One Thousand Words of A Press Release

For Immediate Release

What: Johnny K. Stardust
Where: Picadoo Cinema Six, 123 Main Street, San Bernardino, CA
When: Sunday, August 14, 2011
Time: 11:00 am
Ticket Price: $55 & $30

Johnny K. Stardust, Evangelist Rock Star, to Perform Benefit for
The Fiery Embrace of Christ’s Love Ministry on Sunday, August 14, 2011

The Fiery Embrace of Christ’s Love Ministry is proud to present Johnny K. Stardust, one of the seminal figures in evangelical rock music, on Sunday, August 14, 2011 at the Picadoo Cinema Six. Reserved seats for the 11 am show are $50 or $30, with additional discounts for seniors and children. Tickets can be purchased by calling The Fiery Embrace of Christ’s Love Ministry at 768-ILOVEGOD or online at http://www.christlovefire.com.

At a time when less adventurous performers preferred to stick exclusively to being either a holier than thou evangelical minister or a down and dirty rock star, Johnny K. Stardust has the experience and spiritual conviction to be both. Johnny K. Stardust has been a dominant presence in evangelical rock music, both in the US and abroad, for over thirty years. He has shared stages, TV shows and recording studios with some of the most revered performers of our time including Donny Osmond, Pat Boone and Barbara Mandrell. The Bismark Telegraph said “Stardust plays the guitar while he preaches and preaches while he plays the guitar; he’s a guitar playing preacher”

John Willie Denton (aka Johnny K. Stardust) was born Tunica, Mississippi. He was the youngest of thirteen brothers and sisters who grew up on a farm working beside his parents and grandparents. On Sundays his father was the preacher in the area’s Mormon church. Johnny’s earliest memories include his mother playing her washboard accompanying his grandfather on the spoons during his father’s church services.

When he was thirteen, Johnny was arrested for was drunk and disorderly conduct, and public urination. While serving a three month sentence in the Dessert Valley Correctional Facility, he met and formed a friendship with Sister Wanda, a nun who served as the jailhouse nurse. After hearing Johnny sing in the prison’s barbershop quartet, Sister Wanda gave him a used guitar that a death row inmate had left behind. Young Johnny practiced every day and, just six months after being paroled, he made his debut appearance playing “Amazing Grace” on “The Piggly Wiggly Holy Hour,” a 15-minute radio show broadcast live across Mississippi and parts of Arkansas. The star of the show was the famous minister / tenor Rev. Solomon P. Wiseman. After Johnny’s first appearance on the show, Rev. Wiseman took the young guitarist on a long walk, down the lonely, dusty road behind the radio station. No one knows what was said during that mysterious journey, but Johnny was profoundly changed after the conversation and, except for a few years in the late seventies, Johnny and his guitar and his Lord Savior Jesus Christ have been inseparable ever since.

Johnny played regularly on “The Piggly Wiggly Holy Hour” for two years. He also was invited to join Rev. Wiseman on tour. They saved souls and pleased ears from Florida to Oklahoma until Rev. Wiseman’s arrest for embezzlement and fraud.

Left to his own devices at only seventeen years of age, Johnny moved to New Orleans and played his guitar on street corners in the French Quarter. He made just enough in tips to rent a small room in the famous bordello, The Red Rooster. In his spare time he preached to the ladies of the evening, saving many of them from the fiery pits of hell.

One Friday afternoon just before Christmas, a strange man approached Johnny at his regular street corner by the “Bayou Dinette.” The man extended a handshake to Johnny saying, “Hello, I’m Elvis Presley.” He’d heard about Johnny. “I didn’t know what Elvis looked like but I knew it was his voice ’cause I’d listened to his records,” says Johnny. Elvis needed a guitar player and backup singer and he asked Johnny to play a gig with him. Johnny remained in Elvis’s band until the star’s death in 1977.

With the loss of Elvis, Johnny experienced an extreme crisis of faith. He turned from the Lord to alcohol and loose women. Unable to play while drunk and unwilling to try manual labor, Johnny returned to New Orleans and lived on the streets. He pawned his guitar for money to buy scotch. One day, while begging on the street for change, the ghost of his friend and mentor, Elvis Presley, appeared before him. “Johnny,” he said. “You’ve got them all shook up in heaven, man. You’re supposed to be an evangelical rock star, not a bum.”

Inspired by the holy visit, Johnny quit drinking cold turkey and found a job polishing shoes. He saved his money and purchased his guitar back. He also started attending church again and began accompanying the choir on his guitar. One day after a particularly stunning solo during “How Great Thou Art” a man approached Johnny and offered him a recording contract.

Johnny’s first album “Johnny K. Stardust: Guitar Man for The Lord” sold over 750 copies worldwide. Sales of his second album “Johnny K. Stardust: Crown of Thorns and Guitar Strings” went aluminum in just eighteen months. With the great success of his recording career, Johnny was able to start his own ministry (Johnny K. Stardust’s Church) and hosted a regular Sunday morning television program on public access channel 12 called “Rejoice with Johnny K. Stardust.”

The Johnny K. Stardust Band has toured thirty-eight of the fifty states and has made special appearances overseas in Canada, Mexico and Portugal. His book “What Would Johnny K. Stardust Do” is in the top 5,000 on Amazon.com and his spiritual guitar instruction video has had over five hundred views on You Tube.

Don’t miss the legendary evangelical rocker Johnny K. Stardust and his band in a live concert to benefit The Fiery Embrace of Christ’s Love Ministry at 11 am on August 15. You’ll be kicking yourself in hell if you do!