During the time of its release, both Ronnie Milsap and Songwriter Archie Jordan didn’t make any effort to disclose the original intent of the song “What A Difference You’ve Made In My Life.” Well, they didn’t need to because a lot of listeners saw through the veil and recognized that the song was gospel.

Archie Jordan and his wife were at a Bible study one night at a friend’s house. There were about 30 people in attendance. Toward the end of the meeting, a man stood up to give his testimony. He told how he had been an alcoholic, been through a bad marriage, in and out of jail, and so forth. He closed his testimony by saying that he had found the Lord, exclaiming,

“What a difference he’s made in my life.”

The man’s proclamation hit Jordan hard. He wondered how many people feel that way. Not only about the Lord, but about their parents, their spouse or their children. When Jordan awakened the next morning, the lyrics and melody sort of jumped out at him and “What A Difference You’ve Made In My Life” was finished in short order.

Ronnie Milsap just had a massive hit with one of Archie Jordan’s compositions, “It Was Almost Like A Song,” so naturally he was interested in looking at this new piece that Archie had written. Milsap liked it, however, he was not looking to veer off into gospel territory as an artist. He had Jordan rewrite a couple of lines of the song to make it “secular.” Jordan obliged and made the song more suited for a general release.

Jordan worked up a special instrumental arrangement for the song. When they took it into the studio to record, producer Tom Collins rented a second grand piano for the session. Both Ronnie Milsap and Archie Jordan played dueling keyboards on the record, although Jordan went uncredited on the liner notes.

It didn’t take long for listeners to recognize the spiritual connotations of “What A Difference You’ve Made In My Life.” Shortly after Ronnie’s release of the song, many gospel artists called requesting to record it. Among those who issued Christian versions were Amy Grant and B. J. Thomas.

On Billboard’s country singles chart, the Milsap record made an impressive debut, checking in at No. 40 on November 19, 1977. It nestled into the top spot ten weeks later on January 21, 1978. Later, three more of Ronnie’s singles wrote by Archie Jordan also did very well for the singer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc0EYg0KJLc