George Beverly Shea

Gospel vocalist George Beverly Shea forged a partnership with evangelist Billy Graham that spanned most of a 45-year career. His signature performance piece, “How Great Thou Art,” originated with Rev. Stuart K. Hine during the 1920s, while Shea himself earned recognition as a hymn composer whose works include “The Wonder of It All.”

The son of a Wesleyan Methodist minister, Shea entered the world in Winchester, Ontario, yet grew up in the New York region where church choirs occupied much of his youthful time. After high school he enrolled briefly at Houghton College in New York, only to withdraw when family finances faltered; he then took a clerk’s position while pursuing private voice instruction and performing in local churches and on religious radio broadcasts. An audition with the Lynn Murray Singers followed, yet Shea declined the offer because the ensemble performed secular repertoire. In 1934 he wed his high-school sweetheart and relocated to Chicago. A decade in that city brought national visibility when Club Time engaged him; he remained with the program for eight years. Concurrently he rose to prominence within the Youth for Christ movement of the 1940s and 1950s. His association with Graham began in 1947, the same decade in which he joined RCA Victor’s roster in 1951. The album Southland Favorites earned the 1965 Grammy for Best Gospel or Other Religious Recording (Musical), and in 1978 Shea received induction into the Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame.