When a person suffers a major health crisis like a heart attack it can be a scary time – even for the most stable and confident among us. But when Randy Colbourne of Springdale faced one nearly four years ago, he recovered and came out of it with a new outlook and passion for something he’d been doing for more than 10 years previously.
Colbourne has been singing gospel music publically for more than 15 years now. It’s something he says he enjoys doing, but was never able to take the extra step and pursue much farther than his friends, family and local church.
“I had a problem that I guess you could say was a lack of self-confidence,” he says. “I’m not the brightest guy around – I don’t have much education, but singing was something I loved to do, without a doubt.”
Aside from sharing his talent with a few folks around, the idea of going broader was never something that occurred to him, he says – that was until his body took hold, and his heart had other plans.
“I ended up with a major heart attack – well, quite frankly, the doctors still aren’t sure how I’m still here,” he says, now, in a half-joking way. Perhaps because he feels he himself knows the reason he’s still here, as since that fateful day, his life has taken on a new role, and his music has been used to touch lives all over through his new endeavors in the recording studio.
“About a year after the heart attack, I started thinking about making a CD,” he says. “First I figured it would be good to have something around if anything were to happen again, and I not walk away as lucky. Then as I got into it I realized there was a whole lot more to it.”
Colbourne approached local producer Glenn Thomas of ITuneAudio Studios. Thomas became the shy confidence-lacking man’s source of encouragement and support as the journey began to unfold.
“Glenn really came on side and was a huge encouragement to me,” he recalled. “He’s a man of many talents and he made sure what we were doing was going to come together as best as it could.”
A short time later, Colbourne released his debut album, ‘Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.’ A collection of original and classic gospel tunes that people have enjoyed to the full.
That album sold brilliantly, he says, as the reviews started pouring in from people he’d never met, who had found the album and received comfort in troubling times.
“I was shocked – I was getting calls from all over. I remember one day a guy from Grand Falls-Windsor called me and said he found the CD in a gas station, and bought it, and driving down the highway he had to give me a call and tell me how much it meant to him. That was amazing to me – it really was.”
Other similar stories started popping up, and soon, Colbourne realized that his music was going much farther than he ever could. But with the success of his debut, the inevitable was bound to happen.
“The first album was out for a year or so, and then I started thinking about doing the second one,” he explains. “I wrote a couple of songs, and a little while ago I called Glenn up again and told him I was ready, and he said ‘let’s do it.’”
The journey to the sophomore album was also a rough one, though, as more health issues plagued Colbourne, and tried to hinder his ability to get the project out on time.
“I was delayed a bit because of some health problems, but it got done, and I’m happy with how it turned out,” he said. Randy Colbourne’s second album, “’Till the Storm Passes By” is now available through the region and province.
As for the shy confidence-lacking musician within, Colbourne says he’s still there, but he tries to keep him at bay when he’s called on to do what he calls his ministry.
“I love to sing,” he said. “But I don’t sing just for the sake of singing. It’s a ministry. I need to have a reason to do something, and with this, I want the Lord to be the reason.”
editor@thenorwester.ca
