|
 Live
Forever
This book is a must read. Not only
are the stories so well written but there are so
many good quality pictures, some including Mylon
with well known celebrities. This is Mylon's
story, from his humble beginnings, his meeting with
Elvis, Mylon's experiences as a rock star and
finally finding what he had been searching for all
along .... God.
You can either order it directly
here or visit
Mylon's website. |
 Mylon R. LeFevre was born on October
6, 1944. Mylon
grew up in a home of a gospel singing family known
as the 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 who
built 39 churches for the Church of God denomination.
Mylon's parents met while in Bible College and were
married in 1934. Mylon first began to sing at age
five. In the 1950's the LeFevre's sang for preachers
such as Oral Roberts, A.A Allen, Rex Humbard and
Jack Coe.
 Mylon spent time in a
reform school in Tallulah Falls, Georgia and had been kicked out of
the Academy at Bob Jones University, South Carolina,
a private
religious High School. But during this time in his
life, Mylon was already getting a reputation for
being a good songwriter.
In 1962 Mylon graduated
from High School. Because his family had moved so
much, Mylon had attended 11 different schools before
he graduated. School had not been an easy time for
Mylon. His parents could not afford new clothes for
him. So he had to wear hand me downs, clothes that
were no longer in style. He felt that he never fit
in, regardless of which school he attended. Because
he was already writing songs many of the boys would
misunderstand that for poetry and Mylon said he
would "have to fight to prove his masculinity".
Due to his small size he was often bullied in school
as well. As Mylon states in his book Live
Forever, "I was an easy target." (pictured right is a photo from Mylon in 1962)
  Mylon's
big break in music would come in June of 1962 when he
was just 17 years old. At the time he was in the army
making just $84 a month. His mom and dad were scheduled
to sing at the
Ellis Auditorium in Memphis Tennessee in the
National Quartet Convention. His mom wanted him to come
out and sing his new song "Without Him" at the
convention. Mylon
took a weekend pass and travelled 500 miles from Fort
Jackson, South Carolina to join his family in
Memphis.1
One particular person who was in the audience was Elvis
Presley. Elvis asked his manager Colonel Parker to
arrange to have Mylon meet with him after the show.
Mylon believes it was God who gave him favor with Elvis
that night and later added that he could not describe
what that did for his self-esteem. The song was later was
recorded by Elvis Presley and put on his How
Great Thou Art album. Without was soon being recorded by
a lot of other artists as within a year it was on 126
other albums. Due to the success of the recording of
Without Him, Mylon went from making $84 a month to
receiving $90,000 in just three months.
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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. |
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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.
When
Mylon was 25, he left his father's group due
to strains and differences over music and Mylon
being told to "get his hair cut". He
signed a record deal with Atlantic Records and 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.
 T hough
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 religious stuff from his act.
Mylon's drug use escalated and he continued to
experience more success in rock.
(Mylon in 1972 pictured left)
Throughout the 1970's Mylon sold millions of records
and recorded and performed with various performers
such as:
George Harrison (of the
beatles),Alvin Lee,
Mick Fleetwood (from
Fleetwood Mac),
Ron Wood (from
the
Rolling Stones,
Boz Burrell (from
Bad Company)
Steve Winwood (from
Traffic),
Ian Wallace (from
King Crimson),
Billy Joel,
Eric Clapton,
Little Richard,
ZZ Top,
Grand Funk Railroad,
Mountain, and
The Who.3
Mylon in 1971
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. After receiving medical
attention, Mylon woke up 28 hours later. Mylon
suffered some brain damage due to the trauma of the
medical event and experienced memory problems. He
couldn't even remember all 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."4
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 physical state
was not good. He was 6'-1" and weighed
137 pounds. He had developed bleeding ulcers at age
27. So he 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.
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