Chuck Girard Enters Heaven at 81. Amy Grant and More Share Tributes
“In my weakness, You always make me strong. All I wanna do now is praise You all day long.”
In these soul-stirring lines, Chuck Girard captured the essence of what would become his life’s work: the raw honesty of weakness transformed by strength, and a heart entirely devoted to praise. On August 11, 2025, Girard entered his eternal home surrounded by his family after a courageous battle with cancer, leaving behind a legacy that helped shape the very foundation of Contemporary Christian Music.
His wife, Karen, shared, “It is with great sorrow, yet also great joy, to let you know that Chuck has moved to Heaven and will be eternally with Jesus! He left this earth at rest and in total peace, surrounded by family. We praise the Lord for His great mercy and for His gift of Chuck’s music, message, and heart. ‘To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.’ We’re grateful for Jesus who paid the price for all who receive Him. Thank you to all of you who have prayed for Chuck and held us in prayer.”
It would not be an overstatement to say that CCM Magazine, and the entire genre it represents, might not have existed without Chuck Girard and Love Song. As a Founding Father of the Jesus Movement in the early 1970s, Girard blazed a bold trail of faith-formed artistry, creating a path that would grow into the vast terrain of Christian music we know today.
CCM Magazine reached out to many of Chuck’s friends, colleagues, and peers to share their memories and reflections on their relationship with him. They poured in from across the Christian music community, led by one of the genre’s most beloved voices.
Amy Grant reflected, “I am so grateful for the life Chuck lived and for the way he ran with endurance the race set before him. The hope-filled music he poured into the world, using his God-given gifts, has touched countless lives. I remember listening to Slow Down as a young teenager and how that song helped direct the course of my life. Now he is seeing what we have yet to see and hearing what we have only dreamed about, joining that great cloud of witnesses. We will all be there in a blink of an eye.”
Bryan Duncan, who would go on to front Sweet Comfort Band, shared that his connection to Girard began long before he had a stage of his own. “You know, before I ever did a concert at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa in the tent days, I went there to see Love Song. I helped them set up,” Duncan recalled. “So I was kind of like a Love Song roadie for a day before I ever started singing my own songs.” Reflecting on Girard’s impact, Duncan said, “Chuck Girard brought a sound to music about the love of Jesus that was irresistible to the world. Because of him, I moved across the country to settle on the West Coast after hearing him sing ‘Lend an Ear to a Love Song.’ He made me believe that Christian music could be revolutionary.” He added, “Chuck’s music was so compelling that you could feel the presence of Jesus without even the mention of His name.”
Michael W. Smith shared, “Chuck Gerard, what a trailblazer you were. You changed my life. I told you that a bunch, and I feel like I needed to say it every time I saw you. That Everlasting Livin Jesus Music Concert is where I first found out about Love Song, and then all the LPs — Love Song and your solo record — they became part of my foundation. I still have them in my compilation of LPs here in my studio. I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing today if it hadn’t been for you, and I’m eternally grateful. I’ll see you on the other side. Thank you again.”
John J Thompson, founder of True Tunes and longtime CCM contributor, said, “There’s no doubt that Chuck was not only a pioneer, he was a pastor. Love Song may not have been the first Jesus Music band, but they certainly took the genre to a whole new level of professionalism without losing an ounce of passion or heart. Most people think of him and his legacy through the lens of Love Song, but his solo work was so seminal too. ‘Rock and Roll Preacher’ and ‘Slow Down’ were equally influential—and critical—for completely different reasons. What a treasure.”
Grammy Award-winning producer Tré Corley, who performed with a reunited Love Song, remembered, “Love Song was more than a band, they were pioneers of contemporary Christian music, blending heartfelt lyrics with folk-rock rhythms that spoke deeply to a generation. Performing staples like ‘Since I Opened Up the Door’ and ‘Two Hands’ echoed that legacy. Chuck Girard and Tommy Coomes welcomed me with genuine kindness, and playing their iconic music felt like honoring a musical heritage that changed the course of CCM.”
Pastor Darren Tyler of Conduit Church, who spent years in the Christian music industry before entering ministry, added, “There would be no CCM without the courage and pioneer spirit of Chuck. He wasn’t pursuing a career, he was pursuing Jesus with music. Anyone who enjoys or makes a living in Christian music today does it on his shoulders.”
John Schlitt, longtime lead singer of Petra, shared, “When I came into Christian music in 1986, I had no idea what had been going on before that — I was a little naïve about Christian music history. When I became part of the Brian Mason group, which is made up of veteran Christian music artists, I was introduced to a lot of names I had heard but really didn’t know. Then I met Chuck and started to get to know him, and it was a pleasure to see the man he is. Later, when I discovered his history, I was even more blessed by the fact that I was in the presence of a legend who helped create what Christian music is today. It is an honor to call him my friend.”
Andy Erwin, filmmaker behind Jesus Music and Jesus Revolution, reflected, “Chuck Girard is a legend. He was one of the true trailblazers of Christian music with Love Song. When we first sat down to work on Jesus Music—and later, when my brother and McCork went on to make the Jesus Revolution movie—we were struck by how much of modern Christian music traces its roots back to the West Coast, to that little group of hippie singers on the Maranatha album, and to Love Song. They were the first of their kind, paving the way for artists like Larry Norman, Keith Green, and so many others who followed. Chuck stood at the very forefront of that movement. Everything we’ve done in faith-based film, we’ve tried to model after those early pioneers. There’s something incredibly courageous about a trailblazer who’s willing to say, ‘There’s nothing out there that looks like me, but I’m going to stand for what I believe in.’ That’s why Chuck deserves a standing ovation—for the path he carved for all of us artists who came after him.”
