For music Workshops and seminars contact:
Keith Armstead Ministries at 540-604-0764 or
amcinc@aol.com

From the Foreword --

About the Author --

Keith Armstead is a native of Caroline County, Virginia. When he was young, his family moved to Fredericksburg, Virginia. Keith started his music venture in the fifth grade when he joined the chorus under Clintena Hankerson. He also started playing trumpet in the fifth grade under the direction of Ronald Jordan. In the seventh grade, Keith started entering and winning many talent competitions such as the Lions Club James Bland competition, the Kiwanis Club talent show, and many more. At this point, Mandy Carr was his vocal instructor, whom he credits for a great number of his musical achievements. In the seventh grade, Keith started to teach himself to play the piano. He didn’t have a piano, so after school he would go down to Shiloh Baptist Church’s new site in downtown Fredericksburg and practice on the piano in the basement until it got dark. For some reason, the front door would be unlocked as if God had plans for him. After a few years of practicing and seeing his commitment, Keith’s mother, Alice, bought him his own piano. Mandy Carr broadened Keith’s horizons to see all the different opportunities available through music if he worked at it. In the eighth grade, he auditioned for and was accepted into a group named the Monroe Singers directed by Mandy Carr, which took him to New York City for the first time to perform and go to a Broadway musical. The Broadway show impressed him so much, he wrote to the stage manager asking for a closer look and was invited to a backstage tour of the musical The Wiz starring Stephanie Mills. In the years to come, Keith would record his first record under the leadership of Jane White, his orchestra teacher at James Monroe High School. The recording, titled "Until They’re Free," received acknowledgment from President Carter because it was about the hostages during the Iranian hostage crisis at the time. After high school, Keith attended Virginia State University, where he became the director of the university’s gospel choir. He went on to direct the Northern Virginia Workshop Choir. Keith was ordained as a minister of music in 1991 by Dr. Samuel H. Carter and the appointed council of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Spotsylvania, Virginia. Keith has served as minister of music in several churches. He is known for building music ministries into very professional recording choirs. Some include Ebenezer Baptist Church in Woodbridge, Virginia; Little Zion Baptist Church in Colonial Beach, Virginia; Mount Zion Baptist Church in Spotsylvania, Virginia; and King George Church of God, King George, Virginia. Keith has performed for the National NAACP Convention in Cincinnati, Ohio, and in New York City. He has regularly been asked to perform for the United States Marines Corps, Army, and Air Force. He was given the Coin of Excellence after performing for the Marine Corps dinner in New York City by Commandant General Conway. Keith is also a piano and voice coach, and he has performed and conducted music workshops all over the country. He has performed on Bobby Jones Gospel Retreats in Las Vegas and in New Orleans, Louisiana. Keith has also performed at the Hampton Ministers Conference and as music minister at the Ellison-Jones Convocation held at the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University . To add to his credits, he has recorded seven CD projects, two of which are nationally distributed by New Day of Hendersonville, Tennessee. Keith Armstead has also been involved in the development of many other ministries. Because of his notable experience, he feels he has a moral obligation to share his talents and help those ministries raise the level of excellence of the music in their church.

Keith Armstead