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Nelly (Ward) Greisen (born on December 11, 1955) is best known a part of the Jesus music and contemporary Christian music group 2nd Chapter of Acts. She joined her older sister, Annie Herring, and younger brother, Matthew Ward, to form the group which began singing together in 1970 and disbanded in 1988. Greisen then turned her attention to being a full-time mother to her two sons, and to supporting her husband, Steve Greisen, in his video business.
Early years
Nelly Greisen was born in North Dakota, the eighth of nine children born to Walter and Kathrine “Elizabeth” Ward. Because of her mother’s deteriorating health, Greisen's family moved to Rancho Cordova, near Sacramento, California, when she was 7, to be closer to relatives. Her mother eventually died in 1968, as the result of an operation on a benign brain tumor. Her father died only two years later, to the day, in 1970, from leukemia. Greisen was then 14 years old.
When she was orphaned, Greisen and her younger brother, 12-year-old Matthew, went to live with their older sister, Annie Herring, and her new husband, a record producer by the name of Buck Herring. Buck and Annie had been praying for her younger siblings for quite a while, so for the two children to come live with the couple was “a foregone conclusion”. However, there was still some conflict as the two families tried to merge, especially as Buck and Matthew tended not to see eye-to-eye on things, and Greisen's compassionate heart sided with her brother against their new “father”.
Career years
Soon after Greisen and Matthew came to live with the Herrings, the three siblings began singing together around Annie’s battered upright piano. Annie usually sang lead, Matthew harmonized, and Greisen found the missing notes between the two. Although she rarely sang lead, Greisen's harmonies tended to be more complicated than her brother’s. From time to time, Greisen would also add to the lyrics of the songs that Annie wrote. The three continued in these roles throughout their career as a music group, although they each also took a turn at singing lead during concerts. Some of the group’s best loved songs, including “Mountain Tops”, “Make My Life a Prayer to You”, "I Don't Wanna Go Home", and "My Jesus I Love Thee" were performed with Greisen singing lead.
One of Greisen's special roles in the group was to speak out during a concert when she sensed that the Lord was healing a certain type of illness, or that He was touching people in a certain way. Sometimes people would come up to her after the concert and tell her that the Lord had healed them; other times, no one would testify to the fact that they had been healed, although they might approach her about it many years after their healing.
Personal life
In 1976, she met a young singer by the name of Steve Greisen while on tour with Jimmy and Carol Owens' musical, If My People. The two were married in 1978. In the next few years, two sons, Andrew and Jesse, were born to the Greisens. They moved from California to Texas in 1981, and later to Monument, Colorado in 1983.
Greisen has never embarked on a solo musical career. Instead, she prefers to support her husband in his film production and distribution business Exploration Films (explorationfilms.com) which has released numerous faith and family based films. They currently live in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, not far from her brother, Matthew, where Nelly stays active participating on boards for non-profit organizations, volunteering, and singing on local worship teams.
Notes
- ''Encyclopedia of American gospel music'' By W. K. McNeil. Books.google.com. Retrieved 2011-12-20.
- ^ Rewind: Second Chapter of Acts CCMmagazine.com
- ^ Ward, Matthew (2006). My 2nd Chapter: The Matthew Ward Story. Colorado Springs, CO: WaterBrook Press. ISBN 1-4000-7080-5.
- ^ ""The Frame Never Outdid the Picture: The 2nd Chapter of Acts Story" by 2nd Chapter of Acts". 2ndchapterofacts.com. Retrieved 2011-12-25.
- "About 2nd Chapter of Acts by 2nd Chapter of Acts". 2ndchapterofacts.com. Retrieved 2011-12-25.
References
- McNeil, W.K. (2005). Encyclopedia of American gospel music. New York: Routledge. p. 332. ISBN 978-0-415-94179-2. Retrieved December 17, 2009.
- Donaldson, Devlin. "Rewind: 2nd Chapter of Acts". CCM Magazine. Nashville, TN. Retrieved December 17, 2009.
- "The Frame Never Outdid the Picture: The 2nd Chapter of Acts Story". Retrieved December 25, 2011.
- "About 2nd Chapter of Acts". Retrieved December 25, 2011.
- Ward, Matthew (2006). My 2nd Chapter: The Matthew Ward Story. Colorado Springs, CO: WaterBrook Press. ISBN 1-4000-7080-5.