Stonehill's first album,
Born Twice was released in 1971, with financial help from
Pat Boone. The album—one side a live performance, the other recorded in a studio—was recorded for a mere $US 800, and according to Stonehill, "sounds like every penny of it." A year later, Stonehill made his film acting debut in
The Blob sequel,
Beware! The Blob (also known as
Son of Blob), with
Cindy Williams, in which he performed the unreleased song "Captain Coke". He also made a cameo appearance in the 1973
Billy Graham film
Time to Run, performing his song "I Love You". In 1976, Stonehill released the
Larry Norman-produced
Welcome to Paradise, for which
Andy Johns did the engineering. This became a landmark album for the songwriter and was voted the "third most important contemporary Christian album" in a mid-1980s poll of Christian music critics. In the late 1970s, Stonehill joined forces with rock band
Daniel Amos for the "Amos 'n' Randy Tour". Daniel Amos went on to be Stonehill's band for his next two releases, and Stonehill later provided backing vocals on a number of Daniel Amos' projects. 1983 saw Stonehill's popular album
Equator debut and go very rapidly out-of-print. The album is still widely sought after in both vinyl and cassette form. No re-releases on
CD were issued. 1984's
Celebrate This Heartbeat teamed Stonehill with longtime friend
Phil Keaggy for the song "Who Will Save The Children?" In 1989 they formed The Keaggy/Stonehill Band with Daniel Amos bassist Tim Chandler and
The Swirling Eddies' David Raven on drums. Keaggy and Stonehill also teamed up several other times, both live in concert and in the studio. They recorded and performed as
Phil Keaggy and Sunday's Child in 1988. They also joined singer
Margaret Becker, drummer
Joe English (former member of
Paul McCartney and Wings) and several others that same year for the
Compassion All Star Band's album
One by One. ==Marriages and family==