Working with one of the 'Greatest Sax Players' of all time!

Ernie Watts

Many of you may not know this man, but you've definitely heard him on many of your recordings. Mr. Ernie Watts. I knew about Ernie, because I've read album credits most of my life. I would hear this sax solo on a Gino Vanelli record, or The Jacksons record and look to see who it was and consistently it was Ernie Watts.

Ernie's superb sax work has graced many albums by artist diverse as Barbara Streisand, The Crusaders, Christopher Cross, Boz Scaggs, Rickie Lee Jones, Earth, Wind and Fire, SWITCH, etc, etc, etc.

I was very familiar with Ernie's work like I said and when SWITCH recorded their first album Jermaine Jackson called Ernie to come and play on our recordings. The saxophone solo on "I Wanna Be Closer" one of SWITCH'S biggest hits is Mr. Ernie Watts. Like I said, you've heard him but many of you may not know who he is.

Ernie Watts - "Chariots Of Fire"

Ernie ended up playing on a number of SWITCH records so I got to know him over the years. In 1982 Qunicy Jones produced an album on Ernie Watts called "Chariots of Fire" 
My brother James called Howard Hewitt and myself in to sing backgrounds on Ernie's album. It was my first time meeting Quincy Jones and it was nice to have 3 guys from Akron, Ohio all working together on the same project.

But more importantly it was also nice to be able to sing backgrounds on Ernie's record since he was such a part of of SWITCH'S career. James, Howard and myself ended up singing 2 songs on this project.

The Dude Tour 1982

After singing on Ernie's project in the early part of 1982 later that summer when Quincy Jones was doing "The Dude" tour we were all together again.

I sang backgrounds on that tour with Edie Leighman and Phil Perry and Ernie was one of the horn players in the band. If you look at the picture on the left, you can see Ernie with the sun glasses on in the upper right hand corner.

Ernie has always been a gentleman, very nice and very unassuming.

Ernie doing what he does best

It would be years before I ran into Ernie again. The last time I saw Ernie was when we worked with Quincy Jones again at the Hollywood Bowl in September 2011 with "60 Years Of Quincy Jones". Ernie was part of the horn section and I was singing backgrounds on that concert. (I wrote about that concert on this BLOG, back in September 11, 2011)

Even after all these years Ernie is still the same. It was an honor to meet him back in 1977 / 1978 when he first played on "I Wanna Be Closer", but over the years he's remained, one of the greatest Sax players of all time. (Ernie Watts)


 Until Next Time - Phillip
 

Serenades of Life - Doctor's in Concert

The Smith Center in Las Vegas

On Saturday, October 27, 2012 the Nathan Adelson Hospice Center put on their 18th annual "Serenades of Life - Doctor's in Concert" event. This event is a fund raiser to help support the hospice foundation. The event was held at the beautiful Smith Center in the heart of Las Vegas.

Alter'd Ego - A Band made up of doctors? YUP!

This is a unique event where Doctors, Surgeons, from many fields perform for this event each year. Some of the doctors sang, others performed in a rock band, a jazz quartet, opera and even a violinist. Much of the talent was very good. You don't tend to think of your Doctor as having musical talent but they did. 

Brad Garrett from 'Everybody Loves Raymond' was given the first 'Brad Garrett Humanitarian Award'. This award will be given to different recipients in the coming years. This was given to Brad for all the work he has done with the hospice center.

Clint Holmes performed, and then the various doctors were singing and playing their songs. After the doctors performed, Chris Mann, who came in 4th on the 2nd season of "The Voice" sang a few numbers and then Sheena Easton closed the show.

Our show was a scaled down version of our regular show. Usually our shows are about 90 minutes but because of the many different artist our show was scaled down to 25 minutes. Sheena said it's the shortest show she's ever done.

The show went well, Sheena and I only performed one of our duets, "We've Got Tonight" instead of the usual 3 that we do in the show. The Venue was fantastic, it sounded great and as always we had a lot of fun.

The Vdara

Rebecca and I drove down to Vegas on Friday and stayed at the Vdara Hotel. Very nice! For Rebecca and I it was a mini-vacation with a 25 minute show.



