Philip Tyler Keaggy (born March 23, 1951) 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. He is a seven-time recipient of the GMA Dove Award for Instrumental Album of the Year, and he was twice nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Gospel Album. He 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.
Biography
Early life
Keaggy was raised Catholic in a small farmhouse in Hubbard, Ohio, with nine brothers and sisters. He went to high school at Austintown Fitch High School in Austintown, Ohio, graduating in 1970. He is missing half of the middle finger on his right hand due to an accident at age four involving a water pump. Keaggy reflects on the incident:
Initially, it was not the guitar that attracted Keaggy to playing music. "I asked my dad for a set of drums for my tenth birthday but he came home with a Sears Silvertone guitar."
1960s
Keaggy was a member of a mid-1960s garage rock band called the Squires; one of their songs ("Batmobile"), which he co-wrote, appears on the compilation album Highs in the Mid-Sixties, Volume 9. In 1966 he joined Volume IV, which in 1967 became New Hudson Exit. The band appeared frequently in Youngstown clubs and also released a Keaggy composition, "Come With Me", as a single on the Date label. At one point, New Hudson Exit had considered Joe Walsh as its lead guitarist. Walsh later established himself as the guitarist for The James Gang before embarking on a solo career and work with the Eagles.
In 1968, Keaggy and longtime friend drummer John Sferra, along with bassist Steve Markulin, formed the band Glass Harp. The band gigged in and around the Youngstown, Ohio area and found work at school dances and clubs. The incarnation of the band recorded several demos, and released the single "Where Did My World Come From?" on the United Audio label in 1969.
Markulin left the group to join his cousin Joe in another successful Youngstown band, The Human Beinz. Keaggy and Sferra then recruited bass player Daniel Pecchio. Pecchio, formerly of the band The Poppy, was also a flute player, a talent which later was showcased on several Glass Harp's songs. After recording a new set of demos and signing with new management, the band set out to polish their live act and shop for a recording deal.
A major turning point for the trio was their winning of an Ohio area's "Battle of the Bands", One of the event's judges happened to be an associate of producer Lewis Merenstein, whom he alerted to the threesome. Merenstein was persuaded to fly down from New York to listen to the band in concert. Upon hearing Glass Harp perform, Merenstein's enthusiastic report resulted in Decca Records signing Glass Harp to a multi-record deal.
1970s
Reflecting on 1970, Keaggy recalls: