Rickie Byars

Having performed alongside jazz figures including Pharoah Sanders, Roland Hanna, and the New York Jazz Ensemble, Rickie Byars shifted her focus to creating and delivering music in service of the divine. As the head of Sound of Agape Rhythms, a diverse ensemble based in Culver City, California, which she established alongside her spouse and creative collaborator Reverend Michael Beckwith, Byars contributed to advancing the musical outreach of the Agape International Center of Truth, the base for the Agape Church of Religious Science. Originating from North Carolina, where she grew up and first revealed her abilities in music during childhood, Byars trained under choir leaders within racially separated congregations before earning multiple scholarship opportunities for institutions on the East Coast. Opting against those, she chose Morris Brown College in Atlanta for her compositional studies. Upon relocating to New York, she became a sought-after studio singer, working with numerous prominent local jazz performers. Her jazz performances persisted until she settled in Los Angeles during the initial years of the 1980s. Beckwith soon requested her assistance in establishing a choir following her arrival. Their joint songwriting efforts commenced the subsequent year, resulting in the extended composition "Eternal Dance Music." Byars maintains her individual artistic path through releases such as two memorable solo albums, Deeper Love and In the Land of I Am, the latter crafted under the guidance of John Barnes, a producer previously associated with Michael Jackson, Kenny Loggins, and El DeBarge. Known for leading workshops, she regularly supplies pieces to publications like the Agape Vision newspaper, Inner Visions, various daily meditation guides, and the online periodical Spirit Matters. The United Church of Religious Science bestowed upon her an honorary doctorate in music. In 1996, she became the recipient of the church's inaugural Arts award.