Pat Boone: Patriot, Performer, Faithful Christian

Pat Boone, all-American singer, actor and composer, is as busy and sharp as ever at 89 years old. As a 19-year-old, he married also 19-year-old Shirley Foley, daughter of Classic Country star Red Foley. They remained married until her passing at the age of 84 in 2019.

Born and raised in the South, he graduated from Columbia University. Boone sold more than 45 million records, had 38 Top 40 hits, and appeared in more than 12 Hollywood films.

Billboard notes that Boone was the second-biggest-charting artist of the late 1950s, behind only Elvis Presley, and was ranked at No. 9 in its listing of the Top 100 Top 40 Artists 1955–1995.

Boone is one of the few performers who isn’t afraid to take a stand, including refusing risqué roles. Noting that other artists would be forgotten or canceled, I wanted to know the secret to his success.

“I think people have learned: I’m not condemning anybody. I have beliefs that America had all along. I have family who don’t believe what I do. I’m gonna stand up and promote my way of life.”

Boone has never shied away from supporting various conservative political candidates. He attends many important Christian meetings and recalls with fondness being honored by Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy at one of them.

Boone spoke to me by phone from Nashville. “I grew up here,” he reminisced. “Mama was an RN, she had scalpels. She turned roosters into fat capons!” He grew up on 10 acres with a vegetable garden. “We drank cow milk right out of the cow, a gallon a day!” He credits this with his being athletic. Boone confessed that he ordered a milk on the plane out to Tennessee.

We discussed his book that came out last year, If. It connects how God took one man – him – and bestowed so many blessings. “The word ‘if’ is the most important word in the Bible. Do you worry about your family? I do! I write letters to my daughters, they’ll probably publish them posthumously. They grew up in Beverly Hills. I tried to raise them with “Tennessee standards.” We had Sunday church and Wednesday Bible reading.”

“Not one of my four daughters had an apartment of their own. They married at 20, 21. I have 16 grandkids.”

This sparked my curiosity as to Debby Boone, who covered and interpreted the award-winning You Light Up My Life as an inspirational song about God. Pat Boone alluded to family members who didn’t believe as he did. Did that include Debby? Matter-of-fact Boone admitted that it did.

“She has friends who believe a lot differently, live differently. She had a car. She’d come home from opening acts, sleep in her own bed: I still have that Beverly Hills house! Debby’s husband is an Episcopal minister (Gabriel Ferrer, son of the late actor José Ferrer and singer Rosemary Clooney).”

Things sure seem different in California, on all levels. He described how, with his heated pool, there had been 300 baptisms. “God’s word has never changed, never will.”

We were laughing when I pointed out that Boone has always been described as “squeaky clean.” To that effect, he previewed that he’s writing a couple of songs “calling the nation to prayer.”

He recalled that early in his career, both he and Elvis performed R&B music, which was then referred to as “race music.” After an appearance on American Bandstand, “I was labeled as a ‘rock and roller,'” he chuckled.

Along with the Bible, one of Boone’s favorite subjects is the nexus between prayer and traditional political values. He is well-familiar with our Founding Fathers, how they grew up and how America was seen as “The New Jerusalem.”

He noted, “We’re learning to stand up for ourselves. Many nations have forsaken the Bible. Gallup (the poll) says less than 50% of Americans read the Bible or pray. We can’t claim to be ‘A nation under God’. This is my 45^th year of reading (the whole) Bible. I learn more each time. I’m friends with (Israeli Prime Minister) Netanyahu.”

As to illegals entering the U.S., he says, “Eight million, just walking across the borders. No (other) country would put up with that.”