Brent Bourgeois

At the age of thirteen Brent Bourgeois was already playing piano in Dallas nightspots. Five years afterward he relocated to California alongside his friend Larry Tagg, and in 1984 the pair launched the pop outfit Bourgeois Tagg, recruiting drummer Rick Walker and guitarist Lyle Workman. The band issued its self-titled debut in 1986 and followed with Yoyo the next year under the production of Todd Rundgren. Its single “Mutual Surrender (What a Wonderful World)” appeared on the charts that same year, while “I Don’t Mind at All” climbed into the Top 40 in 1987.

Although prospects for Bourgeois Tagg seemed promising, Brent Bourgeois developed addictions to drugs and alcohol. When his fellow drinker Charlie Peacock began attending church, Bourgeois joined him and soon embraced Christianity. The band’s internal tensions intensified once his songwriting took on explicit Christian themes, ultimately leading to its dissolution. In 1990 Bourgeois released a self-titled solo album on Charisma that reached number 32 on the pop charts with the track “Dare to Fall in Love.” A subsequent project appeared on Capitol, yet he opted to sign with the Christian contemporary imprint Reunion Records. His first faith-based record, Come Join the Living World, arrived in 1995, co-produced by Bourgeois and Charlie Peacock.