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Greg Phillinganes in 2007
Greg Phillinganes (born Gregory Arthur
Phillinganes on May 12, 1958 in Detroit, Michigan) is an active session keyboardist in
Los Angeles, California. He is a
graduate of Cass Tech.
Phillinganes was discovered by Stevie Wonder who heard a cassette of
instrumental renditions of his own songs done by Phillinganes.
Wonder recruited Phillinganes for his Wonderlove band, where
Phillinganes stayed from 1976 to 1981.
In 1981, he released his first solo album, Significant
Gains. While the album itself was not very successful, he did
manage to score a minor R&B hit with "Baby, I Do Love
You." Three years later, he released his follow-up album
Pulse, which featured another minor hit (and perhaps his
best-known solo hit), a cover of Yellow Magic Orchestra's song
"Behind the Mask" (with additional lyrics written by Michael
Jackson). This single was much more successful on the Dance music charts. When he later joined Eric Clapton's
backing band, Phillinganes would introduce the tune to Clapton, who
covered it on his 1986 August album. Amidst his solo
recordings and touring with Clapton throughout the 1980s, he became
well-known as a prominent session musician for a multitude of
different artists, performing on many hit albums of the time. His
session work has continued into the present.
In addition to Stevie Wonder, Greg Phillinganes has worked and
toured with other notable musicians such as the Bee Gees, Anita Baker, Eric Clapton, Donald Fagen, Aretha Franklin,Patti LaBelle, Michael
Jackson, Richard
Marx, Paul
McCartney and Stevie Nicks among others, He was also the
musical director for Michael Jackson's Bad & Dangerous concert
tours. During 2004, Phillinganes acted as a replacement for David Paich on tour
with the band Toto.
In 2005, he joined the band and set to helping Toto with their new
album. He continued to tour as member of Toto until the band broke
up in 2008.
Discography
Solo
- 1981 Significant Gains
- 1984 Pulse
Session
work
(Partial List)
Sampled
work
The sample was taken from Greg Phillinganes " Behind The Mask "
1984 for the Welsh rap artists.
External
links
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