The Lord's Prayer - Sister Janet Mead, 1974
Our Father Sister Janet Mead was, indeed, a Roman Catholic nun. Born in Adelaide, Australia, she started a band in the early '70s for her church's mass. She called it The Rock Band, and the theory was to make the mass more accessible and interesting by adding a modern beat.
Her first professional experience was in 1973, when Festival Records asked her to record a Donovan song, Brother Sun, Sister Moon for a movie of the same name. To release a 45 single, the record company needed a B side, so they asked her to do a rocked-up version of the Lords Prayer. By April 14, 1974, The Lord's Prayer had peaked at #4 on Billboard, and became the first Australian hit to sell over one million copies in the US.
At the time, I remember local high school groups lobbying to have the song replace the usual reading of the Lord's Prayer over the PA system. It sounds really odd now, to think of prayers being broadcast in the morning, but times have certainly changed!
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