[4] Phipps was born in Trinidad and Tobago, but at an early age moved to Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

[4] He performed for the 1984[8] and 1988[9] Democratic National Conventions, Rosa Parks' 77th Birthday gala at the Kennedy Center,[10] Mother Teresa of Calcutta,[11] and former South African President Nelson Mandela.

[11] 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,[11] as guest soloist at Diana Ross's wedding ceremony in Switzerland,[8] Saturday Night Live,[12] Soul Train, The Oprah Winfrey Show, and the 2013 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington.

[16] In 1998, Phipps founded the U.S. Dream Academy, Inc.,[4] a non-profit organization dedicated to providing a values-based, interactive, tutorial and remedial education program targeting children and at-risk youth through community Family Learning Centers located in various states.

Phipps says, "Just the computers themselves are not going to transform the lives of these kids," and "The most important part of our program is really the caring, loving adults who surround them."