LITMIR.BIZ

      One of my very first memories on planet earth is looking out the back window of my daddy’s 1947 Cadillac.

      How could the sky be so dark and the stars be so bright at the same time? I used to wonder. It was just a

      kid’s question. Nothing deep. I had no idea it captured the story of my future. As a little boy, rocking along

      every night on those endless, lonely, two-lane roads, watching the white lines disappear under the red glow of

      taillights, I never dreamed I was headed toward a darkness that would almost destroy me...and a light so bright

      it would one day save my life.

      I didn’t think about those things back then. I just took the days as they came. Growing up “on the road,” I

      figured everybody’s parents were musicians; that it was normal to eat at a truck stop every night after the gig,

      then travel to the next town to sing again. Touring with my family from concert to concert, and church to

      church — from Memphis to Charlotte, Atlanta to Dallas, Tampa to Louisville — I spent most of my childhood

      crisscrossing the Bible belt of the Old South. I don’t suppose there is a little country town with a high school

      gym or singing hall where my family didn’t sing about Jesus.

      While other kids’ parents bought station wagons, mine bought an old Greyhound bus, took out the seats

      and replaced them with La-Z-Boy recliners that doubled as beds. Man, I thought that was cool — especially

      considering our family’s rustic roots. In the 1920s, The Le Fevre Trio had traveled by horse and buggy. My

      father, Urias, my Uncle Alphus, and my Aunt Maude landed their first big break after bouncing 60 miles

      down a dusty dirt road to sing on the famous Grand Ole Opry radio show. When they finished singing, the

      show’s sponsor, Purina Chow, paid them two live chickens and a 50-pound sack of Purina Chow!

      From then on, by bus or by buggy, it seemed the Le Fevres were always going someplace to sing. That’s

      actually how my parents met. My father saw my mother, Eva Mae, for the first time when he went with his

      Bible school quartet to the North Chattanooga Church of God, in Tennessee. My grandfather, the Rev. H.L.

      Whittington, was the pastor. Momma, a musical prodigy at 8 years old, had started playing the pump organ at

      the church when she was so small she needed help to reach the foot pump. She was self-taught on the piano.

      Daddy decided at this very first meeting, he had met his future wife. He told his brother, Alf, he would marry

      her as soon as she came of age. Dad stayed true to his word and in 1934 Mom and Dad were married. While

      they attended Lee Bible College, Mom took Aunt Maude’s place in The Le Fevre Trio and sang about heaven

      until she moved there 75 years later.

      13

      In their first years of marriage and music, my

      parents’ future looked as bright as the stars.

      Daddy saw my mother’s exceptional gift for

      playing piano, singing, and especially for

      speaking, so he appointed her MC of the

      group which, at the time, was unheard of for a

      woman. Dad kept playing and singing and

      became the group manager. In 1940, they

      gained some notoriety playing on WGST, a

      local radio show in Atlanta sponsored by the

      NuGrape soft drink company.

      Then the shadow of World War II fell over the

      nation and everything changed.

      My mother, already busy raising three

      children, became pregnant yet again with me.

      Then my father was shipped off to duty in the

      U.S. Navy. While my dad served our country

      on a ship somewhere near the Philippines, my

      mother delivered me at the U.S. Naval Base

      Hospital on Oct. 6, 1944, in Gulfport,

      Mississippi. At 26 years old, she managed to

      raise four small children on her own until

      Daddy finally came home from the war when I

      was 2 years old.

      At Right: The Le Fevre Trio

      14

      ON THE ROAD AGAIN

      With the nation at peace and our family back together again, The Le Fevre Trio expanded. The children—Pierce,

      Meurice, Andrea, and eventually me—joined in and the group became simply The Le Fevres. Daddy insisted on it.

      He made all his kids sing, whether they were talented or not. I don’t think he believed God would give him a child

      who couldn’t sing. The first time I sang publicly at 5 years old, I was so little I had to stand on the piano bench to

      reach the microphone!

      Even with some of us singing on tiptoe, The Le Fevres’ music found an audience. In the 1950s, we began

      appearing on local TV. Videotape hadn’t yet been invented so we broadcast every show live. After performing the

      show in Atlanta, our family traveled each week to do shows in Augusta, Macon, Columbus, and Savannah,

      Georgia. Friday and Saturday nights we sang concerts; then we started the whole process over again on Sunday.

      When video was introduced, we began taping the broadcasts at Ted Turner’s

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