As they left freshman English class together in the Fall of 1991 at Pensacola Christian College in Pensacola, Florida, Allen Frisch from Trenton, New Jersey happened to hum a few bars of a familiar song under his breath. Lance Cummins, a native of Beaumont, Texas, knew the song (incidentally, better than he knew Allen) and began to sing a harmony part. They soon found that both had a love for music and began meeting each evening in the North stairtower of their dormitory, Ballard Hall to sing acapella songs with anyone who had an interest. Within a few weeks, another freshman from Oak Harbor, Washington, Jason Prisk, had joined in and the group soon began calling themselves "The Ballard Boys." 

As the weeks went on, the group of 8 or so guys began dropping off until only a trio was left. Lance, Jason and Allen continued to sing (primarily for small campus events) as a trio calling themselves "One-A-Chord." (a novel idea at the time, but we soon found out that many other groups also thought the name would be a creative idea) Occasionally, they were joined by a fourth person for a short time. Two of those who were with the group for a few months during the group's sophomore year were Craig Crumpton and Kris Marion. During this time, the group was introduced to Barbershop music by Lance, a long-time barbershopper. They performed for events on and off-campus singing songs such as "Sweet Adeline", "Dinah", "Heart of My Heart" and many more. One such performance won them first place in a College Variety Talent Contest.

In 1993, Matt Linn, a new freshman from Washington State, and a high-school friend of Jason's, joined the group and a new name was chosen..."The Daybreak Quartet." Matt, Allen, Lance and Jason began to sing gospel songs and hymns (still mostly acapella) for events and church services in addition to the barbershop songs for fun, and soon began to get a vision for the future of the group. They continued to sing for two years until graduation and made plans for their first recording to be completed after school was out. They also set up their first "tour" to churches in Texas, Oklahoma, Washington and British Columbia. As it turned out, Matt was unable to come along on the two week trip to churches (and Jason's wedding in Washington afterward), so a Georgia native, Donny Henderson, was asked to travel and sing in his place.  After that first tour was over, Allen Frisch left the group to take a teaching position in California and Donny continued as the fourth member. 

Meanwhile, Lance took a teaching position in Georgia, Donny moved back home to Georgia, Matt lived in Georgia when not studying, and Jason took a teaching position five hours away in Florida. With the Lord allowing the group to live close enough to continue singing, The Daybreak Quartet scheduled 4-6 weekend concerts per month for the next two years while each of the group members worked or attended college during the week. During this time, the quartet released two projects, "After All" (which also included Allen Frisch) and "Homecoming Live." They also entered the Gold City Talent Search in 1997 and took 2nd place out of about 20 contestants from around the South. 

At the end of 1997, Matt Linn left the group for a move back to Washington State, and Jeff Schreiber, a tenor from Indiana and recent Crown College graduate, joined the quartet. The group began work on their first "studio" recording and released "One Thing I Know" in the Fall of 1998. They also entered and won two other competitions that year, including the premier contest hosted by the National Quartet Convention. 70 groups competed in Louisville, Kentucky, and The Daybreak Quartet was awarded First Place.

In February of 1999, Lance Cummins felt it was the Lord's will that he take a position as music pastor in Conyers, Georgia, and was replaced by 18 year-old Nathan Prisk, the brother of Jason. In April of 1999, The Daybreak Quartet announced a full-time travel schedule and began accepting 3-4 concert dates per week. Six months later, in November of 1999, Tennessee native Alan McGuirt joined the group to take the place of Donny Henderson, who had decided to accept another singing position.

With that group in place, the Daybreak Quartet released two recordings, Tried and True and Recital at St. Andrews Cathedral in Sydney, Australia.  In 2003, a few different tenors filled in while Jeff Schreiber came off the road for a year. Long-time friend from the group's college days, Craig Crumpton, filled in for a while and was a hit with his character voice impersonations. Daron Osborne sang tenor for a number of months, during which time the group recorded Wonderful Feeling.

The release of the Daybreak Quartet's first Christmas recording, The Angels Sang, saw a new lead singer as well.  Dennis Fanning ,a former Music Pastor in Joliet, Illinois, joined the quartet while Craig Crumpton once again took to the road at the tenor position. In 2005, current tenor Joel Wood began traveling and is currently in the process of recording his first project with the quartet.