Artists Team Up for a Tribute to Billy Graham

When Princess Diana died in 1997, Elton John's musical tribute, "Candle in the Wind," captured the popular notion of the beloved princess, and with it, the world's attention.

The song's success made singer Pat Boone consider a hero of his own.

"If there's anyone in my lifetime who deserves honor it is Billy Graham," Boone, 71, said in an interview. "I think he is the most significant figure since the apostles. I didn't know Peter and I didn't know Paul, but I know Billy Graham."

Thus began a process that would culminate eight years later in a tribute of his own featuring more than a dozen of the recording industry's biggest names. Boone calls it "a love letter...from the world."

The song, "Thank You, Billy Graham" didn't receive much attention when it was released on Boone's latest album, "Glory Train: The Lost Sessions," last summer. But the creative forces behind the song claim the process, nearly a decade after its inception, is still in the works and could grow larger still.

Boone, who began his career as a 1950s rock 'n' roll heart throb famous for his white buckskin shoes and outspoken Christian faith, first penned a twangy tribute titled "We Call Him Billy" that caused some listeners to cringe.

"I liked the idea, but I thought the song itself was dreadful," said David Pack, a veteran gospel producer who agreed to review Boone's demo. "He was at least kind enough to say, 'Why don't you try something yourself, then?"'

Pack accepted the challenge, and with the help of country songwriter Billy Dean, reworked the bluegrass melody into a contemporary "We are the World"-type single.

Artists from the rock, pop, country, R&B and gospel traditions, joined the ensemble project to pay tribute to the man, now 87 and ailing from Parkinson's disease, who has evangelized the world for half a century.

After bumping into U2's Bono at a Grammy party, Boone convinced the rock star to record an introduction.

"I give thanks just for the sanity of Billy Graham," Bono, an Irish Catholic, says of the Protestant evangelist in the recording. "For that clear, empathetic voice of his and that Southern accent. Part poet, part preacher, a singer of the human spirit, I'd say."

Musicians from country star LeAnn Rimes to gospel singer Andrae Crouch recorded separate segments in the ensuing months. Digitally combining their voices in the studio, Pack and Dean assembled a multi-media package based around the lyrics:

"He heard the word, he got the call/ He took the message to us all/ He said it so we all could understand/ Around the world, here at home/ He let us know we're not alone/ Oh, thank you, Billy Graham..."

Larry King contributes
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