Genre:		Country, Pop
For fans of:		Rascal Flatts, Garth Brooks, Wayne Kirkpatrick, Scott Krippayne
Label:		Lyric Street Records

Phil Stacey's career, like his life, took root in his family's legacy of music and ministry. A product of generations of dedicated preachers and gifted musicians, Phil carries forward a commitment to both aspects of that heritage. Through college, marriage and family, military service and his emergence into the American consciousness via American Idol, Phil has achieved through both a bedrock sense of identity.

	Buy 'em here! Phil Stacey

"I feel my job as a singer," he says, "is part of my job as a human being. I'm supposed to be touching other people's lives, doing the best I can to be a positive influence and light in the world."

It's something that shows in every aspect of Phil's life and career, and it is evident in his debut CD on Lyric Street Records. Phil Stacey, produced by Wayne Kirkpatrick (Little Big Town, Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, Susan Ashton) introduces Phil as an artist using his talents and his faith to bring uplift to a world clearly in need of it. It brings to fruition a life rich in positive influences.

Both of Phil's grandfathers and an uncle were pastors. His father left a life in secular music to devote himself to ministry, preaching, playing piano in church, and writing a number of published Christian songs. His mother, always active in church work, passed her love of music to Phil and his siblings as well. Family photos show Phil at age three with his hands raised, singing "Jesus Loves Me," and he has childhood memories of listening to gospel music--the Happy Goodmans and Twila Paris were among family favorites--and "singing from those old red backed hymn books."

He and his brother Keith and sister Becke performed as a trio at church and later in talent contests, until Phil began performing on his own, winning a state-level competition in Kansas. He knew he wanted to make a career of music, and his uncle, renowned artist Mitchell Tolle, encouraged him, reinforcing the importance of focusing exclusively on that goal. "I made a decision," Phil says, "that I wasn't going to let anything else get in the way."

Still, he went through a period of teenage rebellion and came to realize late in high school that he was, as he puts it, "going downhill fast." On the day he graduated, he left Kansas to live with is brother, who was attending Lee University, a Christian institution in Cleveland, Tennessee. With no intention of attending school, Phil got a job and decided it might be a good experience to try out for the Lee Singers, the school's world-famous vocal ensemble.

"My dad had been part of the Lee Singers," he says, "and they were a big deal to me. I didn't think I'd get chosen, but I wanted the experience of auditioning for something."

The unexpected happened, and he was chosen.

"I was shocked," he says, "and I thought, 'I'd better register for classes.' I went to college basically so I could be in the choir." Phil traveled the world with the ensemble, became a featured soloist and a member of its small group Second Edition, and ultimately became the Singers' student director. The process greatly strengthened both his experience as a singer and his Christian walk.

During this time, Phil had thelife changingopportunity to minister through out the worldduring various mission trips. He witnessed God's amazing passion for the people of China, England, Scotland, Wales, South Africa, Tortolla and the Cayman and Virgin Islands. These experiences helped awaken Phil'sdesire totell others ofChrist's love.

While in college, Phil supplemented his Lee Singers experience with a job in a recording studio that helped with bills and kept his focus on music. He learned to produce independent Christian projects, something he still enjoys. "I could really be a tech guy," he says, "but I knew I had to write and sing, to share my own music with the world."

After a freshman-year trip to China with the Lee Singers, he returned to Kansas for the summer where he met and, just five months later, married Kendra. She enrolled at Lee and became a supportive and stabilizing influence in his life, encouraging him to earn his diploma. After graduating college, the couple moved to Denver, where Phil spent time as a music minister at the North Hills Church of God, which was pastored by his father.

"I thought about getting a master's degree in education so I could teach music," he says, "but it wasn't where my passion was. My passion was in performing."

Not long afterward, September 11, 2001, galvanized the country.

"I wanted to support the effort against terror," Phil says simply. "I was always proud of my dad, who was a veteran and fought in Vietnam." His brother Keith told him he might be able to use his musical talents in the military. Phil earned spots in Navy bands, taking part in concert tours that served as promotional and recruiting vehicles. He and Kendra lived in Virginia, and then in Jacksonville, Florida, where Phil served as music minister of the First Coast Christian Center.

In 2006, when he was unable to attend a friend's wedding, the friend half-jokingly said the only way he'd forgive Phil was if he auditioned for American Idol. Reluctantly, but then with Kendra's support, he successfully auditioned in Memphis--missing the birth of his daughter McKayla in the process. He earned a nationwide following and reached the Top 6, then parlayed the experience and exposure into a deal on Nashville's Lyric Street Records. He also signed a management deal with Blanton Harrell Cooke & Corzine, the firm that oversees the careers of Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith and Point of Grace, among others.

Following the 55-city American Idol tour, Phil completed his four-year hitch in the Navy and promptly re-enlisted in the Naval Reserves. That decision, like the music he makes, reflects his core values.

"I know what I stand for," he says. "My life revolves around my family and my music. I love being active in my church and I was proud during Idol to represent the Navy and just kind of be a unifying factor for Americans."

His family remains an inspiration. His father is pastor of the Church of God in Hendersonville, Tennessee, where Keith is music minister. His mother, who went back to earn a degree, works as a nurse. Phil and Kendra, meanwhile, are raising two daughters, four-year-old Chloe Grace, and one-year-old McKayla.

Phil is constantly aware both of his many blessings and of the opportunities he has, and in the face of the exposure and good fortune his Idol experience made possible, he retains an unshakable sense of mission, seeking to use his position to share the faith that undergirds his life.

"So much of this seems to have been thrown into my lap," he says, "but I just trust God. I draw a lot of inspiration from my grandfather. He pastored very small churches in Kentucky but he touched so many lives. Thousands of people came to faith through him. I've modeled my life after that. I blindly walk where God is leading me, knowing He has a bigger purpose than what I can see."

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