Steven Grady Darmody
1956
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Steve Darmody,
award winning contemporary Christian artist, is a bass-baritone who is regarded
as one of the outstanding voices in gospel music. President of the Morning Song
Music Group, he has been featured internationally at stellar events and in some
of the most celebrated venues.
Born in Huntsville, Texas, Darmody was one of three sons of Richard Gordon and Virginia
Carole Brown Darmody. Raised
an Adventist by his mother, a teacher in Seventh-day Adventist schools, he
lived in several Southern states before leaving home to attend Jefferson
Academy in 1971.
Although his father, who had
left the family when Steve was six, had been a singer, Steve at first was not
interested in singing. He took a few lessons on the clarinet in the fifth grade
and then switched to oboe, which he played in the Bass Memorial Academy band
while he was still in the seventh grade. In his freshman year at JA, the voice
teacher and choir director, Bill (Sid) Mills, recognized Steve's potential and
befriended him.
Mills gave him lessons and
encouragement, and tricked him into singing during the Fall Week of Prayer.
Although Steve was terrified as he started to sing that first time, he gained
confidence as the song progressed and by the time he finished, had had an experience that literally transformed his life.
The following year, Darmody transferred to Valley Grande Academy for a year and
then went to Chisolm Trail Academy, where he
graduated in 1975. While attending academy, he decided to make God foremost in
his life, and when he enrolled at Southern Missionary College, now Southern
Adventist University, he pursued a degree in theology, graduating in 1978. In
addition to his studies in theology, he studied voice under Dorothy Ackerman
and Don Runyon.
Darmody subsequently attended Andrews
University and graduated from the seminary at AU with an
M.Div. in 1982. Shortly before leaving the seminary, Darmody
started a concert and recording ministry by recording his first CD, Shall We
Learn To Be Friends, with producer Sam Ocampo in the fall of 1981. The CD was recorded in
Nashville, Tennessee, with arranger, Lari Goss.
Two years following
graduation from AU, he adopted the name Morning Song and an appropriate logo
for his personal concert ministry. The scope of that ministry expanded to
include other singers, such as Vonda Beerman,
Jennifer LaMountain, and Rudy Micelli,
who in time developed their own independent international ministries.
Additionally, the ministry
expanded to include a record label, a CD fabrication service, a graphic design
company, a booking agency for many Christian artists, a tour and concert series
coordinating service, an on-line CD store, an internet radio station, and a
Christian cruise and travel promotion agency. Currently, these organizations
and ministry businesses fall under the name of Morning Song Music Group, which
serves as a hub for all services associated with Morning Star.
While serving as president of
Morning Song for nearly thirty years, Darmody has
maintained a rigorous performance schedule, giving on average of 100 concerts a
year worldwide for a cumulative total exceeding 2500. In 1988 he was
first-place winner in voice at the famous Estes Park Christian Music Seminar
Vocal Competitions in Colorado.
After winning this award,
releasing a second successful CD, Constant Refuge, in 1990, and
completing thirteen years in denominational employment in three conferences,
the final six as an ordained minister, he felt led to pursue a fulltime music
career. In 1996 he made a guest appearance at the Olympics in Atlanta and has
since sung for audiences at the Pentagon and in the U.S. Senate. He has
performed on numerous college and university campuses and in the Crystal
Cathedral, Carnegie Hall, and other distinguished concert halls and venues, as
well as in hospitals, military bases, and shopping malls.
Darmody performs for all denominations and
has sung at the national Southern Baptist Convention. He has appeared dozens of
times on national Christian telecasts such as the Trinity Broadcasting Network,
3ABN, Daystar, Crossroads, and others and has sung for SDA Net Satellite
meetings since 1995.
He has been a Week of Prayer
speaker on numerous campuses and a guest speaker on the Cornerstone Television
Network. He also delivered a baccalaureate address at Southern Adventist
University. He is the voice for SafeTV and has served
as host and narrator for a 3ABN Christmas special. Under his leadership,
Morning Song has produced a multiple-artist Christmas tour for nine years.
He assisted Mark Finley in
his crusades in the U.S. as well as in Romania and Australia, and has also
worked with Adventist evangelists Kenneth Cox, Ron Halvorsen,
C.E. Brooks, John Carter, and Lonnie Melashenko. He
was the nightly musician for two video series produced by Cox. He has sung at
nearly every annual ASI (Adventist-laymen Services and Industries) convention,
participated in all the Voice of Prophecy Reunion Concert series and videos and
Maranatha 2000, and was invited to sing twice during
the evening weekend meetings at the 2005 SDA General Conference Session in St.
Louis.
Darmody is married to Joni Louise Whitacre, a teacher who has taught at both the elementary
and secondary levels. They presently live in Suwanee, Georgia.
ds/2009
Sources:
Information provided by Steven Darmody; Reger Smith, Jr., "In All Directions," Adventist
Review, Steve Darmody, "Story of My First
Solo," www.plaxo.com; May 2005; Southern
Tidings, January 1989, 9 and May 1993, 36; Christian Jazz Artists Network, www.songsofdavid.com; Other
online sources.
Discography
Shall
We Learn to Be Friends (1981)
Constant
Refuge (1990)
Christmas
(1992)
Hymns
On Heaven (1995)
Simple
Gospel (2000)
One
More Day (2004)
The
Time That Remains (2007)
For Time and Eternity (2010)