Better known as Sam Phillips, American singer-songwriter Leslie Ann Phillips was born in Glendale, California, on January 28, 1962. Nicknamed Sam from childhood, she began by singing and playing the piano before studying philosophy, before turning to a career in music. After starting out as a backing singer for Christian singers, she signed with the Myrrh Records label and recorded four albums, Beyond Saturday Night (1983), Dancing with Danger (1984), Black and White in a Grey World (1985) and The Turning (1987), produced by T-Bone Burnett, whom she married in 1989 and from whom she divorced in 2004. Nicknamed the "Christian Cyndi Lauper", she shed this image and adopted the artist name Sam Phillips to begin a new career, which would prove long and successful.
