At a recent concert, a subscriber came up to me and asked "Who has appeared more often on the cover of
Singing News?" Now, as editor of that magazine, you'd think I'd readily know that answer.
Nope.
I
had my suspicions however, and since curiosity was going to get the
best of me, I started digging through the archives, The first
Singing News
magazine appeared in 1983, prior issues were in newspaper format and
rarely featured just one artist on the cover. In fact, most of the
items that appeared on the front page were articles about upcoming
concert events.
But all of that changed with the May 1983 issue. Appearing on the first "magazine-styled" publication of
Singing News was
Kelly Nelon Thompson. And, for you trivia buffs, the June 1983 issue's cover was of the
Cathedrals.
Speaking of the
Cathedrals,
many people think that this mega-group has graced the cover of the
magazine more than any other artist. While that's not true, their eight
appearances is rather remarkable, considering the fact that it's been
10 years since the group's retirement. The group's covers were June
'83, November '85, September '87, October '91, January '93, September
'94, September '96 and September '99.
To date, the
Hoppers, the
Kingdom Heirs and the
Kingsmen have appeared
nine times. Here's the breakdown:
Hoppers------
July '84, October '88, August '90, June '93, April '95, September '97, May '01, November '03 and September 06.
Kingdom Heirs-----------
April '88, December '91, August '95, February '97, June '99, March '02, September '03. March '06 and September '08.
Kingsmen-------
August '83, November '86, October '89, September '90, October '93, September '95, April '99, September '04 and March '07.
One artist has appeared on the cover
10 times. The
McKameys
were on the front for the June '85, April '86, October '87, April '89,
October '90, April '93, March '95, September '98, October '03 and the
February '08 issues.
However, leading the way with the total number of cover appearances is
Gold City, who can claim
11
cover features to their credit. See if you have all of these copies:
October '83, December '87, July '90, July '93, March '94, Feb '96, July
'98, August '00, August '03, September '05 and August '07.
Taking
a look at other notable multiple appearances, Greater Vision and the
Florida Boys have seven, as do the Inspirations and the Perrys. The
Dixie Melody Boys, the Crabb Family, Karen Peck & New River and the
Greenes have six.
If you
really want to muddy the waters a little bit, an argument can be made
for adding one cover each to the McKameys and the Inspirations, as they
were featured on one cover together in April '01. You also argue the
same point for Karen Peck & New River as Karen had a solo cover in
August of '89.