 A unique event, a great venue and a nice hotel. We were very happy to be part of the Serenades Of Life-Doctor's in Concert event.

Until Next Time - Phillip
 

Rams Head Center Stage - LIVE!

Rams Head Center Stage

On Thursday  October 18th Sheena Easton performed at the Rams Head Center Stage in Hanover, MD near Baltimore.

Talk about a lively crowd, that's an understatement. From the moment the band walked out unto the stage to get into position the crowd started cheering, so we knew we were going to have a good time.

Even Sheena told the audience that it's not even the weekend and they were already partying. We had a great performance. The Venue holds about 300 so it made for a nice intimate evening. But from our opening number to our last note the crowd was up dancing, singing to the music, and having a good ole' time.

Maryland Live Casino

Every Thursday night, Maryland Live! Casino features a headlining act on the Rams Head Center Stage. Well this Thursday, the whole band was 'hot'. Earl Campbell, our drummer with Sheena, is from the Baltimore, MD area so he was at home and they came out to support him. His solo on "U Got The Look" was pretty amazing. The boy can play anyway, but I think he put some extra sauce on his solo since he was in his hometown.

The Bacharach Medley that Sheena and I perform was very well received. Our show is about a 90-minute show and even for me the show went by really quick, that's when you know that EVERYONE is enjoying themselves.

When Sheena and I were performing "U Got The Look",  towards the end where Sheena and I do our ad-libs, Sheena had me laughing and I couldn't even sing. I told the audience that she was silly. I got my composure and finished the song.

Next weekend, we'll all be in Vegas. The band, with the exception of myself, all live in Vegas. We will be doing a fundraiser at the Smith Center with other performers for a local hospice center. I'll tell you more about that after it happens.

As you know it's always a pleasure for me not only to perform but see some of the friends I haven't seen in years. Well I got to see a friend of mine that I haven't seen since about 1979. We have known each other since 8th grade, so I got to see her and one of her sons and get caught up.

After the show there is a true SWITCH / Phillip Ingram fan that I met when we were in Philly. His name is Doug. Well this time Doug had all 5 of SWITCH'S albums for me to sign. It was great seeing him again as well.

Hopefully in the future I'll get to see you at an upcoming performance. I have to say though that Thursday night's performance at the Rams Head Center Stage was all the way LIVE!

Until Next Time - Phillip 

Performing At The Utah State Fair

Utah State Fair

On Sunday September 9th we performed at the Utah State Fair, with Sheena Easton in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was a pretty hot day with temperatures in the 90s.

We did our soundcheck about 3:00 pm and the sun was blazing, but there was a wind that would come up and cool us down for a quick minute.

The staff at the Utah State Fair was very nice and they took care of us quite well. For instance, while we were doing our soundcheck the wind kept blowing the smell of BBQ our way, which made us that much more hungry, so guess what the staff had for us for dinner before the show? B-B-Q pulled pork and it was scrumpdileicious, if there's such a word. It was tender and the sauce was so good it made you want to smack somebody.

Sheena Easton

We were scheduled for a 7:30 performance but came on just about 7:40. There were about 1800 people or so in the audience with more coming in as the show began. As usual we always have a great time on stage. We had a pretty lively audience for the most part. There were people up front that were mouthing all of Sheena's words and enjoying themselves and dancing to the show

After the show Sheena did a meet and greet and there were some that wanted to meet the band as well. We took pictures and met some new people. They all said that the performance was great and asked us to come back. So hopefully in the future we'll be able to make it back to the Utah State Fair and have yet another great time.

PS - I hope they have the BBQ pulled pork available - LOL!

Utah State Fair - Fairgrounds

Working With Olivia Newton-John

ONJ - Oliva Newton John

Olivia Newton John has had an illustrious career. She's a singer, songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Olivia has had many hit records and of course her role as Sandy in Grease became the biggest box-office hit of 1978.

Fast forward 20 years, it's now 1998. Olivia Newton John recorded an album called Back With A Heart. The first single was a re-make of her #1 hit single "I Honestly Love You".  This version was produced by David Foster and it featured Babyface on background vocals. The song charted the Pop charts to #67 and it went to #18 on the Adult Contemporary Charts.

