Soul Liberation was borne from the ministry of Tom Skinner, a former gang-leader turned evangelical preacher from New York City. Tom Skinner toured the United States doing revival-style “Crusades,” at first using local choirs and bands as his backup. He eventually decided to recruit a band dedicated to his Crusades from musicians that he had worked with on his tours. From these auditions Soul Liberation came to be, with its members hailing from New York and the Midwest. Soul Liberation toured with Tom Skinner full-time for twenty years from 1973 to 1993, doing about 260 gigs a year, in a variety of venues (high schools, colleges, prisons, wherever Skinner was preaching). When not on tour, the men of Soul Liberation shared a house in the Bronx, while the women lived with their families. The group finally split in 1993, as the members settled down into family life.