John Michael Talbot’s life is a series of the artist’s spiritual quests, disappointments in personal life, and choices to which he has remained faithful. He was born into a Methodist family on 8 May 1954 in Oklahoma City. He started taking guitar lessons at the age of 10. When he was 15, he and his brother formed a country rock band called Mason Proffit. At the age of 17, he was married in the Methodist Church. His daughter was born of that marriage. He searched for the meaning of life in Native American religion, Buddhism and Christianity. He found real Christian faith in the Protestant Jesus Movement. He recorded an album entitled Reborn. At that time, his first marriage broke up.
Reading the life of Saint Francis of Assisi, he was inspired to begin studying at a Franciscan centre in Indianapolis. He became a Roman Catholic, received conditional baptism and joined the Secular Franciscan Order in 1978. He later founded his own community, the Brothers and Sisters of Charity based in Arkansas. The community gathers lay people – both single and living in families – and celibate brothers and sisters. Its members try to live a simple life in obedience to the Gospel and the teaching of the Catholic Church. The community rule is based on the spirituality of Saint Francis of Assisi.
In 1989 J. M. Talbot married Viola Pratka. Two years later they were granted an audience with pope John Paul II. John and Viola have run the Brothers and Sisters of Charity for 20 years. It is subordinate to the bishop of Little Rock diocese and is registered under the Canon Code of the Catholic Church as a public association of the faithful. In Poland, J. M. Talbot’s music was most popular in the 1980s and 1990s, when his records with songs of praise were copied and distributed on a mass scale. Unfortunately, no records or books by the artist are available in legal distribution Poland.

More information at:  www.johnmichaeltalbot.com