Gaither Vocal Band tenor David Phelps

TEXAS TENOR: Gaither Vocal Band tenor David Phelps ___David Phelps sings tenor in the Gaither Vocal Band, one of the foremost gospel quartets in the country. The son of Gene and Mary Ella <TABLE cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=3 width=75 align=left border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD> <IMG height=133 alt=deepheartlogosm src="https://img1.daumcdn.net/relay/cafe/original/?fname=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.baptiststandard.com%2F2003%2F3_3%2Fimages%2Fdeepheartlogosm.jpg" width=144 border=0></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Phelps, he is a native of Duncanville but grew up and attended school in Tomball, near Houston. He is a graduate of Baylor University and directed the Baylor Religious Hour Choir while pursuing a concert ministry. After serving as artist-in- <TABLE cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=3 width=75 align=right border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD> <IMG height=324 alt=phelps_mug src="https://img1.daumcdn.net/relay/cafe/original/?fname=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.baptiststandard.com%2F2003%2F3_3%2Fimages%2Fphelps_mug.jpg" width=261 border=0></TD></TR> <TR> <TD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>residence at First Baptist Church of Hurst, he and his wife, Lori, moved to Nashville, Tenn., in 1996, and he later joined the Gaither Vocal Band. The Phelpses have three children--Callie Noelle, 8; Maggie Beth, 5 and David Grant, 2. Q. ___When did you know you were going to have a singing career? ___We used to sing in our family all the time. We would travel around locally and sing as a group. It was just a part of me. Then when my older sisters moved off, I began singing by myself. ___In the ninth grade in Tomball, where I grew up, I sang in a talent show at the school, though it was for the whole town. I sang my song, "Bethlehem Morning," and walked off stage as quickly as I could, and they gave me a standing ovation. I had to look and stuck my head out and saw them standing and clapping. That night I remember thinking in my car: "I've found something that I can do. I've found a gift that God has given me." ___Then I had to convince my parents. I just had to keep wanting it bad enough, and soon they came around. They said if I was going to do it, I had to go to college and get a degree. Q. ___ Who were the people most instrumental in molding you as a musician? ___First of all, my mom is a great musician and singer. She was the instrument, the catalyst, who got us all together. She would sit at the piano and teach us all our parts. ___I had a great minister of music at my church, Wayne Graham, at Graceview Baptist Church in Tomball, where I grew up. He was an incredible mentor for me. I am still growing because of things I learned from him. He came out of the Continental Singers organization at Estes Park, and he really believed in me and worked with me in a lot of areas, singing, speaking and with things you do between songs as well. ___Also, my school choir director believed in me. When I got to be a junior in high school, my mom said she was afraid I was going to hurt myself because I was trying to sing higher than what she knew to teach me, and I should get into some lessons from someone else. It was an excellent thing to do. I started taking lessons from Tim Seelig at Houston Baptist University for a couple of years, and then I went to Baylor. Q. ___ What is most satisfying about what you do? ___I had other options of styles of music to go into. What appeals to me most and what is most satisfying about the one I have chosen--Christian music, gospel music--is that I communicate a message that I believe in my heart. When you sing pop music or opera or Broadway, you are communicating someone else's message. I am thrilled when I write a song or when I am singing a song that I have chosen because of its message and when I am able to communicate that message to the person on the front row or when they are listening to one of my CDs in a way that they stop a <TABLE cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=3 width=75 align=left border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD> <IMG height=186 alt=phelps_wide src="https://img1.daumcdn.net/relay/cafe/original/?fname=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.baptiststandard.com%2F2003%2F3_3%2Fimages%2Fphelps_wide.jpg" width=288 border=0></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>nd think about the message or in a way that brings them to tears at that moment. That is what is most exciting about it. Q. ___What is least exciting about it? ___Leaving home. I love to be home. When I hear people talk about vacations and going to the Caribbean or somewhere else, I want to go and be at home and work outside. I have a beautiful wife whom I met at Baylor, and she is a completer for me and was even when we were dating. She completes who I am, and it is really wonderful to have someone like that, a best friend. We have three beautiful children, two girls, 8 and 5, and a little boy now who is 2. He is an animal. My mom, when she kept him, said she had never seen a boy be so much of a boy. Q. ___ What did Baylor do for you? ___I come from a Baylor family. My grandparents went to Baylor; my parents went to Baylor; and my older sisters went to Baylor. My parents said, "You can go to college wherever you want to, but we will pay for you to go to Baylor." ___At first, it was just the place to go. When I was growing up, I went to Baylor on Royal Ambassadors trips. They were always playing Rice, so we knew Baylor would always win. But as a student there, I really enjoyed being around other believers and the opportunities I had. ___Preparing to sing Christian and gospel music, I had countless opportunities to hone my craft. The music