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Dove Award winner Michael English is picking up the pieces after scandal and misfortune struck. |
The 1994 Dove Awards marked a crowning achievement in Michael English's career as a gospel artist. It also marked the beginning of a downward spiral that didn't end for nearly a decade.
The morning after he won six Dove Awards, including Gospel Artist of the Year, English confessed to an affair with a singer who was on tour with him. Both were married to others. And she was pregnant with English's child. She later miscarried.
The reaction was swift. English's label dropped the Michael Bolton-sounding singer, and his music was pulled from radio stations. The free-fall continued. In 2000, English was arrested for illegally using prescription drugs.
These days, English is part of the We Will Stand Tour with Avalon, Cadia and the Daniel Doss Band. The tour makes a stop at Hylton Memorial Chapel in Woodbridge on May 9.
"I should be dead," English said in a recent phone interview. "I'm on the other side. I'm singing again and doing what I've always loved to do. After what I have done, there is no way I deserve that."
"The Prodigal Returns Home," the name of both his book and newly released CD, talks about English's redemption four years ago.
Healing was not immediate for English. Kicking the painkillers was a gradual process. God didn't go "boom, everything is fine now," he said. However, there was a point where he realized it was time to make a change. "I had lost my voice, and I was basically homeless and God just let me know that it was not about my voice, it was about my heart."
That woke him up, English said. He eventually left the painkillers behind. He remembers holding the pills in his hands over the toilet and asking for immediate healing. It didn't happen. He lives every day knowing that one pill could put him back under. And as he performs onstage now, he thinks he understands why.
"It has kind of helped when people realize that I am not perfect, and it makes them feel better about themselves," English said.
"We all mess up. We all are sinners, saved by grace. When they know that I am just like them and I struggle with the same struggles, I think people leave with more hope. There is nothing worse than being hopeless. I've been hopeless."
English has remarried and has a child. Still, life has not been all "peachy and creamy," he added. "That's not the life of a Christian." He and his wife have had to deal with miscarriage and other losses.
"You deal with life and you deal with things," he said. "That's going to be every day. All in all, God and I are in good shape."
Annette Jones: 540/368-5046
Email: abjones@freelancestar.com
What: We Will Stand Tour features Christian/gospel music from Avalon, Michael English, Cadia and Daniel Doss Band. Where: Hylton Memorial Chapel, 14640 Potomac Mills Rd., Woodbridge When: Tomorrow, 7:30 p.m. Cost: $15 to $25 Info: myspace.com/standtour; hyltonchapel.org |
