Sorry to hear this about Don Francisco. I remember him from the 80s, but didn’t listen to his music a lot back then. “He’s Alive” is still an amazing song, though.
As for Amy Grant, I’m still in disbelief all these years later at how she ditched her faith and integrity to chase fame and fortune. She seemed so genuine and down to Earth back then, but over the next few years it became apparent that she was mesmerized with the idea of becoming a secular commercial success. That impression was thoroughly validated when she divorced her first husband Gary Chapman and almost immediately married Vince Gill.
I remember one Friday evening in about 1980 or so (I think she was about 19 at the time), she performed for our weekly church youth group meeting. It was snowing hard outside, so the group was smaller than usual, leaving maybe two or three dozen of us. She sat on the edge of the platform while we all moved to the front rows, and we had an amazing very informal get together, singing and talking. It was great.
A couple of years after that, she married Gary Chapman, and I remember at least once or twice that they were in town she performed during our Sunday service, while Gary led our youth Sunday school afterward. This was in Denver (Calvary Temple). Gary seemed like a great guy and was absolutely hilarious. Amy also used to visit the home of one of my close friends when she was in town, primarily to hang out and play piano with my friend’s younger brother. He was a lot younger than Amy, but they hit it off because of his talent. I don’t recall how she first met him or their family.
She was just so real and down to Earth back then, making everything that came after that much more shocking. She chose poorly. Hopefully she realizes that in time.
First Amy Grant. Me and some friends went to go see her in concert back in the very early 1980's. I think it was Six Flags north of Chicago (???). We were in the front row and she was singing. She was great. Then she paused to talk a bit and that was when she shared with the crowd that she was marrying Chapman. My friend, who had an enormous crush on her, blurted out "oh man!" and everyone, including Amy, turned and looked right at us. I had a hat on so I pulled it down and said "don't look at me!" Everyone laughed.
Many years later, in the 1990's, I got to see Don Francisco perform at a small Baptist church in Kokomo, IN. I was married at the time, three kids, and my oldest son was there with me and the wife. His music touched my son's heart. Afterwards we got a chance to talk with Don. He was very gracious and kind. I came away even more impressed with him than I was in my younger years.
It's too bad about each of them. Yeah, we all know about Amy's fall from grace, even to go so far as support a homosexual marriage. Don remained under the radar and I followed him on Facebook for a few years. But it wasn't until a post he made where he used crude language, then announced his support of homosexuality that I stopped listening to his music. That's a shame because he had many great songs, "He's Alive" being the most well known. In my view, when someone falls from grace like that when their entire ministry is negated, so I deleted all of the music I bought from his ministry over the preceding several years.
I too hope that Don and Amy both realize their mistakes and come back to the faith.
There's only one music artist from my youth, that I listened to, that has maintained his faith and that is Dallas Holm. I still get regular emailings from his ministry. His wife just recently passed away from breast cancer, but he's still expressing his love for Jesus Christ and endeavoring along in his ministry.