Phil Driscoll

Phil Driscoll (born November 9, 1947) is a trumpeter, singer, composer, and producer. He performs in varying music genres and styles which include rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and patriotic music, and is best known for his work in Christian music and his longterm Christian ministry. In 1985, Driscoll won the Grammy Award for Best Gospel Performance – Duo/Group for a duet with Debby Boone on "Keep the Flame Burning", and he has been nominated for three additional Grammys, two for Best Gospel Performance – Male and one for Best Gospel/Pop Album. He has also won three Dove Awards for his music, and the 1999 Christian Country Music Association Award for Best Musician. Phil Driscoll was born in Seattle, Washington, and when he was a small child his family moved to Spokane, where his father pastored a small church and his mother played hymns on the piano and organ. Phil played a small plastic trumpet to accompany his father's preaching. When he was five the family moved to Dallas, Texas, where his parents continued their ministry. At six Phil was given a steel guitar, and won many talent contests while still a child.[citation needed] The family subsequently moved to Lancaster, Texas, where Phil's father became chief of maintenance for the Lancaster school system. Phil began playing the trumpet, and by the sixth grade was performing in the Lancaster High School band. The family moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1959, where Phil's father resumed the ministry. Phil became principal trumpet and featured soloist in the Tulsa Youth Symphony. In high school, he competed in the World Music Festival in Amsterdam, where his trumpet section won best in the world. After high-school graduation, he was lead trumpet in the gospel touring band The Spurrlows. Driscoll then attended Baylor University in Waco, Texas under a music scholarship, where he formed the university's first jazz band. While a sophomore at Baylor University, he was offered a contract by Word Records and recorded his first album, A Touch of Trumpet in 1968, accompanied by the Stockholm Symphony Orchestra.[citation needed] He also won the All American College Show musical competition on CBS, beating out even The Carpenters, and was booked on a USO show touring in Asia. Driscoll also performed and ministered with Billy Graham in Europe. He signed with A&R Records for his secular music, and released the album Blowin' a New Mind in 1970. During the 1970s, Driscoll performed on national television on the Ed Sullivan, Merv Griffin, Steve Allen, Della Reese, and Arthur Godfrey shows. In 1972, CBS Records purchased Driscoll's song catalog and gave him a job writing music for Blood Sweat & Tears (for whom he wrote "Rock & Roll Queen" and other songs) and other bands. He also began touring, performing, and songwriting for nearly five years with rock musician Joe Cocker, and authored three of Cocker's songs – "Southern Lady", "Wasted Years", and "Boogie Baby". Driscoll also wrote for and collaborated with artists such as Steven Stills, Leon Russell, Billy Preston, and 38 Special, and performed with ensembles including the London Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1974 he moved to Jacksonville, Florida, where he stayed four and a half years and opened two nightclubs, Driscoll's Disco Nite Club and Driscoll's Nice Place. Driscoll eventually became increasingly dissatisfied with his rock and roll lifestyle, and on Christmas morning in 1977, he and his fiancée became born again Christians. He then focused his talents towards Christian ministry. In 1980, Driscoll and his family moved to Cleveland, Tennessee. Beginning with Ten Years After (1981), he began recording in the inspirational genre, producing soulful albums whose sound had an appeal to both black and white audiences. He established Mighty Horn Ministries, his contemporary Christian music business, which he also shared on television. In the 1980s Driscoll also played and sang at many of Kenneth Copeland’s ministry conventions. After several more albums, Driscoll won his first GMA Dove Award in 1984 for Instrumentalist of the Year, and his album I Exalt Thee (1983) received a Grammy nomination in the Best Gospel Performance – Male category. In 1985 he won a Grammy Award with singer Debby Boone for Best Gospel Performance – Duo/Group, for the song "Keep the Flame Burning" from Boone's album Surrender. In 1985 he signed with Benson Records, and in 1986, Billboard magazine ranked him No. 9 in the Top 10 Inspirational Artists. Driscoll garnered two more Dove Award wins in the mid-1980s – for Instrumental Album of the Year for Celebrate Freedom (1984) and Instrument of Praise (1986). He released an instrumental-only album of hymns, Classic Hymns, in 1988, backed by the London National Philharmonic Orchestra. In the 1990s, Driscoll produced more than a dozen new albums, mainly in the contemporary Christian genre. He was voted the Readers' Choice Favorite Instrumentalist in both 1990 and 1991 by Charisma magazine. In 1993 he appeared on TNN's Music City Tonight. In 1996, Driscoll built a recording studio, Most High Studios, on a farm in Tennessee. He also began The Voice of Praise, a television ministry broadcast on the Inspiration Network, and released the album A Different Man, which included the hit ballad "Christ Remains". His 1997 release, Live! With Friends, recorded live and with several other singers and musicians, included a variety of styles, moods, and genres. The album features covers of mainstream hits like "Bridge Over Troubled Water", "You Are So Beautiful", and Bob Dylan's "Gotta Serve Somebody", as well as gospel and praise songs including "His Eye Is on the Sparrow". Driscoll turned to country music with his 1998 album, Shine the Light. In 1999, he formed his own music label, Phil Driscoll Music Group, with an aim to focus on a wide variety of music styles and crossover appeal in both mainstream and Christian music communities. That same year he was honored as Best Musician of the Year by the Christian Country Music Awards. In the late 1990s, Driscoll's varied touring performances included playing and singing for a tour of Handel's Young Messiah to packed stadiums which seated up to 20,000. In the early 2000s, Driscoll began a new music and ministry television show, The Phil Driscoll Connection. His early 2000s releases included renovated patriotic albums One Nation Under God (2003) / Spirit of America (2005), "Under Big Top" (2005) and Drops of Praise (2006). In 2004 he also released Vintage, which included Driscoll's versions of over a dozen classic mainstream singles such as "The Power of Love", "Old Time Rock and Roll", "The Dock of the Bay", "Lean on Me", "Stand by Me", "When a Man Loves a Woman", and "Try a Little Tenderness". In 2008, Driscoll released the album Songs in the Key of Worship, which includes his vocal and trumpet performance of the classic hymn "I Surrender All", accompanied by guitar. He also released the album Here and Now in 2008. Driscoll continues to perform, minister, and work in a variety of media and locations, including completing his film. In December 2009, he performed in Lagos, Nigeria in a 12-hour night of music and worship, with an audience of over 500,000. In addition to his autobiographical film, Driscoll is also completing a music feature film, Symphony of the Universe. Driscoll has performed at the White House for presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. He performed at Bill Clinton's inauguration in 1993, and at the 1993 lighting of the National Christmas Tree, and sang and played "America the Beautiful" at the dedication ceremony for the Clinton Presidential Center presidential library in Little Rock. Driscoll also performed at the Democratic National Conventions in 1988, 1992, 1996, and 2000. In the 1980s, Driscoll performed for, made presentations and speeches for, and composed the theme song for President Reagan's Just Say No campaign against drugs. In 1999, at