Janet Mead, born on August 15, 1937, in Adelaide, South Australia, was an Australian Catholic nun and singer. At the age of 17, she formed a band to provide music for weekly Mass at her local church. She studied piano at the Adelaide Conservatorium before joining the Sisters of Mercy order and becoming a music teacher at two local Catholic schools. In the early 1970s, she began exploring the 'rock mass' concept, leading to successful performances at St Francis Xavier's Cathedral in Adelaide. Her breakthrough came with her pop-rock version of "The Lord's Prayer", released as a single in 1974. The song reached Number 3 on the Australian singles chart and Number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, earning Mead a Grammy Award nomination and an Australian Gospel Music Award in 2004. It sold over one and a half million copies and was certified gold by both the RIAA and in Australia. Her debut album With You I Am followed in June 1974, reaching Number 19 on the charts. Her second album, A Rock Mass, was a complete recording of one of her rock masses. Despite intense media interest, she resisted continuing her pop career and withdrew from public life. In 2004, she received the Yamaha Golden Gospel Award for her services to Australian Christian music. She died from cancer in Adelaide on January 26, 2022, aged 84.
