Carmichael, Evangeline (26th September 1926-9th July 2009)

Alto who was born n Montana as the youngest of three daughters to Rev. Richard Otto who went to Los Angele where she studied at LIFE Bible College in the mornings and worked at Angelus Temple in the afternoon with the Minister of Music.

Her earliest credit seems to be as an actress in a movie called Wiretapper, co-starring,believe it or not,a young Billy Graham. Neither of their film careers took off; unless you count Evangeline’s credit in the 1982 animated musical Heidi’s Song; but both went on to religious pursuits, although Billy’s were much more highly publicized.

Her singing abilities gave her the chance to host her own Sunday radio show with Paul Mickelson. She met and married the orchestra leader Ralph Carmichael in 1948 and had their daughter Carol Celeste. They recorded many songs secular and sacred records for many years until they separated in 1963. Still, there are early gospel recordings by Evangeline which are available online, including a stint with The Sunday Sing Trio and her solo efforts, frequently recorded with the Ralph Carmichael Orchestra, The Lord Is My Shepherd, My Friend and I, Something Old and Something New, and Vangie Carmichael McPherson, Volumes 1 & 2. There is also a 78 floating around out there of Evangeline singing “Come with Your Heartaches”, again with the RCO. Evangeline also pops up on the gospel anthologies, I Hear Music and The Old Time Religion, on which she sings “Day by Day”. In 1964, she collaborated with Paul Horn on Lalo Schifrin’s Jazz Suite on the Mass Texts.

After that, her career took a decidedly secular turn, when she joined The Ray Conniff Singers for Speak to Me of Love and Friendly Persuasion. You could also find her partying it up with the Cartwright boys on Bonanza: A Ponderosa Party, and waxing poetic with Rod McKuen over at RCA. (If You Go Away: The RCA Years 1965-1970 was released on CD in 2007.) Evangeline was also the featured vocalist in a group called, well, The Group. They released an album entitled The Warm & Groovy Sounds of the Group Featuring Vangie Carmichael, made the cut on Ultralite Pilot, Soft Rock Super-Rarities, covering “For Once in My Life”, and released a 45 of “Hey Jude”, backed with “Shake Loose”.

In the 1970s, Evangeline served as choral coordinator for The Sonny & Cher Show and established herself as a session vocalist, singing background vocals on Brian Hyland’s eponymous debut LP, as well as Waylon Jennings’ The Taker/Tulsa. (She would later appear on the Waylon Jennings CDs, The Essential Waylon Jennings, The Journey: Six Strings Away, and his boxed set, Nashville Rebel.) She also hooked up with Beaver and Krause on Gandharva and All Good Men, offered vocal support on P.J. Sloan’s 1972 effort, Raised on Records, Anita Lindblom’s Neil Sedaka tribute album, Love in the Shadows, and Frank Sinatra’s boxed set, Trilogy.

In 1976, she made sort of a return to the movies, singing the medley “If I Had a Talking Picture of You/All I Do is Dream of You” on the soundtrack of the Liza Minnelli/Burt Reynolds film, Lucky Lady. Other artists and groups with whom she recorded include Paul Butterfield, Rosemary Clooney, Les Crane, Randy Newman, and the Randy Van Horne Singers. You can also hear Evangeline on the western-themed CDs, The Man Who Robbed the Bank at Santa Fe and My Rifle, My Pony and Me.

In 1996 she attended a funeral when she became reacquainted with Dr. Rolf MacPherson who had known previously. They married less than a year later in January 1997 and together they served at the Angelus Temple. Rolf passed away on 21st March 2009 and just a few months later she joined him on 9th July 2009.

Here she can be heard singing for the first part of her story

Sources:

Carmichael, Evangeline (26th September 1926-9th July 2009)

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