school was definitely a classical experience, but outside that, through the Baptist Student Union and countless churches there, I had so many opportunities. Q. ___What kinds of goals have you set for yourself as a singer? ___Everyone who has a talent has a responsibility to do as much with that as possible. I want to reach as many people as possible with the message. God is not about condemnation; he is about grace. Wherever you have been, if you have been with him and have chosen to walk away, or if you have never been introduced to him before, he is waiting, and that is what my message is about. With my singing, I want to do the best music possible, to be the best I can be. Q. ___What is it like to hear the applause when you step onto the stage with the Vocal Band? ___It is incredible. I remind myself that five or six years ago, I couldn't get hit by a truck. Sometimes before we go out, I look out at these arenas and see them full and try to remind myself that this is a great season of life and not many people get to see it. Q. ___How did you become a member of the Vocal Band? ___I was talking with a record company in Nashville about doing a solo project, and in the process they mentioned that the Vocal Band was looking for someone. Honestly, I had kind of lost track of the Vocal Band. I had always wanted to be a part of it but didn't know they were looking for anybody. ___I immediately said, "Let's put the brakes on this solo thing for a little while; I can always come back to it." I wanted to pursue the Vocal Band thing. It was just incredible. ___From really having to struggle in Nashville after moving from Texa <TABLE cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=3 width=75 align=right border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD> <IMG height=182 alt=phelps_singing src="https://img1.daumcdn.net/relay/cafe/original/?fname=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.baptiststandard.com%2F2003%2F3_3%2Fimages%2Fphelps_singing.jpg" width=180 border=0></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>s where I had gone to school and could make a good living and had a base where I could go out on weekends and do concerts, in two days' time it was like a snowball going downhill. God really stepped in, and we realized it was his hand leading us. My wife and I would sit on the sofa at the end of those days to catch our breath. Q. ___How important is religious faith in your life? ___It is something that, hopefully, I strive to have guide me in all my decisions with my wife in that relationship, with my kids. I was very fortunate to grow up in my home. My dad's father, David Phelps, was a Baptist preacher for about 50 years in Central Texas. My dad has always been a great example of faith. I told my wife just the other day that if there is a greater example of Jesus on Earth than my dad, I haven't seen it. He really is. And that instills in you a road map. You don't always make the right decisions, but there is this guiding principle in your life. It is the center of who we are and the center of my family. Q. ___ Did you become a Christian at an early age? ___When I was 7, I told my dad that I had been listening to the words the preacher had been saying and wanted to talk to him about what I should do about it. I had even mentioned it to him before that. He said when we got home he wanted to talk to me. I went into his room, and we talked for a while, and then he knelt with me at the foot of his bed and I asked Jesus into my heart. Q. ___ What do you do besides sing? ___I live on a farm in Tennessee. I spend a lot of my time writing. I have a new solo record we are working on right now that is due out in September. I have a couple of horses. That is my passion; I love my horses. When I get up from the piano when I am at home writing, I have to go riding. I love to do that. I grew up in Texas. I have to do that. Q. ___What do you and your family do together? ___We went roller-skating the other night. We go to see movies, stuff for the kids. When friends ask if I have seen a particular movie, I say if it's not a kid's movie, probably not. We read to the kids a lot and play board games. Every year, we go to a lake in the summer and spend time there. Q. ___ How much do you practice with the Vocal Band? ___Interestingly enough, we don't practice regularly. We learn a song when it is new and when we are making a record. Then we will have two or three rehearsals before we go out and sing a new song. But after that, it's our responsibility to keep knowing them. We are all grown-ups, after all. Q. ___ Who are your heroes? ___My dad is one of them. I was a big fan of Bill Gaither because of what he has done professionally. It's fun to get to know someone on an intimate level as a friend, and I am an even bigger fan of him now than when I met him. He really is a godly man. He has tons of integrity. I grew up listening in the 1980s when contemporary Christian music was booming. I listened to Sandi Patty, Larnelle Harris and Amy Grant and all of them. Q. ___ What comes after the Vocal Band? ___Well, for about nine years before I joined the Vocal Band I was singing solo, and I have been doing it all the time I have been in the Vocal Band. Bill encouraged me to do it. He said, "Just keep doing your thing, and that will start to grow and eventually everything will help the other." I am doing that. When Bill decides to hang it up, I will keep doing that. Q. ___ What kinds of music do you listen to? ___All kinds. That is one of the reasons why on my solo records and even with the Vocal Band there is a kind of eclectic mix. A lot of the records the industry puts out are very focused on one style, and I don't believe people listen that way. The people I know listen to country and gospel and pop, just whatever is good, whatever they like. That is what I do. Not a lot of rap, but something with a good melody.