De Garmo and Key - Facts

Facts

• DeGarmo & Key were nominated for seven Grammy Awards and 17 Dove Awards.
• Eddie and Dana grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, near Graceland. The liner notes from Greatest Hits Volume 1 cites Elvis Presley as a musical influence.
• Season 3 American Idol finalist Diana DeGarmo is the niece of Eddie DeGarmo.
• Eddie and Dana were originally in a short-lived band named Globe. After Eddie & Dana became Christians, they approached the other band members wanting to change the direction of the band to Christian music. After much discussion, Dana & Eddie parted as friends, leaving Globe (around 1973). The remaining Globe members continued and in 1975, changed the name of the band to Natchez. Natchez is still together and performing in the Memphis/Mid-South area 38 years later. Before Dana & Eddie recorded their first studio album, the pair had left Globe(due to becoming Christians), and for a short time, stopped performing music in live venues. They were later influenced by Larry Norman's album Only Visiting This Planet. They saw in Larry's work what they believed God could do through Contemporary Christian music and so started The DeGarmo & Key Band (the name listed on their first four albums), later shortening the name to DeGarmo & Key.
• Bassist Tommy Cathey's trademark look was a black suit and shirt with a white tie, white fedora with a black band, and sunglasses.
• "Are You Ready" from Communication was a cover of the 1970 hit single by Pacific Gas & Electric (band).
• DeGarmo & Key were the first Christian group to have a music video appear on MTV. The original video for the song "Six, Six, Six" was one of a number of videos that MTV pulled from rotation due to violent content. The purge was a public reaction to the U.S. Senate hearings on sex and violence in music. MTV had ironically misinterpreted the song "Six, Six, Six" as an anti-Christian statement. According to industry news reports at the time, MTV exec Sandra Sparrow was unaware that DeGarmo & Key were a Christian band when she included the video in a list of videos to be excised. An embarrassed MTV allowed DeGarmo & Key to submit a re-edited version, which was placed back into rotation. Removed from the re-edited video was a short scene of a man representing the Antichrist being set on fire.
• The album D&K was packaged with a second cassette with identical content, but a different color theme. The package was intended to be purchased at the price of a single cassette, then the second cassette was to be given to an "unsaved friend".
• The Album "D&K" came in 3 different versions --- LP, Cassette & CD. Each version of the album had different song lengths.
• The song "Don't Stop the Music" was a response to the anti-"Christian Rock" position of evangelist Jimmy Swaggart.
• The liner notes to the album D&K, for the song "Brother Against Brother" included the words "dedicated to Jimmy Swaggart" blacked out but still visible on close inspection.
• Of all of the group's backing musicians, Tommy Cathey (bass guitar) and Greg Morrow (drums) played the most with Eddie DeGarmo & Dana Key.