Bryan Duncan

After more than two decades in gospel circles, Bryan Duncan achieved stardom in the middle of the 1990s, reaching the top of Christian radio charts on ten separate occasions between 1993 and 1997. He had launched the Sweet Comfort Band during the opening years of the 1970s and issued six albums alongside its members before the trio disbanded in 1984; the following year he issued his first solo effort, Have Yourself Committed. The 1993 album Mercy marked the start of his run of successes, among them the tracks “Love Takes Time,” “I’ll Not Forget You,” and “You Don’t Leave Me Lonely.”

A preacher’s son born in Ogden, Utah, Duncan began composing material while still a teenager after moving to North Carolina. He also took up guitar and, during his college years, received encouragement to pursue music professionally. In 1972 he assembled the Sweet Comfort Band with drummer Rick Thomson and bassist Kevin Thomson; over the next ten years the group supplied numerous compositions to the gospel repertoire and produced several well-received albums for Light Records. Following the band’s farewell tour in 1984, Duncan remained with Light for his initial solo release and one additional project before moving to Myrrh for two further records. He joined the Word roster in time for 1989’s Strong Medicine, then enjoyed wider recognition with its successor, Anonymous Confessions of a Lunatic Fiend.

Early in 1993, Mercy initiated an extended sequence of Christian-radio number-one singles for Duncan—five drawn from that album alone (“Love Takes Time,” “You Don’t Leave Me Lonely,” “Into My Heart,” “When It Comes to Love,” and “I’ll Not Forget You”) and ten altogether through 1997. He maintained a steady output with Slow Revival in 1994 and a praise collection in 1996, then delivered the major follow-up Blue Skies at the beginning of 1997.