Well this is where Olivia and I met for the first time. Olivia was starting to promote her new album and was going to be doing some television performances and concerts. Because of the soulful backgrounds that Babyface had put on the re-make of "I Honestly Love You", Jim Gilstrap and myself was called in to do the Tonight show, the Today Show in New York and a concert in Nashville.

Olivia, Jim Gilstrap and myself on the "Tonight Show"

Olivia is a very pleasant lady and we really enjoyed working with her. We performed the Tonight show singing "I Honestly Love You".

We then flew to New York to do the Today Show with Olivia. The Today Show was doing a series of summer concerts with various artist.

It was a quick trip to New York to do the Today Show and since the show starts at 7:00 am EST that meant it would be 4:00 am PST. We got to New York and basically had to be ready by 4:00 am EST for rehearsal. Remember 4am in New York is 1am in LA. The performance was a success. Everyone loved Olivia.

My wife Rebecca, Daughter Denice, Dave Koz, Olivia and Myself.

Literally right after our performance for the Today Show we got into a limo to catch a flight back to Los Angeles. It was now about 9am EST / 6am PST. We were so tired when we got to the airport Olivia bought Jim Gilstrap, the keyboard player Randy Waldman and myself a neck pillow for our ride home. I've used that pillow many trips and I always remember Olivia.

After arriving home from doing the Today Show which was a Friday morning, we were home for one day Saturday and then we had to head to Nashville on Sunday. We were in Nashville for a couple of days with a rehearsal and then the concert.

After that performance the next time I ran into Olivia was a few years later when I was performing with Michael McDonald. After the concert Olivia was backstage and we took the time, along with my wife and daughter and Dave Koz to snap a quick picture.

Olivia - Today

I haven't seen Olivia since. From time to time I'll run into someone that may have worked with her and I'll get "Olivia says hello".

Olivia has since left the United States and is now living back in Australia. I met a a very gracious and classy lady and I really enjoyed working with Olivia Newton-John.

Until Next Time - Phillip

TEMECULA: Ronnie Laws, Phillip Ingram playing at winery

Ronnie Laws

On July 21, 2012 it was a Romantic Evening of Jazz, Soul and R&B on the enchanting concert and wedding lawn at Leonss Cellars.

Just about a month before this event Ronnie Laws called me to see if I would like to perform with him at the Leoness Cellars Winery as his Special Guest. Of course the answer was 'yes'.

Ronnie and I go back quite a few years. As SWITCH was recording their 2nd Album, Ronnie Laws was working on a project at the same studio and we met back then in 1979 and have remained friends over the years. I've sang backgrounds on a couple of his projects and about 2 years ago we did the 'Jazz Informance' along with Walter Beasley.

Wedding Lawn at Leoness Cellars

It turned out to be a great intimate evening. There were a little over 300 in attendance and they all had a great time. We performed where they have weddings on a regular basis, so the view was spectacular. The Wedding Lawn overlooks the Leoness Vineyards with the rolling mountains in the background.

The show started with M.C and Opening Act, Kim Horn. Kim is a great singer and another dear friend of mine whom I've also known for many years. Kim does Jazz like Nat King Cole and does a great job with it. So Kim opened up the show.

Another spectacular view at Leoness Cellars

Kim was followed by Joel Reese who came up and did a little bit country. After that I came up and performed "Most Of All", which is a song that I co-wrote with Todd Carlon and is the #1 downloaded and played song on the Phillip Ingram App.

After that I called up Ronnie and we performed "I Can't Make You Love Me",  it seems that this song stole the night with my portion of the performance. After the 2nd chorus Ronnie and I went back and forth with some improvisations and the crowd thoroughly enjoyed it.

Ronnie, doing his thing...

I finished my 3rd song with the Duet "Wonderful", which I sang with Nikki Harris on the JPG Project. I had Dana LeBlanc do the duet with me at the show, and she also did a great job. Ronnie played on this as well and then we danced our way down the aisle on the ending of the song while the audience was singing the chorus.

After that Ronnie did his thang performing many of his hits. His encore song was a tribute to Grover Washington where Ronnie performed "Mr. Magic".


