Gospel singer comes to the Cayman Islands Christian Music

Gospel singer comes to the Cayman Islands

September 7, 2005 – 9:56 am

Gospel singer Damaris Carbaugh, soloist with the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, gave a free concert at the First Baptist Church on Wednesday 1 September.

She was stopping at Grand Cayman on her way to the Barefoot and Breaking Free retreat on Cayman Brac.

In between songs, Ms Carbaugh encouraged the audience to trust in God, and said that He could be trusted to see us through even the hardest times, as nothing was too hard for Him.

She spoke about the hurricane damage to New Orleans, but said that she found encouragement here by seeing how people had rebuilt after Hurricane Ivan.

Ms Carbaugh has known commercial success since the age of 15, when she was talent scouted to sing commercial jingles for some of the world’s biggest advertisers including Coca Cola, Pepsi, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Minute Maid and Wrigley’s Double Mint Gum.

Despite such early success, Ms Carbaugh retained a desire to be a servant of Jesus Christ: “I don’t want a career, I want to be faithful,” she said.

Ms Carbaugh’s mother was an evangelist and her father a singer, and when they weren’t preaching the gospel on the road they attended the Thessalonica Church in the South Bronx.

When she was three months old, her parents moved to Cuba to serve as missionaries, in the days before Fidel Castro came to power.

A year later they moved to Puerto Rico and Ms Carbaugh’s childhood years were spent between there and New York.

At the age of eight, Ms Carbaugh gave her life to Christ.

At 15, she was asked to sing at a recording studio, and soon she was in demand by New York producers and advertising agencies.

In 1982, while seeking a secular recording career, she won the American Song Festival Talent Search and received a recording contract with CBS Records.

Her album was released in January 1984, but in Ms Carbaugh’s own words, “It went nowhere.”

A turning point came in 1988, when she visited a group of Christian believers in Argentina who were living in poverty. She was struck by their devotion to the Lord in spite of their circumstances, serving just because they loved Him.

As a result, Ms Carbaugh began praying for ways to use her talents more fully to serve Jesus.

Eventually, she was asked to sing on the bible teaching television programme, “Day of Discovery”, where she sang as both a solo artist and a member of the Discovery Singers. Ms Carbaugh was asked to be the label’s first solo artist, resulting in the album, Never Alone.

Ms Carbaugh has also been singing with the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir and Singers since the early 1980’s and has appeared on many of the choir’s albums.

“It’s easy to say, ‘I just want to be a servant’,” Ms Carbaugh said, “but that’s what I’m striving to be. God has been so merciful to me. I want to share His love and His mercy with others and encourage them to draw closer to the Lord