Janet Mead (born 1938, Adelaide) was an Australian Roman Catholic nun who formed a rock band simply called The Rock Band when she was 17 to provide music for the weekly Mass at her local church. She studied piano at the Adelaide Conservatorium before joining the Sisters of Mercy order and became a music teacher at two local Catholic schools. She began to explore the Rock Mass concept in the early 1970s, desiring to make the Mass more interesting and accessible for her students. This led to a successful series of Rock Masses which she conducted at Adelaide Cathedral. Mead began making professional recordings of her music for schools and churches in 1973.
Later that year, she went to Sydney for a recording session with Festival Records produced by Martin Erdman. Festival asked her to record a cover of the Donovan song "Brother Sun, Sister Moon" which had been written for the soundtrack of the Franco Zeffirelli film of the same name, but Martin Erdman wanted to record a rock arrangement of "The Lord's Prayer" and so a one-hit wonder was born. The single became the first Australian recording to sell over one million copies in the United States, earning a gold record award for Mead and Martin Erdman. The single was also released in Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, NZ, Rhodesia, UK and Uruguay.
Mead donated her share of the royalties to charity while Festival Records used their portion of the proceeds to refit one of their studios. The phenomenal success of the single led to the recording of an album. It was 'With You I Am', which hit #34 in July 1974. Her second album, 'A Rock Mass', was a complete recording of one of her now famous Rock Masses. She slipped onto the United States' charts once more with the follow-up single, "Take My Hand", but never approached the immense success of her debut. Being humble and media-shy, Mead resisted the call to continue her pop career, despite intense media interest. She described the record's success as a horrible time in her life — worldwide success brought a pressure that led her to question her faith. Her third album, recorded in 1983, was filed away in the Festival vaults after Mead withdrew from the public eye.
The tapes were rediscovered by Martin Erdman and some tracks, including a new version of "The Lord's Prayer", were included on the 1999 album 'A Time To Sing'. The album was released as part of the 25th anniversary celebrations of the hit single. Mead did not abandon her love of music and performance and returned to the arts in her later years. In October 2001, she directed the Romero Company's annual production at the Melbourne Trades Hall Auditorium, an inventive adaptation by Damien Mead of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables.
Mead donated her share of the royalties to charity while Festival Records used their portion of the proceeds to refit one of their studios. The phenomenal success of the single led to the recording of an album. It was 'With You I Am', which hit #34 in July 1974. Her second album, 'A Rock Mass', was a complete recording of one of her now famous Rock Masses. She slipped onto the United States' charts once more with the follow-up single, "Take My Hand", but never approached the immense success of her debut. Being humble and media-shy, Mead resisted the call to continue her pop career, despite intense media interest. She described the record's success as a horrible time in her life — worldwide success brought a pressure that led her to question her faith. Her third album, recorded in 1983, was filed away in the Festival vaults after Mead withdrew from the public eye.
The tapes were rediscovered by Martin Erdman and some tracks, including a new version of "The Lord's Prayer", were included on the 1999 album 'A Time To Sing'. The album was released as part of the 25th anniversary celebrations of the hit single. Mead did not abandon her love of music and performance and returned to the arts in her later years. In October 2001, she directed the Romero Company's annual production at the Melbourne Trades Hall Auditorium, an inventive adaptation by Damien Mead of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables.
In 2004, Mead received the Yamaha Golden Gospel Award in recognition of her services to Australian Christian music at the Australian Gospel Music Awards in Canberra. Martin Erdman also received the Yamaha Golden Gospel Award concurrently and presented a short feature film, Sister Janet Mead, at these awards which were co-ordinated by the Australian Gospel Music Association. Mead had also recorded a record with the conservative charismatic religious movement known as the Romero Community. Mead was named the South Australian of the year in 2004 for decades of caring for the homeless. Sister Janet Mead died in 2022 aged 84.
''The Lord's Prayer (#3) / Brother Sun And Sister Moon'' 1973 Festival
''The Earth Is Filled / Lamb Of God'' 1974 Festival
''Take My Hand / With You I Am'' 1974 Festival
''Hold On / Gloria'' 1974 Festival
''I Will Raise Him Up / Dying You Destroyed Our Death'' 1975 Festival
''Wailing Song / Happy The Man'' 1975 Festival
''The Lord Is My Shepherd / Forgive Us Brothers'' 1982 Powderworks
''The Lord's Prayer / With You I Am'' 1983 Festival
'With You I Am' (#34) 1974 Festival
'A Rock Mass: But I Am Smaller Than My Song' 1975 Festival Records
'Brand New World' (#46) 1983 K-Tel
'A Time To Sing' 1999 du Monde
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Mead
http://top100singles.blogspot.com.au/
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