George Beverly Shea Turns 100

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks on January 26, 2009

George Beverly Shea has been singing solos at Billy Graham crusades for nearly 60 years and on February 1, 2009 he’ll celebrate his 100th birthday. There’s a private party planned for Shea at the Billy Graham Training Center at the Cove and a concert scheduled for March 28 that will likely be televised sometime in May.

Billy Graham first recruited Shea in 1944 to appear on his new radio show “Songs in the Night.”

“Bev was the very first person I asked to join me in evangelism,” Graham said. “He was well known in the Midwest, but at the same time he was humble … It was God who brought us together. [Shea's] rich, bass baritone voice has touched the hearts of millions in our Crusades … I don’t believe I’ve ever heard him utter an unkind or critical word about anyone.”

Christian publisher Ambassador International is also collecting birthday wishes for Shea as a part of promotions for their upcoming biography, George Beverly Shea: Tell Me the Story.