This was a first for Leoness Cellars. They never put on a concert of this caliber but from the success of this particular concert I think we may be seeing more 'intimate evenings' at Leoness Cellars.

Until Next Time - Phillip

'Opening Act' Back In The Day

When I was in my local band, Raw Soul, back in the early 70's we played all around Ohio. We even won a trophy for the #1 band in Akron.

One of the highlights 'back in the day' was being the opening act for some pretty big concerts that came to Akron. There's a theater in Akron, called the Akron Civic Center and we played at that theater and we were able to open up for Rufus featuring Chaka Khan and the Hues Corporation. At that time the Hues Corporation were the headliners because they had the big hit 'Rock The Boat'. 

We were excited to be around people of that caliber backstage that had hit records and were living the dream that we wanted for ourselves.

We met the band members of both groups, Rufus and the Hues Corporation. It was pretty exciting. Of course we were doing cover tunes and they were performing their own songs. I remember especially enjoying Rufus,because Chaka was sanging that day. So it was a special time for our local group.

Hues Corporation

We were also excited to listen to the Hues Corporation as well because the song Rock The Boat was a huge hit.

Rufus

Another highlight for our local band, Raw Soul, was to be able to play at the Blossom Music Center opening up for Three Dog Night. This was a unique concert. When we opened up for the Hues Corporation and Rufus, Raw Soul was an R&B cover band and it worked playing for predominantly a black audience. When we opened up at Blossom Music Center for Three Dog Night we were playing for a predominantly white pop audience. But the crowd seemed to enjoy it.

Three Dog Night

We opened up for Three Dog Night on a school night and I was still in High School. What was funny one of my class mates, Mary Payorle, was at the Three Dog Night concert and was very surprised that our local band was opening up for such a huge group. We talked about that concert the next day in school.

For a local band it was pretty exciting meeting these bands that were already doing what we wanted to do. I look back on all of this as part of the journey that has brought me to where I am today.

I have to admit that it was great being an 'opening act' for these three hit artists 'back in the day'.

Until next time - Phillip

Houston, Vegas, Brampton, North Bay, Richmond Hill

Phillip & Yvonne at Soundcheck in Vegas.

It's been a busy few weeks so let me get started.

The first stop was on April 14 in Houston, Texas. I hadn't been to Houston since the 80's. On April 14th I performed with Sheena at a Fund Raiser for the Juvenille Diabetes Foundation. This was a Gala Evening. They were able to raise over $600,000 in that one evening to help the cause. I also got to hang with a friend that I hadn't seen in a while, which is always nice. Not only do the Texans have the means to help out like that but they were very generous also

The second stop was on April 21 & 22 back at the Southpoint Showroom in Las Vegas, Nevada. The SouthPoint Hotel has had Sheena perform there twice a year since they opened about 5 years ago. Again I was able to hang with some friends on both days which made this trip even that much more enjoyable.

Rose Theatre, Brampton, Ontario, CA

The 3rd stop was on April 28, in Brampton, Ontario, Canada. Very elegant theater. It was a Saturday night and a very lively crowd which also made the show "Great".

Each night of our 6 different performances we received a 'standing ovation'. Here's where the routing got weird. We were already in Canada. The show we had just performed at the Rose Theatre was booked about a year in advance. The next 2 shows we had coming up were also in Canada, but we all had to fly back to LA and Vegas and come back for the other 2 performances. 

We left the Toronto Airport early Sunday morning and was back at the Toronto Airport  Tuesday evening. So with a little bit of jet-lag, time change and just plain wore out, I ended up getting sick going back to Canada. As soon as I got to the hotel on Tuesday evening I slept.

Our 4th stop was on May 2 performing at the Capitol Centre in North Bay, Ontario, Canada. We were in the upper north eastern corner of Canada. This was a Wednesday evening, the crowd was a little smaller but they were lively. Even though I got sick, I performed and got through 2 of the three duets that I normally do with Sheena. During the show I had to change up my melodies some what so as to get through the songs, I was pretty weak. The band and I knew but the audience didn't. So during the show Sheena decides to cut our 3rd duet. Still there was a standing Ovation.

