He’s a father of five. He’s a former creative director for LDS Business College (now called Ensign College). He’s a man of faith. He’s now a full-time musician releasing new music.
Guy Richey Gibbons lists his experience on LinkedIn as an “Artist (Musician, Film Maker)” since December 1988, the month and year of his birth.
Gibbons is currently releasing songs from his new album and recently performed a free concert in Rexburg as part of the Arts in the Park concert series at Porter Park. He brought his whole band to perform.
“I really do like the idea of real musicians, playing real music … because there’s just something special about seeing a band of musicians that are speaking that language of music together,” he said.
Music a Family Affair
His band includes members of his family. His dad, Barry Gibbons, plays bass guitar, his brother Grant plays piano and trumpet, his brother Michael plays guitar and Matt Morrison, the only non-family member, is on drums.
The Gibbons family is all in when it comes to music. Barry Gibbons runs Platinum Sound and Mastering in Bountiful, Utah, with help from his sons. The recording studio has seen the likes of Donny Osmond, America, Gladys Knight, Jenny Oaks Baker and more record their voices and instruments there.
“We’ve gotten to work with our heroes,” Guy Richey Gibbons said. “A lot of musicians from LA that play on every motion picture, a lot of our focus down there in Utah have been on Broadway musicals and stuff over the years, so we’ve hired musicians from London to come out and record on these Broadway musicals that we’ve recorded for theatres all over the world. Just insanely talented people.”
Growing up around all that music, he learned to play the piano, guitar and many other instruments. A recent video on Instagram shows him play a new song for people on the streets of Provo, Utah, where he even plays the saxophone.
Retro-influenced Pop-Rock
Guy Richey Gibbons describes his music as retro-influenced pop-rock. His influences include Stevie Wonder, Toto and other late 1970s and early 1980s music.
“Saturday mornings we would wake up to my dad playing Jackson 5 songs and I hear that music and it just triggers like, I need to go do chores somewhere. That was my upbringing.”
Some people also describe it as funk.
He went on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to France. When he returned home, he went to school at LDS Business College, where he later worked as a creative director. He married his wife, Kelsey, in 2011 and they have five children.
Kelsey Gibbons is also a talented pianist and singer. They release occasional music together for a Christian rock band called Vern. She also teaches piano in their home and at Weber State University.
The music you’ll hear Guy Richey Gibbons play is fun and also clean. He says he doesn’t have to constantly think about making sure his music is clean, it just is clean.
“I love the idea of me being able to feel good about anything I’m making, bringing it home to my family and any other family, being able to do that as well, just knowing that, ‘Hey, Guy Richey Gibbons stuff is always going to be safe,’” he said. “For sure, I’m on a mission to create that kind of music.”
New Music Just Released
That mission didn’t begin in full until recently. He released an album called “In This Moment” in 2022. A year later, he started to release songs from his new album one at a time. So far, he’s released “Start Again,” “What Could Happen” and “Mona Lisa Dancing.” More music is set to release in the coming weeks and years.
He hopes to continue to release music over the next few years and to collaborate with great musicians. He says he doesn’t have any firm plans because he’s relying on God to guide him.
“I will say, I feel like I’m on the faith plan with all of this. Whatever the Lord is telling us to do is what we’re trying to do,” he said. “Sometimes I get caught up in worrying about what is going to happen in a year from now and at the same time I kind of feel like, ‘Well, so far the Lord’s shown me what He wants me to do’ and so it’s been working OK on His plan.”
You can find his music on Spotify or bandcamp. Also, look for new music videos on YouTube and follow him on social media.