| About Phil Baker | Phil was born in Liverpool and was involved in music from an early age. He had a drumkit when he was 3, keyboards at 8 and then got his first guitar at the age of 10 which ended up his main instrument for the next 45 years. Vocal training was in a choir from the age of 8 years old which helped in learning harmony's which feature alot on his debut album. His first band, was when he was just 13 years old, playing at local youth clubs. Main influences through the 70's were Uriah Heep, Pink Floyd, Yes, Genesis although he listened to many genres of music including Barry Manilow, The Carpenters and classical Music aswell. Phil started writing his own material in his teens, but never got the breaks to get that elusive record deal. Not from want of trying. Over the years, he's been involved with many bands and also worked behind the scenes as a sound engineer, arranger, recording backing tracks for artists and some session work. He was involved with a musical for the year of the child in 1977/78 and wrote many of the songs for the show, performing in the UK and Germany. From this came other musicals that he was involved with. In the 80's and early 90's he wrote songs and arrangements of other material, including a song for the Eurovision Song Contest (Let the music last forever). From this era, there is a song on his debut album (I am a Child), with the original words written by Brian Walker (additional words by Tom Lane from Penny Lane promotions) and has been revamped featuring a moving poem from Phil's son when he was only 6 years old. In the 90's he was on the club circuit in the UK, as a solo artsist, performing everything from Frank Sinatra to Van Halen and included some of his own material. From 2008 until 2010, Phil was involved with a Pink Floyd Musical (Chapers in the Life of Rex Roman) and gigs included the show at The Edinburgh Festival playing guitar for the founder of the show, session drummer Simon Ash (Ash Bash Music). Phil also ran a Pink Floyd Tribute band Pulse, for 10 years playing gigs in the UK and Europe. For the past 5 years he's been playing guitar and backing vocals for Uriah Heep Legends who are all the original ex-members of Uriah Heep (Ken Hensley,Lee Kerslake and Paul Newton). Phil is also plays guitar in the live show of the Rock Opera "Playing God". His debut album Songs to the World is all original material both new and old. Some of the songs are quite poignant to the problems of the world today. There are also some great basic Rock n Roll songs too. Most of the instruments and all the vocals have been recorded by Phil, but he also has some guests on the album who are now part of the band who play his material at live shows. The album was released 11th October 2013 and is available for download and as a CD from Phils website. Phil has just released a new single March 2016 Over The Ledge with Maria Hanninen (Finland) |
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