Gaither Family Reources in Alexandria, Indiana, and currently serves as co-owner and managing director. In 2002, Gaither launched Homecoming:

Greg Nelson

b. 1948 Author of "We are So Blessed" in The Celebration Hymnal Greg Nelson (born September 10, 1948) is a music producer from Nashville, Tennessee. Overview and early career Nelson was born in Bismarck, North Dakota. He has produced recordings for Christian and theatrical artists including Sandi Patty, Steve Green, Larnelle Harris, Twila Paris, Michael Crawford and Richard Smallwood as well as multiple artist recordings with Amy Grant, Steven Curtis Chapman, Michael W. Smith, CeCe Winans, Graham Kendrick, Jennifer Holliday, Wintley Phipps, Máire Brennan, Kathie Lee Gifford and the American Boychoir. Nelson headed Spirit Records, a division of Sparrow Records, with artists Benny Hester and Albrecht, Roley and Moore. He went on to co-found Refuge Records in 1980 with Jack Hafer, another Sparrow employee. In addition, he served as the first publishing director for Billy Ray Hearn at Sparrow. As an arranger/orchestrator Nelson composed the "Prelude" to John Michael Talbot's “Last Supper” and later created string arrangements for various gospel and contemporary Christian artists. Production Nelson has produced 13 gold records and 3 platinum records. He has received 20 Dove Awards as well as over 30 nominations. In addition his productions have garnered 7 Grammy Awards and 13 Grammy nominations for Sandi Patty and Larnelle Harris. He has received song, songwriter and publisher awards from Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI), the Nashville Songwriters Association and the Gospel Music Association. He received a BMI "Special Contribution Award" in appreciation of his many outstanding contributions to the world of Christian music. He was the third recipient of the Gospel Music Association “Impact Award” for his outstanding work and influence in the contemporary Christian music industry. His productions of The New Young Messiah and Emmanuel have been successful Christmas tours featuring many high-profile Christian artists. Songwriting Nelson, a well-known composer in Christian music, has penned several hymns in The Celebration Hymnal and the Baptist Hymnals. "People Need The Lord", written by Phill McHugh and Nelson, is considered a Christian classic[citation needed]. His modern oratorio, "Saviour", co-written with Bob Farrell, continues to tour in the United States, Europe and Russia. Hallel (A Musical Suite for Chamber Orchestra, Chamber Choir and Soloists) is his most recent major composition which is orchestrated by Ronn Huff. Greg also co-wrote the #1 Larnelle Harris song 'All Along the Way'[3]with Dan Schafer, from the album 'First Love' that he produced, which reached the No. 1 spot for 5 weeks on the CCM Christian Inspirational chart and No. 6 for the top songs of 1998. Current work Nelson began serving in a dual role at LifeWay Worship in 2004 as an exclusive songwriter and as Creative Supervisor for song and writer development. His work at LifeWay has included recording over 1000 hymns and worship songs for the creation of the 2008 Baptist Hymnal and the associated website. Nelson supervised the production of this recording, the largest recording project ever in Nashville, which took 10 months to complete with five production teams. The "SongMap" technology developed by LifeWay Christian Resources is based on his ideas of song manipulation. --en.wikipedia.org/