Jeff Fenholt

Jeffrey Craig Fenholt was born on September 15, 1950, in Columbus, Ohio, to Robert and Janet Fenholt. He had a brother named Tom, two sisters named Nancy and Melinda, and a foster brother named Bill. Fenholt grew up in Columbus, where he participated in rock bands and performed at school functions. At age fourteen, he recorded a regional hit called "Goin' Too Far" with a band called The Fifth Order, and he toured extensively during his high school years. He later attended Ohio State University for two years on a music scholarship. By his own account, he had a juvenile delinquency record as a youth, and during his college years he held jobs at Jeffrey Mining Machinery Co. and at a trucking dock called EC Jones Trucking. He subsequently earned a Bachelor of Arts in music from The School of Bible Theology University in San Jacinto, California.

Fenholt made his Broadway debut in 1971, originating the title role in Jesus Christ Superstar at the Mark Hellinger Theatre. The production's cast recording sold in excess of twelve million albums, and Fenholt's portrayal earned him an appearance on the cover of Time magazine. Cast members Carl Anderson and Yvonne Elliman, who played Judas Iscariot and Mary Magdalene respectively, joined Fenholt on the subsequent world tour of the show.

Following his Broadway run, Fenholt pursued a recording career across multiple labels, including CBS, Capitol Records, Universal, Paramount, Polygram, Polydor, Decca, RCA, and Sony. In 1978, he recorded a disco LP titled Smile for CBS and was paid $300,000 for the project. Among his solo releases was a cover of Graham Nash's "Simple Man." He also co-founded Entertainment Capital Corporation with Jeff Thornburg, former president of The Robert Stigwood Organization. The company produced Andy Warhol's film Bad and recordings for Fenholt. The partnership ended amicably when Thornburg accepted a position as head of venture capital at Paramount Pictures.

In the mid-1970s, Fenholt auditioned for former members of the rock band Alice Cooper following that group's lead singer's departure for a solo career. The band found his voice powerful but concluded it was a Broadway voice and not the right fit for the group. Guitarist Michael Bruce ultimately became the lead vocalist, and the band, renamed Billion Dollar Babies, released the album Battle Axe in 1977. In 1983, Fenholt relocated to Southern California to pursue rock music, during which time he recorded demos with Tony Iommi and other members of Black Sabbath as a prospective lead vocalist. His departure from the project occurred before any official recordings were released. According to the Black Sabbath biography Never Say Die by Garry Sharpe-Young, later updated as Sabbath Bloody Sabbath: The Battle for Black Sabbath, a substantial number of recordings were made during Fenholt's involvement. The book notes that this was a turbulent period for the band, with Geezer Butler and Bill Ward having left, making Iommi the sole original member. Manager Don Arden had suggested Iommi work with Fenholt, and tracks were written primarily by Iommi and Geoff Nicholls for a proposed album. Other band members suggested Fenholt may have been unaware that the project was being considered as an Iommi solo album rather than a Black Sabbath release. Fenholt maintained that several of his melodies appeared in songs on the album Seventh Star without credit to him, a claim supported by comparison of his demos with the finished album, which confirmed that none of his lyrics were used. Fenholt was also the lead singer of a rock group called Driver, which featured members associated with Ozzy Osbourne, Whitesnake, and Dio.

After the close of Jesus Christ Superstar's Broadway run, Fenholt, by his own account, struggled with addiction to alcohol and drugs. He subsequently converted to Christianity, an experience he described in detail in his 1994 autobiography From Darkness to Light. He became a prominent figure on Trinity Broadcasting Network, hosting a program called Highway to Heaven, which aired internationally, as well as a musical television program called Standing on the Rock, which was broadcast over thirty-six satellites. His Christian music sold in excess of 3.5 million albums, and his Christmas Classics album achieved platinum certification. In total, Fenholt received a double-platinum album for Jesus Christ Superstar and an additional platinum album and two gold albums in the gospel genre. His ministry included concert tours in Italy, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, South and Central America, and Europe, as well as a performance at the Olympic Stadium in Moscow, Russia, attended by approximately 100,000 people. In 1989, he returned to the Mark Hellinger Theatre to participate in its dedication as Times Square Church, an evangelical Pentecostal congregation pastored by David Wilkerson. In 1996, he served as Chairman of Youth for a rally called Washington for Jesus, held at the National Capitol and reported to have drawn nearly 500,000 attendees.

Also in 1996, Fenholt's parents filed a $12 million defamation lawsuit against him, Trinity Broadcasting Network, and the publisher of his autobiography, stemming from accounts of abuse he described in the book. His siblings disputed the claims, but the lawsuit was subsequently dropped after Fenholt produced court documents from the Superior Court of Franklin County, Ohio, that corroborated his account. He later stated that he maintained a warm relationship with his mother and family. Jeffrey Craig Fenholt died on September 10, 2019, five days before his sixty-ninth birthday.