Glenn Schwartz (born 1941) first came to the attention of rock music audiences as the original guitarist for The James Gang,with Joe Zaucha, original bass player based in Cleveland.
He left the James Gang in early 1968 when he moved to California. He later joined the Los Angeles based Blues band Pacific Gas & Electric and, in 1970, scored a national top 20 hit with the song "Are You Ready?".
Tired of the rock and roll life, he left PG&E to join a pioneering Gospel rock group The All Saved Freak Band, which was the musical evangelistic arm of an Ohio religious group-turned-cult, the Church of the Risen Christ, headed by Larry Hill.
Schwartz recorded four albums with the Freak Band before leaving it in 1980.
Christian conversion:
While in Los Angeles on tour with the James Gang in 1968, Schwartz strolled onto the infamous Sunset Strip and stopped next to a small group of people listening to street preacher Arthur Blessitt. Some time later he professed conversion to Christianity, saying "I was finally blessed by mercy for I heard the Gospel of Christ."
Following his conversion, his zealous, new-found faith was not accepted well by the band, his family or his friends. "I had some Christian friends who had some round stickers that read 'Real Peace Is In Jesus' and we stuck those all over our clothes" he reported. "We put some on Janis Joplin but she didn't like it and took them off. I remember she got pretty upset. At the time, the bikers Hell's Angels really liked my music and style of guitar playing because it was so out of control like they were. They didn't mind I talked about Jesus because they liked the music. But Janis was pretty rude and nasty to them and I know they didn't like Janis or her music."
