Hi, welcome to the Living Light Band website.
LLB Objective: To Spread the Gospel to everyone through music - using any type of venue at their disposal - coffee houses, concerts, church services and prison ministries.
LLB History: (Chapter 1 by H. Wayne Henderson)
The idea of having a Christian music group was born sometime in the Spring of 1979. It's birthing or germination, however, probably began back in the early 70's. In 1979, Bonnieanne and Wayne Henderson had become involved with a Catholic Charismatic prayer community in Cherry Hill, NJ where they attended church. Wayne had entered the "movement" (while he was in high school ) back in 1973 at a Sunday evening prayer meeting at St. Rose of Lima, in Haddon Heights, NJ. At about the same time, Bonnieanne was also entering the Catholic Charismatic movement with her family in the Mt. Holly, NJ area. The idea of a Living Light Band was born when Wayne invited his musician friend from the St. Rose prayer meeting days, Larry McHugh and his wife, Michelle to come and visit the prayer meeting in Cherry Hill. Larry and Michelle were soon attending regularly, and the three of them, Wayne on bass, Larry and Bonnieanne on guitar were leading the music at the prayer meetings. Not too long after this, they found themselves getting together to play some of Larry's unique, original songs. They invited a friend of Larry's, Dennis McGarvey to join in on drums. By the beginning of 1980 they were all playing music both at the prayer meetings and at rehearsals at Wayne and Bonnieanne's house in Cherry Hill. As their repertoire grew and people heard their "Christian " music, people began to ask why they didn't play at coffeehouses or special concerts. After much prayer and the guidance of the leaders of the prayer group, Living Light Band began.(Chapter 2 by Mark Krusch)
In August of 1981 Living Light Band was
playing at an outside Christian concert called "Day in the Son" which
was held at Malaga Camp in Malaga, southern NJ. This was an all day
concert in which many different Christian bands came to play. At this concert a
local band was playing called "Lamp". Wayne recognized one of the guitar
players as a long time friend from Glassboro State College - Mark Krusch.
Lamp played before Living Light Band did and after Lamp's gig, Wayne looked up
Mark and they began to chat. Mark was unhappy in Lamp since they didn't
need a singer and only wanted an acoustic guitar player. Mark wanted to do
some lead singing and was eager to play some electric guitar as well.
After hearing the Living Light Band play, Mark was very impressed with their
style and wanted to join the group. A few weeks later and a new member was
added to Living Light Band. This was September of 1981.
At that point in time, the current drummer for the band was Ron Spagnola. Dennis McGarvey had left a few months back and Ron was the "new" drummer. Larry McHugh then decided he needed a break from the band and so the personnel of LLB were Wayne and BonnieAnne, Ron and Mark (This is the second photo (first color picture) on the photos page.) In 1983, Larry McHugh rejoined the band. Ron decided that he needed to spend more time at home and a new drummer was sought in 1984. Larry's younger brother Chris Mchugh then joined up with LLB. (The 3rd picture on the photos page shows these members.) It was during this time that LLB became very popular and began a very busy ministry schedule. The group's goal was leaning toward becoming a national band with a recording contract. However, during 1985, Chris was offered a spot playing with an International Christian Band called Silverwind and he left LLB. (He later left Silverwind and became the drummer for a very popular Christian group called White Heart.) With Chris gone, Larry lost interest in the band and he too left to pursue other interests.
(Chapter 3 by Mark Krusch)
During the interim of Larry and Chris
leaving, LLB recorded a cassette tape at Morning Star Studios in Ambler PA.
The tape was heard by WZZD DJ Bob DeMoss and Carl Dean who recommended LLB
create a 45 and submit it to the station for airplay. This was done with
"Got to Tell the People" as the #1 side and "Open the Door" as the #2 side.
The song, "Got to Tell the People" was played over the northeast Christian
airwaves and actually made it to the top 25 play list in one month of 1985. This
pushed the band's popularity even further.
In order to keep the band together, auditions were done and in 1985, Mark Green became the new lead guitarist for LLB and Pat Jamison became the new drummer. (They are pictured in the 4th through 6th pictures on the photos page.) Mark G. was also a singer and songwriter and added many new songs to LLB's repertoire. The band continued and in the fall of 1985 they opened a concert for David Meece at the Trenton War Memorial. Shortly after the Trenton War Memorial, a professional management organization offered to help LLB with the goal of getting a recording contract. Everyone was excited at this prospect. However, BonnieAnne became pregnant in December and LLB had to rethink their goals. In 1986 after many discussions, Wayne and BonnieAnne decided to leave LLB and Mark K also wanted a break. With three fifths of the band leaving, it was decided that LLB would break up. LLBs last concert was in the summer of 1986 - on a flatbed trailer in a K-Mart parking lot.
Mark Green continues to minister to this day and has his own Christian band - Pat Jamison is the drummer for the band. Wayne, BonnieAnne and Mark Krusch serve as music ministers in the Rock Church in Pitman, NJ. Larry McHugh serves as a music minister for Calvary Chapel. And Chris McHugh is a studio drummer in Nashville TN - you can view his web site here.
LLB occasionally get together and do some "unplugged" concerts but as of this date, there are no plans to get the band back together permanently ......... but you never know!
Chapter 4 .... to be continued?
..... Let Your Light Shine Before Men .... Matt 5:16
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