Legendary entertainer Pat Boone is worried about what he calls “a terrible time of strife and anger and fear” in the country.
“What we’ve got to do is come to the realization that we are all human beings and each of us have our own worth,” he told Fox News Digital. “Each has his or her own purpose and value. And we’ve got to come to that realization.”
He continued, “If we disagree politically, biblically, spiritually, in any kind of way, we disagree, we’ve got to give the other guy or woman credit for being a human being with perhaps good reasons for what they believe and stand for and not put each other down and be angry and want to destroy each other.”
Boone added that he’s seeing too much of that happening politically “where, literally, people can be destroyed [by] guilt through accusation.”
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“That’s a phrase I have coined. I don’t know if anybody else has used it, but people become guilty because they’re accused. And you can smear somebody; there may be no truth to it at all. But now you start trying to deny it or feeling you have to deny something there was no basis for the accusation. Guilt through accusation, we’ve got to get that out of our society.”
Though that weighs heavy on his heart, the 90-year-old singer, actor and philanthropist focuses on acknowledging his blessings as well as sharing them where he can.
“I know as an entertainer, and I have been now for 7-0, 70 years, that whatever criticism you might make of people in the public eye, whoever they are, and whatever their entertainment may be, that entertainers all realize that we’ve been blessed, and the more we’ve been blessed the more [we] feel we owe. And so entertainers are always ready to come in and contribute to something that will help other people. It’s a way we use our blessings.”
Boone has done just that with his new song, “One-Voices for Tanzania,” collaborating with Vince Gill, Alabama, Lee Greenwood, Larry Gatlin, Pam Tillis, Deborah Allen, Billy Dean, Wendy Moten and more to support efforts to bring clean water and other necessities to people in Tanzania.
The “I’ll Be Home” singer said it was “no problem” to convince many iconic musicians to work on the song, and he even joked that he has heard from people asking, “Why didn’t you have me come to it?”
The record also features a group of naturalized citizens living in Nashville from Tanzania and other countries in Africa, who sing mainly gospel and “love this country” but want to give back to their homelands.
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“One-Voices for Tanzania,” which debuted at No. 28 on the A/C Adult Contemporary chart, made for Boone’s first Top 30 hit in decades and raises money for a solar-powered well serving a community of 2,000 to 5,000 people in Tanzania.
Boone hopes people will contribute, saying, “You will be blessed. I have that on a very good authority.”
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The Nashville native has always been open and proud of his faith, but he didn’t originally plan on sharing it through entertainment.
“I was in school at North Texas State and thinking I was going to be a teacher-preacher. I loved singing, and I had made some records, and I’d even won a couple of national talent contests by then. But no contracts were coming, and … doors weren’t opening that I could see,” he recalled.
But then he landed his first record, in the rhythm and blues genre, before his breakout hit, a cover of Fats Domino’s “Ain’t That a Shame,” and teaching began to fall by the wayside.
“I was realizing that God had given me a different platform in my life, not a schoolroom, maybe one school and a desk and a bunch of kids, a few kids at a time as a teacher or even a pulpit somewhere in a church.”
“But God blessed me all the way. So then I tried – I’ve invested in things that I thought were going to be very successful and broadened my ability not to make money for myself. I was doing all right, doing very well, but I wanted to make more so I could help other people,” Boone said.
He continued, “I’ve been a real praying guy who I feel like I’m an association. God’s given me blessings, and He’s willing for me to enjoy them, my kids, with 16 grandkids and 17 great-grandkids now, and a wonderful marriage that lasted 68 years now. Shirley’s in heaven waiting for me, but she’s the only wife I’m ever going to have or ever want. So it is those realizations that have driven me to keep trying, keep doing things.”
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As he reflects on his blessings, one of the highest has been the opportunity to meet many presidents and world leaders of the past 70-plus years.
“I’ve just somehow had the good fortune and opportunity to be involved with and known and interviewed with so many of the presidents. And, of course, I don’t say I’ve influenced anything particularly, but they’ve influenced me, and I’ve written about them.”
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One of the first was President Harry S. Truman.
“He was a courageous man, [a] Democrat. I’ve always been a Republican, but man, I admire, Democrat or Republican, [anyone] who can be strong enough to do what’s right, even if it costs them personally. And Harry Truman was tough. Gosh,” he said.
Another highlight was his friendship with President Ronald Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan.
“Our kids went to school together and that’s how we got to know Ron and Nancy Reagan so well, through our mutual kids. And when he ran for governor, I was the first entertainer to jump to his support.”
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Boone got to relive a moment with Reagan in the recent biopic of the 40th president, “Reagan,” starring Dennis Quaid.
In the film, Boone plays George Otis, who was at a prayer circle with Reagan while he was governor of California, where the real-life Otis shared “a prophetic word” in prayer that Reagan would “dwell at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”
“Well, when I went to the convention in ’76 knowing he was going to be nominated, and he wasn’t, I thought maybe that was not a true prophecy. But, of course, later on he ran again, and he was not only nominated but became president twice. And I really wish he could be on Mt. Rushmore,” Boone said.
The entertainer is grateful for the opportunities he’s had to meet U.S. presidents and other heads of state.
“It has made me feel, of course, special in the sense God’s given me openings that I could never have made for myself but that I have tried to make the best use of. Not just meet and forget about it and pat myself on the back, no, what can I do to be a good fallout from these blessings, not just for me, hopefully for others?”
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