Purchase Hard to Find Mylon Products on Ebay.
I do encourage you to purchase Mylon's CD's
directly from his
website to support his ministry, but use ebay for the more
unique items.
Mylon R. LeFevre was born on October 7, 1944. Mylon
grew up in a home of a gospel singing family known
as the Singing LeFevres. Mylon's dad started out
singing on the Grand Ol' Opry in 1921. Mylon's
grandfather on his mother's side was a preacher.
Mylon spent time in a
reform school and had been kicked out of private
religious high school. But during this time in his
life, Mylon was already getting a reputation for
being a good songwriter.
Mylon's
big break came when he was 17 years old. The
first song he had written entitled "Without Him"
was
recorded by Elvis Presley in 1963. A year later 126
other albums came out with that song on it. At the
time Mylon was in the Army and was making $84 a
month. But suddenly he received $90,000 in just
three months.
Click the play button below to hear Mylon sing
Without Him.
When Mylon was 18, he
left the army and started to spend his money. He
purchased a new Corvette and speedboat. Mylon was
still singing with his family, but Mylon's ideals
and styles were becoming quite different from that
of his dad and the family.
Pictured above is Mylon at 19 with
the Stamps Quartet
Mylon went out and did
some recording with a group of musicians which would
later be known as the Atlanta Rythym Section.
This was Mylon's first attempt at blending gospel
music with Southern Rock. This album was entitled
"Mylon, We Believe" and was released by Cotillion in 1969/70.
According to CCM, some have said this was the first
true "Jesus Rock" album. This album has been
digitally remastered and is available on CD from
Mylon's Ministry.
Click here and scroll to the bottom of the page to
find it.
When
Mylon was 25, he finally left his father's group due
to strains and differences over music and Mylon
being told to "get his hair cut". Mylon signed
a record deal with Atlantic Records. Mylon soon
formed a band called "The Holy Smoke Doo Dah Band".
They began playing Jesus rock for top secular bands.
(Picture below is of Mylon from 1971 during his Holy
Smoke days. Photo
submitted by Giannina Garrison)
you can click the image to enlarge it.
Though
Mylon believed in God and that Jesus was the Son of
God, he wasn't living an obedient Christian
life. He was taking drugs and drifting further
and further away from his roots and from reality.
Mylon was probably one of the first to try to fuze
Christian music with Rock'n'roll, but it wasn't
working for him. Mylon was urged and pressured from management and
media to dump the religous stuff from his act.
Mylon's drug use escalated and he continued to
experience more success in rock.
(Mylon in 1972 pictured left)
Here's a poster
referring to Mylon as the Atlanta Flash!
In 1973 Mylon had over a million record sales and he
was being treated as a star. But while touring in
the south of France, Mylon overdosed and his heart
had stopped beating. After receiving medical
attention, Mylon woke up 28 hours later.
Because of the length
of time that Mylon had not been breathing he
suffered some brain damage. He suffered from memory
loss and couldn't even remember the lyrics to some
of the songs he had written. In Mylon's words
"suddenly it was all over, I had wrecked my hopes
and drugged away my dreams."3
Mylon had some sense to realize that he had made some
mistakes and started reading a Gideon Bible that he had picked up in his travels.
Mylon's life was a wreck. He was 6'-1" and weighed
137 pounds. He had developed bleeding ulcers at age
27. So Mylon committed himself to a drug treatment
program that year. Seven months later, towards the
end of 1973, Mylon came out clean.
The whole time that Mylon was in the program, there
was a quote from the Bible that he couldn't shake
from his mind. He remembered it like this, "God's
Spirit will not always strive with men." Mylon
for the most part had always tried to be a
Christian, but up until now it had not been working.
So Help Me God
In the late 70's Mylon's dad retired from the gospel
music circuit. Mylon's father had always been a
performer of Christian music, yet to him it was more
of a way to make a living. He wasn't really
religious. But finally in his later years he decided
to straighten out his own life with God and try to
patch things up with Mylon. Mylon saw his dad become
a true Christian and it began to impact him.
Mylon's dad became very sick with cancer and through
love and visiting between Mylon and his father,
Mylon began his transformation. One night
after leaving his dad at the hospital Mylon went
home and prayed "Lord, if you can take my daddy, who
has been such a jerk to me, and change him like
that, I don't want to wait until I'm old and dying.
I want you to change my life now. Don't let this be
a disappointment. I want you to really be God."
Page
2
. . .
Here are some pictures of Mylon performing during
his final secular tour in 1979
When you read the lyrics to Without Him and
look back over Mylon's life , the song reads like a prophecy for Mylon's
life.
Without Him I could do
nothing.
Without Him I'd surely fail;
Without Him, I would be drifting.
Like a ship without a sail.
Jesus, Oh Jesus, do you
know him today?
You can't turn him away, oh Jesus, oh Jesus.
Without him, How lost I would be.
Without Him I would
be dying.
Without Him I'd be enslaved;
Without Him life would be hopeless.
But with Jesus, thank God, I'm saved.
Jesus, Oh Jesus, do you know him
today?
You can't turn him away, oh Jesus, oh Jesus.
Without him, How lost I would be.
Years later, Kenneth Copeland pointed out to Mylon
about this song that it was a song about his life. Mylon tried to do
things on his own. He pursued his music ambitions apart from God's
leading and so Mylon did become enslaved to drug addiction and all the
other trappings that the fame of being a rock star brings. Life
became hopeless for Mylon and eventually it did lead to Mylon overdosing
and almost dying.
Though
Mylon believed in God and that Jesus was the Son of
God, he wasn't living an obedient Christian
life. He was taking drugs and drifting further
and further away from his roots and from reality.
Mylon was probably one of the first to try to fuze
Christian music with Rock'n'roll, but it wasn't
working for him. Mylon was urged and pressured from management and
media to dump the religous stuff from his act.
Mylon's drug use escalated and he continued to
experience more success in rock.
(Mylon in 1972 pictured left)
to visit Amazon and find anything Mylon related