Noted Billy Graham soloist dead at 104
Winchester-born baritone sang before 220 million people during long career
George Beverly Shea, a native of Winchester and an award-winning soloist with Rev. Billy Graham’s Evangelistic Association, died Tuesday evening after a brief illness in Montreat, N.C. He was 104.
“Bev was one of the most humble, gracious men I have ever known and one of my closest friends,” said Graham in a news release Tuesday evening. “I loved him as a brother.”
Besides his distinctive “booming baritone” voice, Shea was known for his trademark rendition of “How Great Thou Art” and “The Wonder of It All.”
As part of Billy Graham’s travelling crusades since 1947, Shea performed all over the world and holds the Guinness record for singing in front of the most people ever, a combined audience of 220 million.
He recorded more than 70 albums, and received 10 Grammy nominations and one Grammy award. In 2011, at age 102, he was the oldest living recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy, the group that presents the Grammys.
At the time, Shea brushed aside the notion of stardom. “I don’t see much spotlight,” he told the Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times. “I never did anything on my own. Well, I was 26 years on RCA, and that was nice. The man who signed up Elvis (Presley) signed me up. I think Elvis sold a few more records than I did.”
Shea was born in 1909 in Winchester, where his father, Adam J. Shea, was a minister. He credited his mother, Maude, for encouraging him to sing as a boy. “Mother was a great pianist, and she played organ.” He also played the violin.
When Shea was eight, the family moved to Ottawa, where his father was the minister at Sunnyside Wesleyan Church and Shea sang in the choir.
But, while his life would be spent in music, in his 20s, he moved to New York to pursue a career in selling insurance.
It was there he landed his big musical break, singing on “the amateur portion” of comic Fred Allen’s weekly NBC radio show.
That led to more singing opportunities and, eventually, he made his way to Chicago, announcing and singing on WMBI, operated by the Moody Bible Institute.
That’s where he met Graham who, in 1947, invited Shea to join his ministry as a singer.
Shea was there with Graham at his first crusade in Charlotte, N.C., in 1947, and stayed until Graham retired.
Travelling with Graham was a remarkable life, he told the CitizenTimes in 2011. “I’ve been to Japan about three times, Australia four or five times. It was marvellous. I could bring my wife and two children.”
Shea leaves behind his second wife Karlene Aceto and two children from his first marriage, Ron and Elaine.
The home he shared with his wife in Montreat, N.C. was filled with music and memorabilia: CDs, video tapes and organs. And everywhere were reminders of Shea’s legendary friendship with Graham, with whom he still communicated regularly by phone, according to the Citizen-Times.
Details on the funeral service have not yet been released.