“I am deeply honored to lead Word into their 60th year of making Christian music and pay tribute to their prolific history by hosting a year-long celebration. Word has been such an instrumental, groundbreaking force in paving the way for our genre and we look forward to honoring this legacy as we continue to partner with artists and the church in the years to come,” said Rod Riley, President and CEO of Word Entertainment.

A leader in the music industry, Word Entertainment, a Warner/Curb company, is a unique, comprehensive entertainment company comprised of multi-faceted artist service departments including publishing, merchandising, booking, and online initiatives. Word Entertainment represents some of the top names and brands in music, including Meredith Andrews, Chris August, BarlowGirl, Francesca Battistelli, Big Daddy Weave, Group 1 Crew, Point Of Grace, Mark Schultz, Sidewalk Prophets and Chris Sligh and is home to Word Distribution, Word Print, 25 LIVE, Word Music Publishing and Word Label Group’s Word Records and Fervent Records.

About George Beverly Shea
George Beverly Shea was born Feb. 1, 1909. By the time he was 20, Bev had identified his passion of communication. Fresh from Houghton College, Bev began singing on WMCA. After a 10-year stint at WMCA, he moved to Chicago and became an announcer and staff soloist at WMBI. Beginning in 1944, he became a soloist on ABC's "Club Time." It was during his years at ABC that George crossed paths with a fiery young preacher from North Carolina named Billy Graham. As a guest soloist, Bev made his first appearance onstage with Dr. Graham in 1947. More than 70 recordings on RCA and Word Records, numerous awards, including a GRAMMY, induction into the Gospel Music Association Gospel Music Hall of Fame and the National Religious Broadcasters Hall of Fame, and two doctorates later, the rest is history.

For more information please visit, www.WordLabelGroup.com.