Stellar Award Winner Phillip Carter has rapidly risen to national and international acclaim status as a gifted and anointed gospel recording artist, prolific songwriter, accomplished musician, and talented producer. Phillip Carter and his group, Sounds of Victory (SOV), are the 2010 Stellar Award Winner for Fan Favorite Choir of the Year. Phillip also produced the 2010 Stellar Award Winner for Children’s Performance of the Year, “Amazing” by Dr. Emory Andrews and the Oxon Hill High School Gospel Choir.

A native of Fort Washington, Maryland, Carter began playing the piano at 18 months of age, and began directing choirs when he was nine. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Music Education with a concentration in Piano and Minor in Voice from Bowie State University. While attending college, he served as the Director of the Bowie State University Gospel Choir and Assistant Director of the Howard University Gospel Choir.

For more than a decade, Carter has touched the lives of many young people as a music and choral teacher as well as a mentor at public schools in Washington, D.C. and Prince George’s County, Maryland. Carter currently teaches Music and Computer Technology in Fairfax County, Virginia. He also served as Music Director and Artistic Facilitator of the Children of the Gospel and Men and Women of the Gospel Choirs at the Washington Performing Arts Society for Gospel Programming.

Carter has been an active participant at the Gospel Music Workshop of America where he’s performed, instructed, and composed for choirs since 2000. He is a former member of the Gospel Announcers Guild, and was a featured songwriter at the Hampton Ministers Conference and The National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses. He has shared the stage with some of the world’s most celebrated gospel artists, including Dorinda Clark-Cole, Edwin Hawkins, Tramaine Hawkins, Walter Hawkins, Jennifer Holliday, Patrick Lundy and the Ministers of Music, Karen Clark Sheard, and Albertina Walker.

In 1997, Carter organized the Sounds of Victory. During that year, he released their debut album, “Bridging The Gap”, under his independent label, Sounds of Victory Ministries. Their second release, 1999’s “Bridging The Gap, Part II”, was followed by “Confession” in 2002, and “The Journey Continues” in 2004. “Songs From The Storm”, released in 2009, is Phillip Carter and SOV’s fifth album overall, and first national release. They established a firm standing on Billboard’s Gospel Chart with the down home rendition of “I Love The Lord”, and with the album’s second single, “He’s God”.

In 2009, Carter formed the Independent Gospel Artists Alliance to strengthen, motivate, and empower the Independent label owner and artist through the power of networking and trade. In 2010, Sounds of Victory Ministries, in partnership with Earl Bynum Ministries, presented the Independent Gospel Artists Alliance Conference. The annual small business conference that focuses on the needs of Independent Gospel, Christian, and Inspirational Artists to help them manage their business, their career, and their music through education and networking.

Carter serves as the current President and Chief Executive Officer of SOV, Inc., based in Waldorf, MD, that includes Sounds of Victory Ministries, Philco Studios, and Philco Publishing.

Phillip is married to Stephanie Carter and has two wonderful sons: Stephen, age 6, and Thomas, age 4.