The Greenes – Part 2
This month, we continue our look at one of southern gospel’s popular family groups, especially in the 1980s and 1990s – the Greenes, from Boone, North Carolina. The group consisted of siblings Tim, Tony, and Kim Greene, along with their farther, Everette (although Everette would gradually step back from the group as the 1980s progressed).
Last month, we chronicled the groups’ success in the late 1980s, with songs like “It Sure Sounds Like Angels To Me”, “Restless Hearts”, and “There’s A Miracle In Me”. Then, on November 20, 1988, Kim Greene of the group married Dean Hopper of the Hoppers. Questions began to rise: would Dean join the Greenes, or would Kim join the Hoppers?
For a time, Kim would occasionally travel and sing with the Hoppers. In turn, Dean would sometimes travel with the Greenes and play drums. Then, at the 1989 National Quartet Convention in Nashville, Tennessee, Kim officially announced her resignation from the group.
Kim made the announcement on-stage just as the Greenes were about to perform their final song, a song entitled “When I Knelt, The Blood Fell”. Kim sang the first verse, then the second verse was performed by her replacement, a then 25-year-old from Greenville, South Carolina, named Amy Lambert. Amy had sang for a number of years with her family, the Lambert Family, and had recently worked as an associate producer for a television station in Greenville. Kim officially joined the Hoppers in mid-October.
The song I just mentioned, “When I Knelt, The Blood Fell”, would become the very first number-one song for the Greenes. Written by Tim Greene, the song went number-one on the Singing News Southern Gospel Top 80 Chart in November 1989, and would remain number-one for three months in a row. One year later, at the 1990 Singing News Fan Awards, Amy Lambert would be voted Horizon Individual for 1990.
Tim, Tony, and Amy would enjoy a good amount of success in the early 1990s with songs like “The Church Is Going Higher”, “Garment Of The Savior”, “They’ll Never Crucify Him Again”, and their second number-one song, “In The Twinkling Of An Eye”.
In April of 1995, the Greenes would achieve their third and final number-one song on the Singing News Chart, a song entitled “Jesus’ Rocking Chair”, written by Tim Greene. This song, with its powerful message, was actually receiving airplay on a number of secular radio stations, including a rock station in Greensboro, North Carolina. A big headline around that time was the tragic deaths of two boys from Union, South Carolina – Michael and Alex Smith. News broke that that their mother, Susan Smith, admitted to drowning them.
As more people learned of that story, one listener in North Carolina sent the song to that rock station. The response was overwhelming, and the Greene’s office in Boone, North Carolina, was soon swamped with requests for the song, “Jesus’ Rocking Chair”.
Some changes were on the way for the Greenes, though. In the July 1994 issue of Singing News Magazine, it was announced that Amy Lambert had resigned from the group, effective May 31, 1994. Amy noted that she felt the call to begin a solo ministry, and she would go on to have a successful solo career well into the 2000s. To take her place, the Greenes hired a then 21-year-old from Cummings, Georgia named Milena Parks.
Tim, Tony, and Milena would enjoy the success of a number of their songs in the mid-to-late 1990s, including “The Blood Covered It All” and “I Am A Christian” – both of which were part of a tremendous live recording before thousands of southern gospel fans in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, And The Walls Came Down Live.
Then, in November of 1997, it was learned that Milena Parks had departed the Greens, joining noted southern gospel songwriter Mike Speck as part of the Mike Speck Trio. Soon, the Greenes would welcome a new face – TaRanda Kiser. We’ll continue the story next month!
