Gary Paxton was a man of many sides. Depending on who you talked to, Gary was either crazy or a genius. When it came to music he was a genius, and whatever you thought about him, everybody thought he was a nice guy.
From the late 50s through the 70s, Gary had an impact on music. Best know for his 1959 songs “Monster Mash” and “Alley Oop”. He also started a dance craze with he song with his hit song “Mashed Potato”.
Success came with a great price as after the suicide of his business partner and drug problems of his own Paxton found a life changing experience in his conversion to Christianity. In 1973 he wrote a Grammy winning song for the Blackwood Brothers L-O-V-E garnering the Grammy for Best Gospel Performance. He wrote many great Gospel songs, but his most remembered and most recorded song in Gospel Music is “He Was There All the Time” and he changed the sound of Southern Gospel Music forever when the Imperials recorded “No Shortage”.
He didn’t stop with Southern Gospel music. Gary Paxton has a great influence on the early founding of Contemporary christian Music.
More will come when we get the final arrangements.
