Day 446 - Tim Miner - Forgive Me

446. Tim Miner - Forgive Me
from the Album A True Story
(Frontline, 1989)

"Tim Miner was signed to major Christian label, Sparrow, as a 16 year old. He would release two very successful albums for them before venturing into songwriting, producing and recording on his own. He began to bring artists to Frontline Records in the late 80′s that he was producing at the time like Cindy Cruse (future wife), Angie Alan, Nicole (future Nicole C Mullen) and rap groundbreaker D- Boy.

He would release his long anticipated Frontline Debut in 1989. [It contained] Flashes of Judson Spence, Michael Jackson and whole lot of Prince combined with pristine and progressive production. Drum loops, funky rhythms, dance grooves and stellar vocals join to create the best record for the genre at that time in CCM. It was in many ways ahead of the curve in Christian music production wise with help from Tommy Sims.

One of the great attributes of Tim Miner is his amazing vocal ability to range from screaming Prince-like funk to slow and earthy, soulful ballads a la Stevie Wonder or David Pack. One of those ballads is a song he would later record on an album released by Motown Records called Forgive Me. It is simply beautiful. I remember sitting in the normally busy Frontline offices hearing the song as it was played for the first time.

The acoustic guitar and strings back up Miner’s stunning vocal delivery that is both wispy and forceful, eventually breaking with emotion at the end. When it was over there was total silence in the office. I turned around to see the entire staff had come over to the office to hear the song as it played. [I had] tears in many eyes.

Miner would later record a solid album for Motown that unfortunately never broke him nationally as it was hoped. Despite that his impact on CCM is still felt through those who [he] worked with and produced and for some amazing [music] he created while a central figure in the industry." (Source: CCM's Greatest Albums)

Here is the original album version of the song: