BIGSONG:
Wintley Augustus Phipps, Sr. (born January 7, 1955) is a Trinidadian-American singer, songwriter, record producer, and minister, and founder of the U.S. Dream Academy, Songs of Freedom Publishing Company, and Coral Records Recording Company. He features a booming bass-baritone voice, usually singing inspirational gospel music. He is an ordained Seventh-day Adventist minister.
Biography
Phipps was born in Trinidad and Tobago, but at an early age moved to Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He attended Kingsway College in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, a Seventh-day Adventist academy, and later Oakwood College, a Seventh-day Adventist college (university since 2007) in Huntsville, Alabama, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theology. Phipps would go on to earn a Master of Divinity degree from Andrews University, a Seventh-day Adventist university in Berrien Springs, Michigan. Wintley Phipps served as senior pastor to several churches in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, including the Capitol Hill and Seabrook Seventh-day Adventist Churches. He currently serves as pastor of the Palm Bay Seventh-day Adventist Church in Palm Bay, Florida. Wintley is married to Linda Galloway, whom he met at Oakwood. They have three sons: Wintley II, Winston Adriel, and Wade Alexander.
Notable performances
He has performed for American presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, National Prayer Breakfast for Bill Clinton in 1994, George W. Bush, Barack Obama at several National Prayer Breakfast events and his 2013 Inaugural Prayer Service and other celebrations. He performed for the 1984 and 1988 Democratic National Conventions, Rosa Parks’ 77th Birthday gala at the Kennedy Center, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and former South African President Nelson Mandela. He has appeared on programs such as the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. television special, Dr. Robert Schuller’s Hour of Power Telecast, Billy Graham Crusades, the Vatican, as guest soloist at Diana Ross’s wedding ceremony in Switzerland, Saturday Night Live, Soul Train, The Oprah Winfrey Show, and the 2013 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington.Wintley Phipps’ performances also include voice over work (or voice acting) with Breathe Bible. On July 27, 2020, he sang an emotionally-charged version of “Amazing Grace” as Rep. John Lewis lay in state in the US Capitol in Washington, DC, and sang “How Great Thou Art” at Colin Powell’s funeral on November 5, 2021.