Richmond Hill-Performing Arts Center

Our 5th and final stop was on May 3, where we flew back to the Toronto Area to perform at the Richmond Hill Performing Arts Center. I was feeling a little better and we still only performed 2 out of the 3 duets so as not to push it too much. This was a Thursday evening and the crowd was smaller than expected. There were about 400 or so out of a Performing Arts Theater that seats 600. Again the evening ended with a standing ovation.

So there you have it, Houston, Vegas, Brampton, North Bay, Richmond Hill.

Until Next Time - Phillip

Working with David Benoit

I first met David Benoit when David Pack from Ambrosia called me to sing background on a gorgeous song that both David Pack and David Benoit wrote together. The song was called "Key To You" and it's become one of David Benoit's classics.

This introduction led to me working on various projects with David Benoit. After singing background on this project, I was also called in to sing background on a few more of David's albums. One of the albums that I sang on was "Inner Motion". The song "Every Corner Of The World" was another song that was written by David Benoit and David Pack.

What was nice about this project is when David Benoit was promoting this album he did a performance out here in Los Angeles at the Greek Theater. It was a great concert.

The way they did the concert was very cool it was done in 3-stages. First they started with David playing the piano by himself on stage, with a curtain behind him. Then the 2nd phase they opened the curtain and there was a rhythm section with us singing the backgrounds on "Key To You" and other songs. The third phase they opened another curtain and behind us was an orchestra, which surprised the audience. It was a fantastic evening, the weather was beautiful. We closed the show with "Every Corner Of the World".

David Benoit at the piano

I ended up singing background on 3 of David's projects. There was another project that David Benoit called me for. The Film Actor George Hamilton, who was always known for his tans, was doing a new talk show with his ex-wife. I guess the network thought this was a great idea! David Benoit had been called in to arrange the theme song which was "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off".

I sang this song with Eyvonne Williams as a duet. The show didn't really last long, but we appreciated David calling us to sing the theme song of this new TV show. The idea of doing a show though with your ex-wife doesn't really sound appealing. 

David Benoit called me for a live project that he was doing a few years later and unfortunately I wasn't able to work that project out. Davd was always very nice very unassuming and NO MESS - YEAH!

The last time I saw David was at the LAX Airport. I was leaving to go do a show with Sheena Easton and David was just coming in from a concert from somewhere in the U.S.

I haven't worked with David since the TV Show theme and since I wasn't able to work out the live project with him it's been a while. When I ran into him at LAX we did exchange numbers again and got caught up, so we'll see what happens in the future.

If you've never heard "Key To You", which was my introduction to David Benoit, you should check the song out. I've included the YouTube link above.

Again, another facet of my musical career over the years. It was great Working With David Benoit. 

Until Next Time - Phillip 

"The Steubenville Boy's Choir" - A SWITCH Moment

SWITCH 1st album Photo Shoot

When our first few hits came out, "There'll Never Be'', "I Wanna Be Closer", "I Call Your Name", etc we were touring the whole country. Because of the popularity of the group we had fake names when we would check into our hotels. Why would we do that?

Well when artists come to perform in different towns true fans know how to find where the artists are staying, they know the schedule etc. We learned from Jermaine Jackson that you need to have some type of diversions for the fans. For example, when the Jackson 5 were up and coming Jermaine told us that after a concert they would have 2 limousines with dark windows go one way and the brothers would hop into a Volkswagen, after the crowd followed the limo's and go a different direction. This diversion was very successful.

SWITCH LIVE!

So what was our diversion? Jody Sims, our original drummer was from Steubenville, Ohio which is a pretty small town. We traveled around the country as "The Steubenville Boy's Choir". When we would check into our hotel, the hotel knew that we were SWITCH, but they would make our rooming list out as The Steubenville's Boy's Choir. This list showed our rooms but we all had fake names on the list. I think Greg was Jack Daniels, I know that I was D. Pepsi and I can't remember some of the others right now. Did it work? Absolutely! I remember one time some fans were trying to find different ones in the group and they had seen the rooming list by accident, and they said "this isn't the list". A true diversion.

