Stebbins, George C(oles)

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Stebbins, George C(oles)

Stebbins, George C(oles), noted American evangelistic singer, composer, and editor; b. East Carlton, N.Y, Feb. 26, b1846;d.Catskill, N.Y, Oct. 6, 1945. He received instruction in singing schools and learned to play the piano in his youth, then studied singing in Rochester, N.Y, where he sang in a church choir. In 1870 he joined the Lyon & Healy Co. in Chicago where he also was music director in several Baptist churches; then held similar posts in Boston (1874–76). In 1876 he began appearing as an evangelistic singer with Dwight L. Moody, and became active as a composer of gospel songs and hymns. With Sankey and McGranahan, he ed. Vols. 3 to 6 of the Gospel Hymns and Sacred Songs series (1878–91; reprinted as Gospel Hymns nos. 1–6 Complete, 1894). Among his best-known hymns are Jesus Is Tenderly Calling Today (1883), Take Time to Be Holy (1890), and Have Thine Own Way, Lord (1907).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire