well, including touring with Michael W. Smith. Eventually, he would join his brother Dann to form the hard rock band Giant. The Sparrow years With Douglas gone, the remaining band members began to audition singers. In 1985, they were surprised when they saw and heard their stage manager and roadie, Rick Florian, dancing around on the stage and "karaoke" singing along to the song "Every Time You Go Away", which the sound company used to sonically tune the room each night during soundcheck. A few weeks later, Florian came up to Smiley and asked if he could audition for the lead vocalist position, and he was later chosen as Douglas' replacement. He became a core member of the band and continued through the rest of White Heart's discography. Chris McHugh was also picked up to fill the drummer seat. White Heart's 1986 release, Don't Wait for the Movie, was released with their first major headlining tour and had major support from Sparrow Records and Billy Ray Hearn, who had personally come out to meet and hopefully sign the band. He hired Smiley as the producer for the record. It continues to be one of the band's most successful selling albums with three No. 1 songs, and breaking all previous album sales. The album was ranked at number 74 from CCM Magazine from their 2001 book CCM Presents: The 100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music. The band kept on touring and recording. Gary Lunn left the band to become a studio musician and was replaced with Tommy Sims. After Emergency Broadcast was released in 1987, White Heart made an important change with Brown Bannister coming on as producer for their next album. Bannister was known for working with Amy Grant, recording out at the Bennett House in Franklin, TN. Because of the fractured approach to having each member producing songs for Emergency Broadcast, Smiley suggested getting an outside presence that every member would respect and respond to. The band's album, 1989's Freedom, featured a more original approach, with the band going to a rehearsal hall and working out all the material for three weeks before even going into the studio, and having Bannister help find the best songs, and pull the most out of each member both musically and vocally. "Freedom" has been hailed as one of White Heart's best ever. Songs like "The River Will Flow", "Let The Kingdom Come",