Phillip

We definitely had a lot of fun back then traveling under a different name. playing in different cities. There were still some fans that would find us, which always happens, but for the majority of the fans, they couldn't find SWITCH, the only found The Steubenville Boy's Choir.

Until Next Time - Phillip 

As Always, we had a great time in Japan

Billboard Live-Tokyo

Every year since 2007 Sheena Easton has been asked to perform in Japan at either the Blue Note, the Cotton Club or Billboard Live. Prior to 2007 it had been 9 years since she was in Japan, but we've been there every year since.

Kicking off 2012 was no different. We performed 4 shows at Billboard Live in Tokyo and 2 shows in Osaka. The crowds were great in both cities. In Tokyo we were performing on a Friday and Saturday night so we were expecting some lively crowds, but in Osaka we were performing on a Monday night and we figured the crowds would be less. Not at all, we had about the same attendance in Osaka on a Monday night as we did in Tokyo and the crowds were just as lively.

The waitresses that served us in Osaka

It's always nice to see people that we've met before from performing there in the past. In the audience there are some regulars that we've seen every year at our performances since 2007, true die-hard Sheena Fans. Since I teach vocals 2-days a week at the California College of Music, otherwise known as CCM, many of the students have come from Japan. Some are there for a few months and others are there for year. My last 3-times in Japan I've been able to get together with them, have a bite, catch up on what's happening in their lives and of course they come to one of the shows.

This trip was no different, I was able to get together with about 7 of some former CCM students and faculty. We had dinner at a great restaurant and for the first time I had okonomiyaki for the first time and it was great. Osaka is known for okonomiyaki and the Osaka Station is right by our hotel and I never knew. That's why it's always good to have a local from the area show you the ropes.

From L-R, Saori, Tomo, Yuki, Phillip & Seiko

The Billboard Live Venues are always very organized. Our sound checks always run very smooth and the shows start on time. Since they do 2-shows a night they need to get the 1st crowd in, have the show get them out and the 2nd crowd in. Both audiences can have dinner before or during the show. So our performances are usually scheduled from 21/2-3 hours apart. For instance in Osaka, our first show was at 6:30 PM and our 2nd show was at 9:30 PM.

We hope to be back next year to have another great time, good food and great performances. This was our 6th trip traveling to Japan to perform with Sheena Easton.

In between our shows Billboard Live always has dinner ready for the performers. Well to show their love for Miss Easton, notice the pizza they prepared for our dinner:

Sheena Easton Pizza

As always, we had a great time in Japan,

Until next time - Phillip

"Where It All Began"

Dean, Ricky, Phillip, John, Thaddeus at East High School. 

As many of you may know I come from a musical family of 6 siblings. Most of us played instruments but all of us could sing. James and I were the only two that decided to make a career out of music.

Around the house I would sing to records, and play on pots & pans. I received my first toy drum set when I was 5 years old. I used to play on that set just about everyday. It had a big tiger on the front and one cymbal,and I loved my drum set.

When I was 7 years old I received a pair of bongos from my parents and I played on them all of the time also. I think my parents got tired of me playing on the pots and pans, so they got me a pair of bongos. I wanted to join a band and become the percussionist. Even though I sang I was more interested in playing the percussion for the group.

My 1st Band Raw Soul

2 Brothers lived across the street from us, Rex Richardson and his younger brother David. Rex played Bass and David played the guitar. They were already in a band and I wanted to join their band. Well when I was 13 years old I got the opportunity to join their band. That was a very happy day. The name of the group was Raw Soul. I became their percussionist, but the keyboard player at the time heard me singing at rehearsal and said, 'you can sing, you need to come out front and sing some songs'.


Of course I had NO EXPERIENCE, except for singing with the records and using a pencil for a microphone. Well I was put out front and for the next 5 years, that's where I got my experience of becoming a lead singer. I still played percussion, but I was out front as the main guy.

Back in those days we had songs that were instrumentals with the horns and that's when I would play the congas and timbales, but when we went into the slow jams, or some other uptempo vocal songs, I had to come from behind those instruments and sing to the audience.

I learned what worked and what didn't work, how to get an audience up on their feet and things like this. Those 5 years of being with Raw Soul, I will always cherish because it was part of my learning experience.

