1. Philip Tyler Keaggy was born on March 23,1951 and is an American acoustic and electric guitarist and vocalist who has released more than 55 albums and contributed to many more recordings in both the contemporary Christian music and mainstream markets.
Phil Keaggy is a seven-time recipient of the GMA Dove Award for Instrumental Album of the Year, and was twice nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Gospel Album.
Phil Keaggy has frequently been listed as one of the world's top-two "finger-style" and "finger-picking" guitarists by Guitar Player Magazine readers' polls, and due to his complex and virtuosic playing, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest guitarists of all time.
Phil Keaggy went to high school at Austintown Fitch High School in Austintown, Ohio graduating in 1970.
Phil Keaggy is missing half of the middle finger on his right hand due to an accident at age four involving a water pump.
Phil Keaggy was a member of a mid-1960s garage rock band called the Squires; one of their songs, which he co-wrote, appears on the compilation album Highs in the Mid-Sixties, Volume 9.
The band appeared frequently in Youngstown clubs and released a Phil Keaggy composition, "Come With Me", as a single on the Date label.
On Valentine's Day in 1970, Phil Keaggy's mother was seriously injured in an auto accident.
Phil Keaggy sang the majority of the songs; Pecchio and Sferra sang lead on several numbers.
The songs were written while Phil Keaggy was still with Glass Harp.
Phil Keaggy married his wife Bernadette in the summer of 1973.
Phil Keaggy took a brief hiatus from recording on his own and only toured in support of other artists like Love Song, 2nd Chapter of Acts, Paul Clark, and Nancy Honeytree.
Phil Keaggy could have saved the world with his guitar.
Not until Phil Keaggy extracted himself from the group and the menial labor to which they had largely confined him, that he began to record significant music.
In late 1974, Phil Keaggy played guitar on Joe Vitale's debut solo album Roller Coaster Weekend produced by The Albert Brothers.
Phil Keaggy returned to the studio in 1976 with Love Broke Thru, an album which included his version of a song which has become a classic in Christian music: "Your Love Broke Through".
Lewis, Phil Keaggy included an arranged version of the author's poem "As the Ruin Falls".
Phil Keaggy's album was listed as No 64 in the 2001 book, CCM Presents: The 100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music.
In 1978, Phil Keaggy released his first critically acclaimed instrumental album entitled The Master and the Musician.
The Phil Keaggy family moved to Leawood, Kansas in August 1979; their first daughter, Alicia, was born there in March 1980.
In 1982, Phil Keaggy released Play Thru Me, known for its upbeat classic, "Morning Light" as well as the slide-guitar instrumental workout, "Happy".
The next year Phil Keaggy released his second instrumental album, The Wind and the Wheat.
Lynn Nichols, guitarist for the 1977 Phil Keaggy Band, produced the Sunday's Child project.
One track, "I've Just Begun ", was first written when Phil Keaggy was 17, and was updated for the album.
Phil Keaggy had met Laura Eastman, sister of Linda McCartney, while the former worked at Christian Broadcasting Network in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Phil Keaggy followed Sunday's Child in 1990 with an all-out rock album Find Me in These Fields.
In 1992, Phil Keaggy released what has become a landmark acoustic instrumental album, Beyond Nature.
In 1993, Phil Keaggy worked with a group of talented musicians on a project.
The song was written, musically, in 1967 when Phil Keaggy was in ninth grade.
In June 1994, Phil Keaggy released a heavily revised version of his 1986 album Way Back Home.
The anthology has selections from throughout Phil Keaggy's career, including several classic instrumentals.
That same year, Phil Keaggy released what has become one of his best-selling albums, True Believer.
The next year Phil Keaggy released another critically acclaimed instrumental album, Acoustic Sketches.
Phil Keaggy appeared as a guest singer on the Ragamuffins' "All the Way to Kingdom Come", on his friend Rich Mullins' last original work, The Jesus Record.
Majesty and Wonder, a Christmas album featuring the London Festival Orchestra, includes Phil Keaggy's take on standards such as "Oh Holy Night" as well as a three-part original, "Nativity Suite".
Phil Keaggy later released the four-disc collection Music to Paint By.
In November 2000, he released The Uncle Duke project, a collaboration with his uncle Dave "Duke" Keaggy, with Phil Keaggy setting his uncle's eclectic poetry to music.
In 2001, Phil Keaggy released the albums In the Quiet Hours and Cinemascapes.
Additionally, Bernadette Phil Keaggy published Losing You Too Soon, an updated version of A Deeper Shade of Grace, her 1996 book on losing her first five children through early infant death, miscarriage and stillbirth.
The next year Phil Keaggy released It's Personal, an album in which he set poetry by Keith Moore to music.
Also in 2003 Phil Keaggy released Special Occasions, an eclectic collection of music focusing on birthdays, weddings and graduations.
Also in 2003, guitarist Muriel Anderson released an album with Phil Keaggy entitled Precious Gems.
In 2004 Phil Keaggy guest performed with the indie band Dispatch for several songs during The Last Dispatch.
The next year, Phil Keaggy released Freehand, the sequel to Acoustic Sketches.
Also in 2006 Phil Keaggy released a vocal album, Dream Again.
The year saw the release of Happy Valentine's Day, a limited edition compilation of various love songs that Phil Keaggy had recorded over the years as well as four new tracks.
Phil Keaggy released Acoustic Cafe, an album, that with the exception of "You Have My Heart", is a collection of covers ranging from Bob Dylan to Cyndi Lauper.
Later that year Phil Keaggy released another acoustic instrumental album: The Song Within.
Phil Keaggy toured in support of the album's anniversary with a band that featured Glass Harp drummer John Sferra.
The next year Phil Keaggy released the album Phantasmagorical: Master and Musician 2, the sequel to his 1978 masterpiece.
The year saw Phil Keaggy contribute a soaring re-recorded version of "Passport" on the album CPR 3; a compilation of musicians from the Christian Progressive Rock scene.
Also in late 2010, Phil Keaggy did some session work with former Monkees member Micky Dolenz for Dolenz's solo album King for a Day.
Phil Keaggy's nephew was married to contemporary Christian singer songwriter Cheri Keaggy.
Phil Keaggy's sister is former American television and film actress Mary Ellen Kay, who died in 2017.