Bruce Brown, former CCM Magazine Contributing Editor, reflected, “I bought Maranatha 1 in 1971, and couldn’t wait to find a whole album by Love Song. A year later, after Explo ’72, I was working across the street from a record store and hanging out there as often as I could. A rep came in to dump a bunch of promos, and I got a box of mostly Christian albums — including multiple copies of Only Visiting This Planet and Love Song — for probably pennies apiece. Both were such an important part of my early faith walk. I always admired how Chuck continued to find ways to serve and minister beyond those few years in the spotlight.”
As tributes continue to pour in from across the Christian music community, CCM Magazine will update this story to honor the breadth of Chuck Girard’s influence. His legacy stretches from the early days of the Jesus Movement to countless solo projects and ministry efforts that followed, a life and career documented in our pages since the magazine’s infancy.
In fact, Girard was featured in a CCM Magazine cover story in July 1979, where writer Ron Velten captured not only his artistry but his heart. The story opens with Girard sitting “wearily” at a table between shows, his eyes half-closed, unwrapping a sandwich and asking writer Ron Velten, “Well… can we do it? Can we go for it?” Slowly, his story unfolded, filled with a mix of humor, candor, and deep spiritual reflection. “I was sincere, a sincerely wrong person,” he said of his pre-Christian years. “I was trying to reach God. I was trying to find out the reason for my existence. I felt drugs were a part of teaching me that… God had pulled His love, His warmth from me for a matter of seconds, but it was very hard to take. I felt dead even though I knew I was living.” That moment in the Salt Lake City canyons, he said, was “the last time that I took hard drugs.”
Even in the early days Girard was intentional about his role as a performer. “When I get on, I’ll try, first of all, to entertain them, get them involved with what I’m doing and then lead them into a very profound worship experience, leaving them praising the Lord. I think this is what I do best.” Velten described people stumbling and stammering around Girard, not out of intimidation, but from the awe of being in the presence of a gifted performer and charter member of the Jesus Movement.
Girard’s style defied easy labels. “I don’t consider myself basically a rocker… music is a mood and it’s a feeling. I’m more often in soft, mellow moods than I am in rock-out moods. What I try to do more than anything else with my music is to capture a feeling. To me, there’s more that can be said through a softer tune in a spiritual way than can be said through rock ’n’ roll.” His influences were eclectic and formative—The Beatles, The Beach Boys, and The Band—and before mixing an album he would revisit their records “because there’s an attitude about how they approach recording that I like.”
Velten closed that original profile with an image that now feels timeless: Girard walking toward the stage, face etched with fatigue but breaking into “an acknowledging grin” cheerfully looking towards the young CCM writer “I oblige anyone who offers to carry my guitar.” Velten obliged.
For this tribute, we reached back out to Ron Velten for his thoughts and memories of Chuck all these decades later. He shared, “I first met Chuck Girard around the time John Styll was rebranding a Southern California newspaper that highlighted talented, faithful performers. It was called Contemporary Christian Acts, though John would soon amend the title and launch it nationwide. That was (ahem) half a century ago. By then, I already knew that Chuck was an awesome musician and vocalist. What I discovered as he and I drove across Central Florida one day was that he was even more than that—he was a caring, solicitous, and appreciative human being. He was the sort of guy you could approach with a problem because you knew he would listen carefully to what you said, and his thoughts were well worth considering. A year or two later, I watched Chuck on stage at the Son Festival in Myrtle Beach, SC, as he interacted with the saints on the shore. I was struck by how authentic he was in his stage presence and how absorbed his audience was in his music and his message. Chuck’s name appears in many internet searches when you investigate the genre. This is because you can’t reminisce about or even conceive of Contemporary Christian Music without recalling Chuck and the band he played in, a band called Love Song. Love Song was one of the very first contemporary Christian groups to gain widespread recognition. While most young Christians in the U.S. back then were singing the few modern religious songs they knew (e.g., ‘Kum Ba Yah’ and ‘Pass It On’), Chuck and his bandmates from Calvary Chapel were producing quality hymns monthly for the edification and enjoyment of future generations, X through Z, Alpha and beyond.” In his closing remarks Velten shared how he he has felt spiritually connected to Girard as they have both battled cancer. “I pray for him in the middle of the night, I almost feel some sort of quantum entanglement present. Or perhaps it is what they call the communion of the saints? Either way, I invite you to join this communion, keeping his wife and children in your prayers as well. And for those who have never heard his music, I’m sure you will in time. His chorus will definitely be heavenly.”
From all of us at CCM Magazine, and from us personally as co-editors, we, Logan and Amanda Sekulow, honor Chuck Girard as a true CCM Original. The music we cover, the artists we celebrate, and the very existence of this publication stand on the foundation he helped lay. His life’s work was not only revolutionary for its time but remains a living testimony of faith, courage, and creativity. Today, we celebrate the man, the music, and the ministry that forever changed the landscape of Christian music — and we thank God for the gift of Chuck Girard. Please keep his family in your prayers, and tonight, maybe ask Alexa to play some Chuck Girard.