My 2nd Band - 'Eastern Parkway'

After Raw Soul, broke up, the drummer from Raw Soul, Ike Allen, asked if I wanted to come and work with the band that he was with. The band was called Eastern Parkway. I definitely wanted to because I enjoyed performing. This was in the summer of 1976 right after I graduated from High School.

I ended up only working with Eastern Parkway for just about 6 months or so. Greg Williams had already spoken with me in October / 1976 about putting together this group that ended up becoming Switch. 


I still remember when I spoke with David Rookard, who was the keyboard player for Eastern Parkway and telling them about my opportunity. They were so gracious and definitely didn't want to stand in my way.

My 3rd band - 'SWITCH'

From 1972 - 1976 I will always cherish those years because that's where I got my experience. In December of 1976 SWITCH was formed and in May / 1977 we signed our record deal with Motown records when I was at the age of 18 turning 19 in July of that year.

Of course with Switch, I learned a lot more because I was now on a different level. Switch, went on to record 5 albums for the Motown label, the first album was Platinum and the 2nd album was Gold. We had 5 top ten R&B hits and a few other singles.

Even though I've learned a lot being with Switch and performing with quite a few people over the years, I'm very grateful for where it all began. 


Until Next Time - Phillip

November 26 - December 3, 2011 "Busy but fulPhiling Week"

SWITCH, SWV, Lenny Williams

What a week this has been from November 26 - December 3, 2011. First of all SWITCH had been in rehearsals for a few weeks for an upcoming concert with SWV, and Lenny Williams. On November 26 we had the concert. It was a smaller audience than anticipated, but the ones that were there definitely enjoyed themselves.

SWV sounded wonderful, then Lenny Williams performed followed by SWITCH. We performed to an audience of about 350 who jammed until the last note. A little before SWITCH went on stage we ran into Bunny DeBarge backstage. As you know Bunny is the sister of both Bobby and Tommy DeBarge. I asked Bunny if she didn't mind coming up to sing a little bit, and she said she didn't mind. I didn't quite know where we were going to bring her up, so during the show I went to Akili and let him know that I would bring her up just before our last song, which is "I Call Your Name". As we ended a medley that we do in the show, I walked into the audience and pulled up Bunny to sing with us. Greg gave her a mic, and she took the first verse, Akili took the 2nd verse and then the three of us did ad-libs and it really solidified SWITCH'S November 26th performance. Some say 'we brought the house down'. 

Phillip, David, Raina, and Earl

On Monday November 28th I left for Japan to do some shows with Sheena Easton. We flew into Tokyo and then took another flight into Nagoya Japan, where we performed 2 shows at the world renown Blue Note on Wednesday November 30th. As you can see from in the picture on the right, this is right before we were going on stage.  Next to me is Dave Hart, Sheena's guitarist and Earl Campbell, Sheena's drummer. Raina was our host for the Blue Note and she did a great job of taking care of us while at the Blue Note

Our first performance was at 6:30 pm and the 2nd performance was at 9:15 pm. Since 2007 Sheena Easton has been asked back to Japan every single year, playing at either the Blue Note, Billboard Live or the Cotton Club. We start off 2012 going back to Japan again performing in Osaka and Tokyo at the Billboard Live.

Bullet Train

On December 1st we took the 'Bullet Train' from Nagoya to Tokyo where we were performing 2 shows for Harry Winston Jewelers. Both of these shows were private affairs.  The 'Bullet Train' is a smooth high-speed railway with maximum speeds  of 149-186 mph. We reached our destination of about 274 miles in about an hour and a half. We enjoyed some nice Japanese countryside scenery and probably one of the most smoothest modes of transportation I know of. This is our 2nd time riding the 'Bullet Train' in our travels in Japan.

We performed one show on December 1st and the 2nd show on December 2nd. Again these were private affairs with some of the most gorgeous jewelry your eyes have ever beheld. Sheena had on some jewelry from the Harry Winston collection. It was understated, beautiful and worth about $1,000,000. Both of these shows went well.

On December 3rd, we left Tokyo and arrived back in LA on Dec 3rd. 5 shows in one week from Culver City, California to Tokyo and Nagoya Japan. This definitely was a busy but very fulphiling week.

