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BiographyDonnie Gossett is a musician, singer and songwriter with an extensive background in communications. He has performed 700+ concerts in 20+ countries and written 450+ songs and recorded 50+ albums and created 100+ videos. In his early teens Donnie formed a family music group with his siblings known as The Gossetts. They performed concerts during the early 1970s including at the Calgary Stampede, Edmonton Klondike Days and opened an Easter Sunday concert for Andraé Crouch & The Disciples and The Pat Boone Family at the Waikiki Bowl in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Gossetts recorded an album on Praise Records We Are One in 1971 with Mike Flicker as the engineer (who went onto produce multi-platinum albums for fellow Vancouver band, Heart).
As Donnie developed his musical skills, he began to play with top musicians of the day such as Danniebelle, Fletch Wiley and Bill Maxwell. When The Imperials came to Vancouver without a backup band, Donnie filled in on bass guitar even though he was only 17. Donnie wrote a few simple tunes in his pre-teen years but started writing seriously at age 15. Since then his song-writing catalog has over 400 songs in a large variety of styles including several musical productions for the stage written with his brother, Michael Leon Gossett.
Salvation Air Force
As a high school student Donnie formed a pioneer Canadian rock and roll band called Salvation Air Force. Donnie was the musical leader, songwriter, lead vocalist and primary instrumentalist of the band (1972-1980) who toured across Canada and the U.S. Salvation Air Force performed at the World’s Fair Expo 74, Lodestone 74, Lodestone 75, Lodestone 78, Searchlight 78 and Searchlight 79. They shared the stage with: Larry Norman, Randy Stonehill, Honeytree, Wing And A Prayer, The Way, Ron Salsbury And The J.C. Power Outlet, Good News, Mike Johnson, Marj Snyder and Terry Talbot. Salvation Air Force signed with Larry Norman in 1977 and released their first album, Strangers In A Strange Land on the label, Myrrh Records. The album was produced by Dana Angle (of The Way) and Larry Norman along with Donnie and his brother, Michael Gossett, and featured supporting performances by Judy Gossett, Larry Norman , Randy Stonehill, Sandra Crouch, Mike Escalante, Dana Angle Bruce Herring, Alex MacDougall, Al Perkins, Tom Howard, Nancy Short, Joy Strange Cull, Jon Linn, John Pantano and James Gabriel. Donnie and his brother, Michael have also made breakthroughs in comedy with their classic parody CrossCo Records (Jukebox In Your Heart) which appeared on the SAF album, Not Sleep Music. They recorded comedy with Larry Norman, Tom Howard, Alex MacDougall and Daniel Amos.
Other Artists
Donnie paused from SAF to tour in the bands of other artists of the 1970s. He toured Asia with Living Sound along with singer/songwriter Jim Gilbert. They played concerts at the official Christmas concert for the colony of Hong Kong, military bases for the U.S., Vietnamese and Philippine armies and on the streets and prisons of the Philippines. He also toured with Reba Rambo at the height of her career. As the lead guitarist and emcee of her band, he toured across the U.S. including a national television appearance and headlining at Disneyland. They shared the stage with Keith Green, B.J. Thomas, Mike Warnke, Andraé Crouch & The Disciples, Danniebelle, Seawind, David Meece, The Pat Terry Group and Parable.
Touring Around The World
Donnie took his first trip to South America in 1991 where he performed in Buenos Aires, Argentina concluding in the large Boca Soccer Stadium with tens of thousands present. He then returned to South America in 1992 to perform in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. Donnie has been involved in music and speaking in the U.S., Canada, Grenada, Israel, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Viet Nam, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, India and Haiti. In 2008 Donnie performed with Dogs With Pockets and Acoustic Groove with pop/blues singer, Glenda Rae. Donnie recently hosted a tribute night to his mentor, the late Larry Norman. For 2009 Donnie's recent projects include working with his life-long friend, Ron Stelting, called The Ronnie and Donnie Show along with renowned bassist and vocalist, Linda Kidder, his acoustic duet with Glenda Rae and forming the Vancouver band, Friendly Giant.
DONNIE'S BANDS
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