Bentley DeForest "B. D." Ackley (born 27 September 1872, Spring Hill, Pennsylvania - died 3 September 1958, Winona Lake, Indiana) was a prodigious American musician and gospel composer.
His brother Alfred Henry "A. H." Ackley (21 January 1887 - 3 July 1960) composed with him, and is credited with the popular hymn He Lives. As a young man, B. D. had already learned several instruments, including the melodeon, piano, coronet, clarinet and piccolo. After moving to New York City in 1888, he began playing the organ in churches.
In 1907, he joined Billy Sunday and Homer Rodeheaver, an evangelist team, as secretary-pianist, and traveled with them for eight years. As a composer and editor with the Rodeheaver Company, he wrote over 3,000 Gospel tunes.[citation needed]
'I met B. D. Ackley', fellow evangelist, Dr. Oswald J. Smith recalled, 'in Buffalo, New York, where he was minister of music in the Churchill Tabernacle when I was preaching there one time. The first hymn I wrote with B. D. Ackley was Joy In Serving Jesus in 1931. From the time I met him and his brother, I stopped writing music altogether. They could write so much better.' Text source : Wikipedia (Hide extended text) ... (Read all)
