DATE: Thursday, June 5, 1997                TAG: 9706040150

SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN             PAGE: 12   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: WAKEFIELD                         LENGTH:   68 lines

CHRISTIAN FOUR OFFERS VERSATILITY IN MUSIC

You name it, the Christian Four sings it.

The women have separate programs of songs in these categories: contemporary and old time gospel, western, pop, Broadway and Hollywood, romantic music, songs of the '50s, patriotic songs, special music for all major holidays.

They have Roarin' '20s and Gay '90s programs and, there is even a leftover lyrics program - songs that have no home elsewhere.

When you hire the Christian Four, you hire versatility.

``We give people a list,'' said Diane Redman. ``They choose the category they like.''

The Airfield Conference Center decided on hits of the '30s and '40s for ``An Evening With the Stars,'' a concert-buffet offering, Sunday.

A sampling of what you will hear: ``Smoke Gets In Your Eyes,'' ``Over the Rainbow,'' ``Make Believe,'' ``Tennessee Waltz,'' ``Mr. Sandman,'' - and more.

Redman of Wakefield and Carol Chappell of Carson are the original members of the group started about 20 years ago. ``I was in the ninth grade,'' Redman said.

The other performers are Lauri Critzer of Dinwiddie and Joanne Britt of Petersburg.

They meet in the middle and rehearse - they play all over Virginia plus North Carolina, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.

For obvious reasons - they are busy.

``Once, we did two shows in one day. At Christmas, 1995, we did 11 programs in 13 days,'' Redman said. ``It was unreal. By the time we were finished we were ready for Christmas - ready for a break.''

There are no breaks between songs.

``Our programs are continuous,'' said Redman, who describes herself as ``the shy one.''

Chappell is not and does most of the talking for the group.

She is vice-president of the Bank of Southside Virginia. Redman is Environmental Services director at the Waverly Health Care Center. Critzer is music instructor for the Prince George County school system and Britt is an analyst for Computer Science Corporation.

They make time for music - more than that - for performing.

``Our shows are theatrical,'' Redman said, noting that they include some choreography, and a lot of changing.

``We change clothes and things during some of the programs. Sunday, we'll do that 39 times,'' she said. ``While one person is singing, the others are changing. It takes two songs to change shoes, dresses, wigs, jewelry. Each of us will change about 13 times. It's a riot.''

The group is changing its ways, going the Garth Brooks route, using cordless microphones which enables them to do more choreography and moving around.

They can play too. Everybody takes turns with the autoharp, Redman shows her kazoo expertise. Critzer is the pianist.

It all began in church, with the recently retired Rev. Harry B. Jones - Redman's dad. He, his wife, and daughter sang in their church. Someone from another church heard them and requested they perform a date.

``We began singing a lot. Dad gave us the name of the Christian Love Trio,'' Redman said. ``We included a pianist and became the Christian Four.''

The Christian Four became partially secularized after many requests to entertain at such venues as Ladies Night at the Ruritan Club.

No matter where they perform, no matter what the theme of the night, they never forget their roots. The Christian Four always closes their programs with gospel. ILLUSTRATION: The Christian Four will perform at a buffet-concert at

6 p.m. Sunday at the Airfield Conference Center at Wakefield.

Tickets are $12 each.

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