TORONTO – Canadian-born gospel singer George Beverly Shea, who sang for evangelist Billy Graham for six decades, died Tuesday. He was 104.
Shea was born south of Ottawa in Winchester to Wesleyan Methodist minister Adam Shea and his wife Maude.
The family moved around a lot but Shea began singing at a church in Ottawa, where he attended Annesley College.
Shea became an American citizen in 1941 and lived in North Carolina, where he began singing for Graham’s crusades.
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“Bev was one of the most humble, gracious men I have ever known and one of my closest friends,” Billy Graham said in a statement. “I loved him as a brother.”
Shea recorded 70 albums and performed live in front of more people than Elvis Presley and The Beatles combined. One of Shea’s best known recordings was “How Great Thou Art,” which he debuted during a Billy Graham Crusade at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens in 1955.
Shea earned 10 Grammy nominations — he won the Best Gospel Recording award in 1965 and received a lifetime achievement award in 2011 alongside artists like Julie Andrews and Dolly Parton — and was a member of the Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame and the Religious Broadcasting Hall of Fame.
Shea is survived by his wife Karlene and two children from a previous marriage.
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