Over the years, Janice Kapp Perry has written a lot of songs that have been sung at a lot of LDS missionary farewells.
When it came time for her own farewell, however, she asked her son, Steven, and her daughter, Lynne Perry Christofferson, to write the songs. It was a move that not only shows how musically talented the family is from top to bottom, but is also indicative of a change that will be occurring professionally. As Janice and her husband, Doug, leave for the Chile Santiago West mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, they are turning the reins of their Prime Music company over to their children.
The Perrys entered the mission home on May 21 and will leave for Santiago in July.
Janice released her first album in 1978 — mostly a collection of songs she had written for her ward and stake. Since then her repertoire has grown to include more than 800 songs, 40 recorded albums, two full-length musicals, eight sacred cantatas and several albums in Japanese, Spanish and Korean. Her songs have been performed by everyone from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Mormon Youth Chorus and Symphony to ward and stake choirs all over the church. In recent years she has teamed up with Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, for a number of spiritual/patriotic songs.
In 2001 she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Faith Centered Music Association.
Not bad for a woman who only started composing music because she broke her ankle playing basketball. "Sports were my first love," she says. "But I decided I needed to pursue a safer activity." She grew up in a musical family, she says, and composing seemed to come naturally. And her songs seemed to capture universal feelings and emotions.
But now the time has come to trade her composer's pen for the tools of a missionary.
Doug, who has helped run the family music business, is proficient in languages. "I knew he wanted to go on a mission, but I was kind of dragging my feet." says Janice. "Things have really been going strong for us the last 10 years. He just said, 'let me know when you're ready.' "
About a year ago, Janice says, she was sitting in a church meeting, and she knew the time had come. "I knew I had a year to get ready, and then it was time to go."
She has received a lot of accolades in her career, and she has appreciated them. But, she says, "we felt it was time to give a more humble, more anonymous kind of service. We just wanted to be regular missionaries."
The call to Chile was a bit of a surprise, she says. "Doug is fluent in French, Russian and Italian. But now we both get to learn Spanish."
But, it was a pleasant surprise. "We're very excited. Although it will be hard to leave the kids (son John also works in the family business; another son, Robert, is more into computers than music) and the grandkids (they have 13). We've been practicing sending pictures over the computer."
And they won't be leaving music entirely behind, either. "One of the things we'll be doing is teaching the people there how to play hymns on the keyboard — the church has what it calls the 'LDS 50,' a keyboard that provides nice organ music, and there's an easy method to teach people how to play 50 hymns."
As for Prime Music, things will continue there, as well. Lynne released her debut CD, "Keeping Sheep," last fall. "I'll keep writing, but I'm on the 'Mommy schedule.' A lot depends on what the kids are doing."
Steven, who already has an impressive list of credits to his name, will be going into the studio in June to begin recording a collection of songs keyed to the LDS family proclamation.
"We've also got a missionary collection (including the songs written for the farewell) we're hoping to get out this summer," says John, who runs the business end of the company. "And Mom is leaving songs she has written for a new children's album." So, he says, even though it's going to be "really quiet" around the office, there's a lot of work to do.
But, adds Lynne "this is something they've talked about for a long time. We kids have all been on missions. We're happy Mom will now have this experience."
For as long as Lynne can remember, music has been part of the Perrys' lives. "When we were kids they used to give us a bath and then put on classical music for us to dance to until we got tired. Dad was into classical music, Mom was more into country. So we got a little bit of everything."
"Mom started writing about the time I started singing," adds Steven. "So I always had something to sing, and she always had someone to sing her songs. It worked out well."
And knowing his mother, he says, "this time she'll come home with a folder full of new songs — all written in Spanish."
E-mail: carma@desnews.com