Andraé Edward Crouch, was born on 1 July, 1942, in Los Angeles, California . Crouch’s 70's legacy is one of the richest in the gospel genre, yet he has never appealed to the music’s purists. The conservative elements in gospel music have seen his incorporation of rock n roll showmanship and riffs as inappropriate at best, and blasphemy at worst. A gifted singer, songwriter and keyboard player, Crouch undertook a traditional apprenticeship by playing piano and singing in church. For son-of-a-preacher man Andrae, 'playing church' was a childhood equivalent of playing cowboys and Indians. By the age of eight brother and sister were amusing themselves with a pie tin for a tambourine and a commode for a platform. The games came to an abrupt end when one particularly exuberant 'service' ended with the commode breaking! At nine Andrae was converted through the preaching of his father. He remembers, "I sat there in the audience listening. When he gave the...