Until Next Time - Phillip

Northern Quest Casino

5 minutes away from the Spokane airport in Washington is the Northern Quest Casino. On November 5, we played there for the first time with Sheena Easton opening up for Joan Rivers.

This is a great place, nice hotel and the showroom that we played in had great acoustics which made our soundcheck and the show sound very good.

We did a scaled down version of our normal show. Sheena's show is usually about an hour and a half but this time we were doing 30 minutes and Joan Rivers was doing an hour. The whole show with Joan Rivers ended up being an hour and a half.

Sheena's show's are very consistent, the only thing that was different this particular time is I caught a cold on the Wednesday before leaving for Spokane. I had a cough that lingered and so I had to do the performance with a cold. Any singer knows that when you have a cold, there are certain notes that you just can't hit, so I had to do some adjusting with my melodies on the spot.

Of course Sheena and the band noticed but the audience didn't have anything to compare it to, so they enjoyed the 2 duets that we performed, which were, "We've Got Tonight", and a medley of Burt Bacharach hits.

My next performance will be on the 26th of November with SWITCH, SWV and Lenny Williams at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Culver City and then after that I leave on the 28th of November for a few shows in Japan with Sheena Easton for about a week.

This was our first time at the Northern Quest Casino, but I do hope they have us back, it was a great place to hang, even if only for a short time.

Until Next Time - Phillip

$200,000 raised for Petluma Children with Serious Illnesses

Sheena and the Band performing at the 24th Annual Carousel Fund Casino Night

October 1, 2011, I had a show in Petaluma, CA with Sheena Easton. I knew we were performing at the Petaluma Veterans Building, but I didn't know exactly what the function was for.

Well the function was the 24th annual Carousel Fund Casino Night where they raise money for children with serious illnesses. Over 1,300 people showed up and were reminded why they had come.  For reasons like seven-year-old Ella Stewart who was diagnosed with a brain tumor and spent several months in a coma, during which her family would have lost their house if not for the help of the Carousel Fund. That's why they came, the Sheena Easton performance was a bonus.

The Carousel Fund is an all-volunteer organization whose mission is to raise funds to help Petaluma families pay for the medical expenses of children with catastrophic illnesses or injuries. Since it's beginning in 1986, they have raised more than $3.5 million. On October 1st, they raised over $200,000.

Sheena, concluded the evening with a 90-minute performance. One of Sheena's songs is "For Your Eyes Only" from the Agent 007 James Bond film with the same name. The evening took on a James Bond Theme, "Shaken, Not Stirred," complete with dancing "Bond Girls" above the crowd at the rear of the main room. We had a great time performing, but the real stars were the children

Money was raised through the live and silent auctions, and other functions throughout the night. One of the big-ticket auction items was the use of a new Aston Martin automobile and a two-night stay at Solage Calistoga. There was also some sports memorablila, including a baseball signed by 13 members of the Hall of Fame. There was also a baseball bat signed by Willie Mays, Ted Williams, Hank Aaron, Reggie Jackson and Ernie Banks to help raise funds.

From Left, Rob Stone, David Hart, David Pack and Myself

We flew into the Oakland Airport and interestingly enough we ran into quite a few musicians. It seems that the Bay Area was having a Jazz Festival as well as other musical functions. I ran into David Pack. David Pack was the lead-singer of the group Ambrosia and David and I have worked on numerous projects together. It was nice to see him and while we were talking, a lady comes up to David Pack, and it was one of the members of Manhattan Transfer, They were up in the Bay area for a different show. It was pretty cool running into various musicians. I ended up flying home on the same flight as Manhattan Transfer and got to meet the whole group at the airport before we left. David Pack, stopped for a quick photo that you see here on the right when we first arrived in Oakland.

All in all, it was a great weekend. As usual I had some of my friends whom I hadn't seen in a while at the show and we got to hang out and have dinner and get caught up before and after the show. They really appreciated the Carousel Foundation because they too have a special needs child.

Glad to have been a part of such a worthy cause, and to know that they were able to raise over $200,000 for the Petaluma Children with Serious Illnesses.

Until next time - Phillip