This year marks 50 years since gospel music icons Bill and Gloria Gaither released their hit song, “Because He Lives.”
According to The Christian Beat, “Because He Lives” is one of the most “popular songs written by the Gospel Music Hall of Fame members.”
The couple is known for other popular songs like “There’s Something About That Name” and “He Touched Me.” In total, the couple has collaborated in “more than 700 treasured Gospel songs, and the iconic pioneers have set countless benchmarks within the Gospel music landscape.”
While making “Because He Lives,” Bill was uncertain that their song would be translated into so many different versions. “When you create a new song—and you write as many as we have—you really don’t know,” he said.
“[Sometimes] you write one and you think it is going to be the next ‘Amazing Grace’, and it just died a natural death,” Bill said. Gloria expressed her doubts about the song too. She believed that the song “was so personal, I thought it might be just for us.”
“Because He Lives” was penned during “the 60s when things were ‘chaotic’ in the world.” The couple was expecting their third baby and Gloria remembered thinking, “who would bring a baby into a world like this?”
The couple had a revelation that the world would never be stable, realizing that there would always be something hectic happening in the world. They started questioning their own thoughts about the stability of the world. “When has it ever been [stable],” they thought.
The couple began to believe that “because our Lord is alive we can trust Him with our future,” says Gloria.
Since its release on October 18, 1971, the song has been recorded by different artists like Bradley Walker, David Osborne, Jimmy Fortune, and Steven Curtis Chapman.
“In honor of this legacy milestone, Gaither Music Group has initiated a yearlong celebration to highlight performances of the song across many different platforms and genres,” reports TheChristianBeat.org.
Fans have been inspired by the song. “This is such an awesome song,” one fan wrote. “[I] got so much strength from it. It gave me courage then. The song continues to do so.”
Another fan said, “This is my favorite song we sang in immigration jail😭I was a Buddhist but I was empty but found Christ again in the darkest hours and He is VERY REAl (sic).”
