Learning quickly was crucial for a singer new to the Christian music group Avalon, which just won a Dove Award.
By NATALIE NICHOLS GILLESPIE
Published May 16, 2004
At 7, Melissa McLellan Greene skipped around her Largo home, singing into a hairbrush and imagining life as a stage performer.
Fast-forward almost 20 years. Greene walked across a stage in Nashville last month to accept the highest honor in Christian music - a GMA Music Dove Award, the Christian equivalent of a Grammy.
The grown-up Greene is now one-fourth of the American Music Award-winning act Avalon, a group she joined almost two years ago after former member Cherie Adams departed.
"It all started with the hairbrush and then a Mr. Microphone (toy), all through the house," said Greene's stepdad, Rick Hoppes of Largo.
"Her older sister used to get so mad, because she sang all around the house her entire waking hours," said her mother, Cindy Hoppes.
Greene grew up with her mom, stepdad and two sisters, performing in Figaro at Lynch Elementary School, singing in the chorus at Osceola Middle and Osceola High schools and in the choir at First Baptist Church of Indian Rocks. Churchgoers and pastor Charlie Martin watched her grow from the little girl with the great big voice into a poised young woman who pursued a career in Christian music.
"I actually went to an Avalon concert when I was 16 and really felt like God put a calling on my life that night to use my gift for him," said Greene, who now has a solo album out titled Then and There. "I never dreamed I would one day be part of them."
At that show, Greene met the parents of singer Jody McBrayer, a member of the chart-topping act. They stayed in touch with the high schooler and encouraged her to audition for a scholarship for the music program at Liberty University, the school their son had attended.
Greene did the audition - but she did not get the scholarship. She ended up at Lee University, joining that school's singing group and later auditioning for a position in the recording group Truth.
At the university and as a member of Truth, Greene traveled the world singing and getting her professional stage legs. Then Avalon member Cherie Adams got married and decided to leave.
McBrayer remembered Greene and asked fellow members Janna Long and Michael Passons if she could audition for Avalon.
Greene got the job - and she had only a couple of weeks to prepare for her first Avalon tour.
"Melissa came and fit right in; she has just been amazing," McBrayer said. "We had concerts already scheduled, and she had just a short time to learn the songs, but she has done a great job."
"Melissa is a very gifted singer," said Long. "She's so professional, and she didn't miss a beat when she came into the group. We've all had a great time working with her."
"I had grown up listening to Avalon songs," Greene said, "but learning all the parts that would be mine and all the harmonies so quickly was tough."
The singer rose to the challenge, and entered the studio with the group in the fall of 2002 to record three new songs for a greatest hits album, Testify to Love: The Very Best of Avalon, which was released last year.
The first song that included Greene on lead vocals was the power ballad Everything to Me. It became the album's first radio single and topped the Christian adult contemporary chart.
Then Avalon suffered a serious blow when founding member Passons unexpectedly announced his departure. Greene and her husband, Ben, had just settled into a new home in Nashville, and now the future of the million-selling act was anything but certain.
"In just over a year we lost Cherie, then Michael, and we really had to ask God whether we were supposed to continue," McBrayer said. "We came very close to quitting."
During the same time period, Long and McBrayer suffered yet another loss when an executive on their record label, close friend Grant Cunningham, died suddenly while playing recreational soccer. The group members decided to ask Long's husband, Greg, a veteran solo artist and songwriter, to join them to fulfill already-booked concert dates while they determined the group's future.
"We kept playing shows and praying for God's will, and we really began to feel his presence at our shows like never before," McBrayer said. "We became really excited about Avalon again."
Greg agreed to stay on, and the newly revamped Avalon entered the studio last fall to record an entire new project, The Creed, which was released in February on Sparrow, right around the same time that Everything to Me received the Dove nomination for best inspirational recorded song. The song won the honor at the 35th annual GMA Music Awards April 28.
Greene's parents attended the show and proudly watched their daughter receive the award. They'll get to relive the moment at home in Largo when the awards show airs on UPN at 8 p.m. on May 28.
"To God be the glory, always," Greene said backstage in Nashville after the win. "But it does feel good. It feels amazing."
