In 1972 I met Dear at a concert he was singing in. My best friend just started singing with this group and I accompanied her to the concert. Dear and I became attracted to each other later that year after I auditioned for the group and joined. In the summer of 1973 and 1974 Dear and I toured England with this American Christian Rock Group. We were called the “Contemporaries”. Never to be confused with the Continentals! These articles and photos are a combination of our tours in ’73 and ’74. Dear and I were engaged during the ’74 tour and got married December of that year.
I’m one of the singers on the far right and Dear is right next to me.
“The American evangelical folk-rock group The Contemporaries received a superstar welcome when they played last week in St John’s Church, Waterloo. More than 600 children between the ages of 12 and 18, together with a small number of adults, packed the building for the hour-long concert which featured the latest in religious music. Outside local residents opened doors and windows to hear the music from the church and later a spokesman for the group said ‘The audiences on Merseyside are far warmer than any we ever had in ten years of playing in the states.”
“A band of young people spreading the word of God in their own unique way are the Contemporaries. The young American group have been touring England for the last two weeks at their own expense. The group visited Liverpool before making a tour of local schools.”
I’m in the front row standing on the right with Dear next to me of this picture with Dear.
“Hymns gave way to Jesus rock in morning assembly at St. George’s Church of England School, in Meadow Road, Gravesend yesterday. The concert was given by the Contemporaries, 14 musicians from the United States, who are in the middle of a world tour. They have already completed a number of successful “gigs” in Liverpool. They are all professional musicians, but they are giving their services free. They have also appeared at Gordon Secondary School for Girls and today they will be at Northfleet Count Secondary School for Girls. On Friday they will be at Gordon Secondary School for Boys and on Monday Southfields High School.” [this article was pretty sensationalized…the band were professionals, not the vocalists. Our World tour consisted of 4 weeks in England]
We have great memories of our tours in England. Dear went on 2 previous tours before I joined the group. We were able to sing in schools for their religious hour. It was exciting for us to be able to give testimonies and talk about Jesus at schools. (couldn’t do that in the U.S.)
It was hilarious that the kids would chase after us and want to get our autographs. After our school concerts during the day we would sing at a town hall or church at night and many of the students from the schools would come again to hear us.
I’m in the middle of all those young girls!
Dear and I left the group in the mid 70’s after we were married.
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 
