David Phelps has built recognition in Christian music both through his work as a solo performer and through his role as tenor in the Gaither Vocal Band from 1998 to 2005 and again from 2009 to 2017. Born and raised in Tomball, Texas, within the Houston metro area, he grew up with parents whose careers centered on finance and education; his sisters Sherri Proctor and Kari Lee also pursued professional music careers and occasionally performed alongside him. After completing a vocal performance degree at Baylor University in 1992, he issued his debut recording, the self-released Journey to Grace, two years later.
Stepping in for Jonathan Pierce, Phelps first appeared as tenor on the Gaither Vocal Band’s 1998 project Still the Greatest Story Ever Told. While maintaining that affiliation he issued additional solo projects, among them the 2000 Christmas set Joy, Joy and a self-titled album in 2001, both on Spring Hill Music. He later moved to Word Entertainment, which released Revelation in 2004 and Life Is a Church the following year; each reached the upper half of the Billboard Christian Albums chart. After stepping away from the Gaither Vocal Band for a period, he delivered the live albums Legacy of Love in 2006 and No More Night in 2007, along with the holiday recordings One Wintry Night: A David Phelps Christmas in 2007 and O Holy Night: A Live Christmas Celebration in 2008. The 2008 studio album The Voice also charted inside the Christian Top 15 before he returned to the group in 2009.
Under the Gaither Music Group/Spring House imprint he next offered the seasonal project Christmas with David Phelps in 2010, then turned to Classic in 2012, interpreting selections by Puccini and Beethoven alongside works by Irving Berlin and Rodgers & Hammerstein. That release placed inside the Top Ten on both Christian and classical charts. O Holy Night: Christmas Favorites followed in 2014, and Freedom brought him back to the Top Ten in 2015. Early in 2017 he issued Hymnal, subtitled “A Journey of Faith Through Hymns,” around the time he announced his second departure from the Gaither Vocal Band.
