Paul Mickelson Explained

Paul Mickelson
Birth Date:December 30, 1927
Birth Place:Burbank, California
Death Place:Sacramento, California
Occupation:organist, arranger, conductor, record company executive
Genre:Christian sacred
Years Active:1950s – 1980s

Paul Mickelson (December 30, 1927 – October 21, 2001) was an American organist, arranger, and record label executive who specialized in Christian music. First performing for mass media at the age of 16, he gained national recognition as organist for the Billy Graham crusade from 1950 to 1958. He left Graham to concentrate on recordings, becoming an executive at Word Records before founding Supreme Records and its subsidiaries. He recorded and released numerous albums of religious music as an organist and orchestral arranger/conductor.

Biography

Mickelson was born and grew up in Burbank, California.[1] He began music lessons at the age of nine. His broadcast career commenced at the age of 16, when as a member of the Burbank Foursquare Church he was the organist for the church's weekly program Challenge to Youth on KMPC. Mickelson began recording at the age of eighteen; his first session took place with the NBC pipe organ in Hollywood.[2] At the time of his first recording session he was appearing on 20 local radio shows each week as an organist.

Mickelson joined the Billy Graham crusade as organist in 1950 and stayed until September 1957, leaving Graham in order to concentrate on recording activities on a full-time basis.[3] He signed as a recording artist to RCA Victor Records in 1953, and also became A&R director for religious music. He was with RCA until 1958, when he joined Word Records as an artist and vice president responsible for A&R.<ref name=bb1 /> Mickelson founded Supreme Records in 1961, which—including subsidiaries Console Records and Cornerstone Records—became one of the largest American labels devoted to sacred music until it was absorbed by Zondervan Publishing.[4] [5] [6]

Later in life he was a concertizing representative for Church Organ Systems.[7] He had joined the Seventh-Day Adventist church by 1997, and was organist for the denomination's 2000 General Conference Session.[8] [9]

Mickelson died on October 21, 2001, of a myocardial infarction while visiting Sacramento, California.[10] At the time of his death he was a member of the United Community Church in Glendale, California.

Musical output

A church publication opined that a Mickelson recording was "unusual" in that it was "spirited but not swingy; reverent, but not pious".[11] Billboard stated that Mickelson's initial Supreme Strings album was a surprise in the religious field, as the beauty of the arrangement and performance was unsurpassed in the popular field.[12] Most Supreme Records albums contain artistic participation by Mickelson, either as pianist or organist accompianment, or as arranger and conductor.[13] The majority of his organ output uses full theater organ registrations. Although his recorded output is strictly religious in nature, he was known to play a few popular tunes at pipe organ "jam sessions" held in Los Angeles.

He provided arrangements for Pat Boone, Tony Fontane, Jerome Hines and Ethel Waters.[14] In all, more than 700 of his arrangements were recorded.[15] [16]

Mickelson was able to purchase multiple organs of note, including the organ from NBC's Hollywood Studios (the organ he first used to record as a solo artist) and the Robert-Morton unit from MCA's Whitney recording studios.[17]

Personal life

In addition to his music career, Mickelson was an ordained minister. Mickelson was married to Barbara Mickelson at the time of his death.

Representative discography

As organist/pianist

As conductor/arranger

See also

Notes and References

  1. News: . Organist and Singing Group Will Give Program For YFC . The Evening Sun . Hanover, Pennsylvania . November 1, 1968 . 25. newspapers.com.
  2. News: . Organist Is Slated . Statesman-Journal . Salem, Oregon . September 28, 1974. 21 . newspapers.com.
  3. . Ink Mickelson at Word Label . Billboard . June 16, 1958 . 10.
  4. . Supreme Co., Pye in Deal. Billboard . June 25, 1966 . 3.
  5. News: Daily . Dennis . October 26, 2001 . Former Organist for Billy Graham Dies . United Press International . October 30, 2019.
  6. News: . Musical on Second Coming of Christ Planned May 2 . The Times . Shreveport, Louisiana . April 23, 1972 . 18-E. newspapers.com.
  7. News: Coole . Terri . April 29, 1994 . Gospel Organist to Make Music in Mount Dora Appearance . Orlando Senitel . October 30, 2019.
  8. Butler . Martin . January 1997 . Church Ministries Convention '97 Bound for Chattanooga . Southern Tidings . Decatur, Georgia . Southern Union Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists. 91. 1. 3.
  9. Tetz . Myrna . June 30, 2000 . We Have This Hope . Adventist Review . Hagerstown, Maryland . General Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists . 45.
  10. News: Ellis . Mark . October 25, 2001 . Former Billy Graham Organist Dies . ASSIST News Service . October 28, 2019.
  11. . New Record Releases . Columbia Union Visitor . Washington, DC . Columbia Union Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists . August 20, 1959 . 64. 34. 3.
  12. . Billboard Album Reviews . Billboard . September 28, 1968 . 30 .
  13. . Disc Squeals . Theatre Organ Bombarde . Livonia, Michigan . American Theatre Organ Enthusiasts . June 1969 . 11. 3. 36.
  14. News: . Organist, Choir Set In Albany . Statesman-Journal . Salem, Oregon . October 26, 1974 . 12. newspapers.com.
  15. News: . Choral Clinic Set For Harrisburg . Elizabethtown Chronicle . Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania . September 11, 1975 . 26. newspapers.com.
  16. Ethel Waters. "His Eye Is On the Sparrow". LP Record. Word W-3100-LP. 1960.
  17. . Mickelson Owns Morton . The Console . Pasadena, California . International Theatre Organ Society . January 1984. 23. 1. 25.
  18. Web site: International Records Album Discography . Callahan . Mike . March 24, 2002 . Both Sides Now . October 30, 2019 .

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