FARGO (ND)
The Roys Report [Chicago IL]
July 2, 2025
By Jessica Morris
Steve Taylor, former producer and songwriter for the Newsboys, has addressed allegations the band’s management covered up an alleged rape, calling claims of ignorance by Newsboys’ owner Wes Campbell “utter nonsense.”
“This is a cover up of like mafia-like clout, and the whole thing needs to burn,” Taylor said, in an interview on Christianity Today’s podcast The Bulletin.
The episode, which was released on June 30, addressed The Roys Report’s (TRR) investigation into Michael Tait. Taylor co-wrote Newsboys hits including “Shine,” “I’m Not Ashamed,” and “Breakfast,” and last worked with the Newsboys in 2010.
In the interview, he told host Mike Cosper that he was “sickened” after reading TRR’s latest report, citing the story of 22-year-old ‘Nicole’ who says she was allegedly roofied by Tait. Then she said she was sexually assaulted by Newsboys crew member Matthew Brewer while Tait watched during a tour stop in Fargo, North Dakota in 2014.
In a statement to TRR, Newsboys management denied knowing about the allegations or the ensuing police report until June 2025. Tour manager Steve Campbell, owner Wes Campbell’s brother, was in North Dakota when the incident occurred, but has firmly denied allegations he covered up the incident.
Brewer states the encounter was consensual.
But Taylor isn’t buying it and says the blame lands with Newsboys Inc owner Wes Campbell.
“That’s utter nonsense, and frankly makes me really angry,” he said to Cosper. “When I read that part of the story—I don’t think even Wes was named, but Newsboys Inc, which is Wes Campbell—the thought that he didn’t even know his own brother was covering up is utter nonsense.”
During his tenure with the Newsboys as a songwriter and producer from 1992, Taylor revolutionized the lyrics of the band alongside former lead singer Peter Furler. Together, they morphed them into a cheeky, euro-pop sounding band that garnered the band Grammy nominations and platinum-selling records.
But according to Taylor, the Newsboys we know today is completely different than the band he worked with.
“I never saw any sort of impropriety (when I worked with them) . . . they were practical jokers,” he said.
“I’m sad because I loved the work I did with Newsboys. The band that I worked with is nothing like the Newsboys are familiar with from the last 15 years. As far as this stuff that came out (in TRR), as far as I’m concerned, it can all burn.”
Taylor said that he had long experienced Newsboys Inc owner Wes Campbell to be “ethically challenged.” And he recounted moments in his career when he confronted the mogul about his concerns for the band.
“On those occasions, Wes would change some decisions he was making based on pressure from me,” Taylor said in the interview. “And I remember times when he claimed to thank me for pointing these things out. But it seemed like it was happening with more and more frequency where I found I didn’t trust him anymore.”
Highlighting the fact that Campbell owns the band in its entirety since Furler left in 2009, Taylor shared that the band members are on salary. This enables Campbell to run the band like a business that represented his interests, Taylor added.
Taylor is not the only person in Christian music who has been grieved by allegations of Michael Tait’s alleged misconduct and the Newsboys’ complicity.
Singer Michael Cochren of Cochren and Co. was signed to First Company Management, a firm owned by Campbell since 1994. He shared on his Instagram account that he had made changes in his own business associations, seemingly with First Company Management, due to the allegations.
“Deeply disturbing things have come into the light, and some are questioning the integrity of our corner of the world,” Cochren said. “I understand where they are coming from, but I do think that these things being exposed serves as clear evidence that God is not done with Christian music.”
John Cooper, lead singer of Christian rock band Skillet, also addressed the allegations about Michael Tait on the June 30 episode of his podcast “Cooper Stuff.”
“Do you know what it would have been like (if Tait) would have confessed to this a long time ago, in order to bring repair to people, in order to maybe stop people’s lives from being shipwrecked?” Cooper said. “This sort of thing shipwrecks people because it shames the Gospel.”
He called for reform in the Christian music industry and a need to center the survivors, saying, “We cannot turn a blind eye to this level of alleged injustice.”
Cooper also spoke directly to members of the Christian music industry and asked them to take responsibility for their role in establishing a culture of looking the other way. However, Cooper said he and many others did not know about the allegations before they became public.
“I’m not part of the problem in the sense that I knew these things,” he said. “I did not. I’m as shocked as you are about them. But I’m in CCM (Christian contemporary music). I want to recognize the egregious nature, and we’re not going to candy-coat it.”
He challenged the idea that the Michael Tait allegations were an open secret, as stated by many sources who spoke to TRR and The Guardian, and instead asserted that Christian music is in a state of compromise.
“We are a people of radical grace, not cheap grace,” he said. “And we have got to begin to live consistent with the Word of God.”