Ralna English sings her faith, three decades after debut in Lawrence Welk TV show

Ralna English performing in the "Lawrence Welk Precious Memories" TV special. - UMNS picture courtesy of the Oklahoma Network.

By MARTA W. ALDRICH

NASHVILLE (Tennessee) - When band leader Lawrence Welk tapped Ralna English to sing his favourite hymn on his musical television show, the young performer had no idea that "How Great Thou Art' would become her signature song in a career spanning decades.


The song - and her album of the same name - brought her a Dove Award nomination, and she still includes the sacred classic in many of her touring shows and performances. Through a life and career of both abundant blessings and emotional turmoil, she has come to understand firsthand the song's declaration of awe and praise for a mighty God who is faithful in all things.


"Once I sang it, it became the song I always sang," said Ralna, a regular on Welk's weekly show for 12 years beginning in 1969. "It's stayed with me ever since Lawrence gave it to me 36 years ago."


Ralna discovered the hymn's depth and power when, during one of her earliest touring shows with Welk, she sang it before 22,000 people in New York's Madison Square Garden.


"When I finished, there was no applause. There was only silence," she recalled. "Then suddenly, everybody began applauding at once. It was one of the most chilling, awesome experiences I've ever had on stage."


Ralna was one of 15 cast members reunited for the PBS television special "Lawrence Welk Precious Memories", featuring hymns, inspirational songs and gospel medleys. And, yes, she sang "How Great Thou Art" during the two-hour show, which was taped last September and premiered nationally.


Blessed with a voice of remarkable pitch, range and power, Ralna has ridden a roller-coaster career that garnered a devoted audience and critical praise but never the recording career she had dreamed of as a youngster.


"I never intended to be a regular on 'The Lawrence Welk Show', she said in an interview from her home in Scottsdale, Arizona. "I had only intended to do one of the shows so that my grandmother could watch me sing on TV … But God had something else in mind, and He always knows what's best. The show has been the joy of my life."


Ralna grew up in Texas attending First Methodist Church of Spur and Asbury in Lubbock. "I thank God for my upbringing … I knew at age seven that Jesus loved me and that He was really my friend."


She began singing professionally when she was 13 and, while attending Texas Tech University, was recruited to perform at Six Flags Over Texas in Dallas. She sang commercial jingles and performed in nightclubs, finding her way in 1967 to a club in Santa Monica, California, where she met her singer-guitarist husband, Guy Hovis.


The club was not far from Welk's office, where she auditioned for the famous band leader and got the nod several months later to join his show at the age of 27. That was in 1969. She managed to convince Welk soon after to let her husband join the cast as her duet partner.


As "Guy and Ralna" sang love songs together, they projected the image of a happily married couple, and they had a daughter in 1977. But their marriage struggled off stage and they separated the following year, though continuing to perform together on Welk's show. Against this backdrop of tension in her work and home life, Ralna began to develop a fear of singing in front of people and became physically and mentally exhausted.


She disclosed that an emotional breakdown in 1980 was the turning point in her life - when she had a personal encounter with God after lashing out at Him in anger for abandoning her.


"I was hospitalised and dehydrated and felt very alone and isolated," she recalled. "I felt a hand lay on top of my right hand and felt this reassurance and my soul coming back into my body. I felt a love that cannot be described in words on the earth. And from that point on, I knew."

Her marriage ended, but her spiritual life was reborn. She threw herself into study of the Bible and gradually rebuilt her performing confidence. Today at 63, she performs in various venues from symphony halls to casino halls and in musical genres from gospel to rock to jazz. While she enjoys the freedom of choosing her own material, she finds singing spiritual music and hymns the most rewarding.


"It gives me greater joy today to sing that music," she said. "I have this need to express my love for God. He's changed my life, and He's changed my path."
She also is proud of her contribution to Welk's show, celebrating its 50th year on national television and holding the distinction as the highest-rated syndicated series on public television.


"People have watched 'The Lawrence Welk Show' for years as a family. It's a safe haven," she said. "There's a great need for wholesome entertainment today that you can watch with your children and grandchildren without feeling uncomfortable." - United Methodist News Service.

Marta W. Aldrich is a freelance writer in Franklin, Tennessee.