With a shared passion for music, father-daughter duo Phil and McKayla Stacey prove that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. The 18-year-old has grown to follow in her father’s footsteps. Now residing in Wichita, Kansas, the Staceys credit the magic of Nashville for bringing continuous inspiration to their rising careers.
Like McKayla, Phil also grew up in a musical household. With his father being a touring musician before becoming a pastor in their Kentucky hometown, Phil had a front-row seat to what a career in music looked like and began singing in church and playing instruments at a young age. After graduating high school, he attended Lee University, where he studied vocal performance and joined the school’s music group, the Lee Singers. There, he and his classmates had the opportunity to tour various cities and perform. Following college, Phil joined the Navy and became a singer for the Navy band.
“I toured around with the Navy band until I missed a friend’s wedding, and he said the only way he would forgive me was if I auditioned for this fairly new television show called American Idol,” Phil recalls. “I auditioned, somehow made it on the show, and eventually moved to Nashville.”
Phil’s audition for American Idol was memorable for many reasons. Not only did he get a golden ticket, but it also happened to be the day his daughter, McKayla, was born. With his wife still three weeks from her due date, Phil thought he could head to Memphis for one night, audition, and return in plenty of time. But life had other plans.
“I got a phone call around 4 o’clock in the morning and I heard the baby crying in the background,” Phil says. “I thought, ‘You have got to be kidding me!’”
Landing a spot in the top five on season six, Phil went on to sign a record deal and moved to Nashville in 2007. Raising his daughter in Music City, McKayla grew up on tour buses and practically knew how to sing before she could talk. With a long line of musicians in the family, it was no surprise McKayla would one day chase her own music dreams. In 2014, the Staceys moved to Kansas, but their love for music only grew stronger.
“It had always been a bit of an inside joke for me to audition for American Idol one day,” McKayla says, given her father’s history on the show. “When I was a sophomore in high school, I decided to go for it!”
“I was nearly 30 when I was on the show and McKayla was 15—barely old enough to be there,” Phil says, reflecting on watching his daughter perform on the same stage years later. “I was just so proud of her. She tackled it like a champ and did a great job. She looked like a natural!”
Earlier this year, Phil and McKayla released their duet, “More Like Him,” which has already hit the charts and earned radio play. While Phil began his musical journey in the country genre, he eventually signed with a Christian music label, where he began working with missionaries. That led to church work, and he ultimately became the worship pastor at a church in Kansas.
Since the beginning of the year, Phil and McKayla have traveled to seven countries, performing and sharing their hearts with the world. They wrote and recorded “More Like Him” in Franklin for an organization called Safe Families for Children. Walking alongside families whose children are at risk of entering foster care, Safe Families engages communities, often through churches, to build volunteer networks that help reunite families and reduce the number of children entering the child welfare system.
“People who volunteer for this are essentially saying they don’t need to be comfortable when other people need help,” Phil says. “This inspired us to write a song dedicated to them - seeing all these people show love in a very similar fashion to Jesus.”
This song is only the beginning of what’s to come for Phil and McKayla Stacey. Spending lots of time in the studio, McKayla is excited to release more music soon, including an upcoming track titled “Wasting Our Youth.” Using her voice for good, she hopes to encourage other young adults to follow their faith and know they are never alone in their journey. She’s also excited to spend the next four years at Lee University—another striking parallel to her father’s story. She plans to major in music business and will tour with the elite a cappella group, the Voices of Lee.
“The music culture in Nashville is so normalized, and I saw so much of it growing up that it’s played a big part in why it feels like the right path for me,” McKayla says.
“That is the culture. It truly feels like music is in the air,” Phil adds. “I love that my kids grew up in Franklin, where you get that sense of pride in music being what we do here.”
To stay updated on the Staceys, follow them on social media at @McKayla_Stacey and @PhilStaceyMusic.
“I learned from the best.”