REBECCA ST. JAMES IN COLLEYVILLE | Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Arts & Entertainment
Christian singer designed tour as bonding event for moms, daughters
12:00 AM CDT on Friday, May 4, 2007
By MICHAEL E. YOUNG / The Dallas Morning News
myoung@dallasnews.com
Just off a hard-rocking tour with Brit praise pioneers Delirious, Rebecca St. James decided it was time to turn down the amps, pull the crowd in close and celebrate the power of SHE.
SHE, which stands for safe, healthy and empowered, is borrowed from the book of the same name written by Ms. St. James, a Grammy and Dove award winner. More precisely, the SHE tour is billed as "a special event for mothers and daughters and friends."
"There isn't a lot out there that involves mothers and daughters together," Ms. St. James said in a recent phone interview. "So it kind of hits a niche: moms who want to bond with their girls. And both generations can enjoy it and grow from it."
Joining her on the SHE tour is Evie Tornquist, one of the biggest names in Christian music in the 1970s and '80s and a longtime friend of Ms. St. James' family in Australia.
"She was huge there when I was a kid," says Ms. St. James, who is now based near Nashville. "My dad was involved in the music business. She knew me when I was a tiny tot."
About five years ago, her career soaring, Ms. St. James saw the need for a mentor who could understand what she faced in the music business and offer guidance. She thought of Evie.
"She's amazing. She's blessed my life so much," Ms. St. James says. "She's almost 50 and I'm in my 20s, so it's almost like we're modeling the things we talk about to moms and their girls."
Music forms the centerpiece of the SHE show. But in the intimate surroundings, there's plenty of time to talk, too, about things such as beauty, purity and intimacy with God.
Those topics are important to Ms. St. James, voted one of the most influential Christian leaders under 40 by one publication and among the 50 most influential people in Christian music by another.
"We do a lot of acoustic music in this tour. Often we see three generations coming, and that has broad appeal," she says. "It's mostly music, but we make it very conversational. It's kind of like having coffee with a couple thousand people.
