Editing Sparrow Records (section)

== History ==
Sparrow Records was founded in 1976 by [[Billy Ray Hearn]], then [[artists and repertoire]] (A&R) director at [[Myrrh Records]].<ref name="Mount_Web">{{cite book |last=Mount |first=Daniel J. |title=A City on a Hilltop? The History of Contemporary Christian Music |year=2005 |url=http://www.danielmount.net/ccm.html |access-date=February 12, 2007 |pages=48–50, 53 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070203163712/http://www.danielmount.net/ccm.html |archive-date=February 3, 2007 }}</ref> [[Barry McGuire]] was the first artist signed to the label, followed quickly by [[John Michael Talbot]] and his brother Terry, Janny Grein, and [[Annie Herring]] of [[2nd Chapter of Acts]]; all of whom released albums with Sparrow in May of that year.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cusic |first1=Don |title=The Sound of Light: A History of Gospel Music |date=1990 |publisher=Bowling Green State University Popular Press |location=Bowling Green, Ohio |isbn=978-0-87972-497-9 |page=159 |url=https://archive.org/details/soundoflighthi00cusi/page/158/mode/2up}}</ref>

Purchased by [[Thorn EMI]] in 1992, Sparrow's parent underwent a [[demerger]] four years later to become the EMI Group,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/thorn-emi-moves-into-gospel-music-with-us-purchase-1554773.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220524/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/thorn-emi-moves-into-gospel-music-with-us-purchase-1554773.html |archive-date=May 24, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Thorn EMI moves into gospel music with US purchase |work=Independent |date=September 30, 1992}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/vote-solid-for-thorn-demerger-1310081.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220524/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/vote-solid-for-thorn-demerger-1310081.html |archive-date=May 24, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Vote solid for Thorn demerger|website=Independent|date=August 17, 1996}}</ref> and the label is now part of the [[Capitol Christian Music Group]].<ref name="Hendershot_04">{{cite book |last=Hendershot |first=Heather |title=Shaking the World for Jesus: Media and Conservative Evangelical Culture |year=2004 |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |location=[[Chicago]], [[Illinois]] |isbn=0-226-32679-9 |chapter=Why Should the Devil Have all the Good Music? Christian Music and the Secular Marketplace |pages=56 |url=https://archive.org/details/shakingworldforj0000hend}}</ref>

As of 2009, Sparrow's artists include [[Britt Nicole]], [[Chris Tomlin]], [[Mandisa]], [[Matt Redman]], [[Matthew West]], [[Steven Curtis Chapman]] and [[Switchfoot]]. Since 1996, a popular production of Sparrow Records has been the annual ''[[WOW series#WOW Hits|WOW Hits]]'' [[contemporary Christian music]] series. In 1998, the WOW franchise then added the annual ''[[WOW series#WOW Gospel|WOW Gospel]]'' series of albums. The ''[[WOW series#WOW Worship|WOW Worship]]'' series was introduced in 1999.