AP) DECATUR, Ga., Jan. 23, 2007 - Fire early Tuesday destroyed a home belonging to gospel singer Ricky Dillard, who was out of town.
The six-bedroom, 5,000-square-foot house was "completely burned to the ground, from my understanding," said Dillard's manager, William Bogle. "It was certainly unfortunate but, more importantly, I'm glad he wasn't in it."
Firefighters were called to the home around 3 a.m. and found the house already fully engulfed, said DeKalb County Fire Department Capt. Eric Jackson. No one was in the home and there were no injuries, he said.
Bogle said Dillard's awards and film footage of his choir's performances were in the Atlanta house.
The Associated Press
January 23, 2007
I want to fall apart, but his word is keeping me together.
Gospel singer Ricky Dillard said he was shocked into silence when his pastor called to tell him a Tuesday morning fire had destroyed his suburban Atlanta home along with his awards and unreleased recordings.
'I was lost for words,' he said in a telephone interview from New York with The Associated Press. 'Nothing would even come out. It's a horrible thing to wake up one day you have something and then the next day you don't have anything.
'The only thing I can really rely on is the word of God that's keeping me together,' he said. 'I want to fall apart, but his word is keeping me together.'
Firefighters were called to Dillard's home in the Ellenwood community in southern DeKalb County around 3 a.m. and found the house fully engulfed, DeKalb County Fire Department spokesman Capt. Eric Jackson said.
'So we know that the fire must have been going for some time before that,' Jackson said.
No one was in the home and there were no injuries, Jackson said.
Dillard said he had recorded a live album Saturday in Toronto, and then went Monday to New York on business.
The fire, which destroyed his 6-bedroom, 6,000-square-foot home that he bought nearly two years ago, also obliterated years of mementoes and unreleased video and sound recordings of Dillard's Grammy-nominated choir. Dillard said he had sunk his savings into buying and improving the house.
He said he plans to return to Georgia to look over the scene and begin planning what to do next. He also said that friends are already planning benefit events to help him bounce back.
Dillard said only his dog, Judah, lived with him in the home. Fortunately, the dog was at a dog-sitter at the time of the fire.
Dillard's albums have made the top 10 in Billboard's Top Gospel Albums three times since 1993. His New Generation Chorale received a Grammy nomination in 1991 and won a 1994 Stellar award.
Some of Dillard's best-known songs include 'More Abundantly' and 'The Holy Place.'
"Nineteen years of his choir history has been destroyed," Bogle said.
Some of Dillard's best-known songs include "More Abundantly" and "The Holy Place."
Bogle said the Grammy-nominated gospel singer was in New York on Tuesday and was distraught over the fire. He said Dillard hadn't planned to return to Atlanta until February, but would likely come back sooner because of the fire.
Dillard, originally from Chicago, bought the house about three years ago, his manager said.
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