Phil Driscoll

CCM trumpeter/singer Phil Driscoll was born November 9, 1947 in Seattle, and by the age of three was already playing a plastic trombone and Hawaiian slack guitar. While a freshman at Baylor University he formed the school's first jazz band, and as a sophomore recorded his first album, 1969's A Touch of Trumpet, with the Stockholm Symphony Orchestra. During his senior year, Driscoll took top honors on the CBS television talent-search series The All American College Bowl for a dozen weeks running, once even beating the aspiring pop duo of siblings Karen and Richard Carpenter; after completing 1970's Blowin' a New Mind he moved into secular pop music, composing material for acts including Joe Cocker, Stephen Stills, Blood, Sweat & Tears and Leon Russell. Driscoll returned to the Christian music fold with 1981's Ten Years After, and with 1983's I Exalt Thee scored a Dove Award for Instrumental Album Of the Year as well as Grammy nomination in the Best Gospel/Pop Album category. Both 1985's Power of Praise and 1987's Make Us One took home Dove Awards as well, and in the years to follow Driscoll lent his soulful, pop-influenced sound to everything from children's songs (1989's Gabe and the Good News Gang) to patriotic material (1990's Celebrate Freedom) to R&B (1990's Innerman) to seasonal favorites (1993's The Sound of Christmas). In 1996 he expanded into the television ministry with the show The Voice of Praise; that same year, the album A Different Man launched the hit "Christ Remains." Driscoll even turned to country music with 1997's Shine the Light; Simple Song followed two years later, and in the spring of 2000 he issued two new LPs, Plugged In and Quiet. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide