Philip Bailey

Philip Bailey, 2008

Philip Bailey (born May 8, 1951 in Denver ) is an American funk , soul and R&B artist. Since 1972 he has been a singer and one of the leading figures in the group Earth, Wind and Fire .

Career

Philip Bailey grew up in Denver, the city of his birth and sang in the church choir. He finished high school and moved to Los Angeles when he was 20 . Maurice White , the head of Earth, Wind & Fire, brought him into the band. He has a vocal range of four octaves and his falsetto singing in contrast to the tenor of Maurice White was one of the distinctive elements of her music. He won numerous awards with Earth, Wind & Fire. He wrote some of the band's well-known songs and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame for it.

In 1982 Bailey signed a solo contract with Columbia and postponed working with Earth, Wind & Fire. With his first work, the LP Continuation , he had moderate success in the USA. For the second album, Chinese Wall , he then looked for a collaboration with the Genesis musician Phil Collins , who had also been active as a solo musician since the early 1980s. Collins produced the album and wrote and sang the hit Easy Lover with Bailey . The song became an international success, reaching number 1 in the UK and number 2 in the US , among others . The single was awarded gold in both countries , and the album also went gold in the USA. With Inside Out he recorded his third pop album just a year later, for which he brought in Nile Rodgers as a producer. Although the record reached international chart positions, it could not build on its predecessor.

After that, Bailey turned increasingly to gospel music . The Wonders of His Love was released in 1985 . Just like Triumph a year later, it reached the top 20 of the gospel and contemporary Christian charts in the USA. For Triumph , he was awarded a Grammy Award in 1987 for the best gospel performance by a male performer. After that, some time passed in which he also worked again with Earth, Wind & Fire, before another gospel album was released with Family Affair , which was no longer as successful.

After another hiatus, Philip Bailey returned to a pop album in 1994, working with R&B musicians such as Brian McKnight, PM Dawn and Arrested Development . The album, which he released with his name as a title, was a flop and only reached number 100 on the R&B charts.

In the late 1990s, Earth, Wind & Fire took another hiatus after Maurice White fell ill, and Bailey went on other solo projects. After another gospel album, he turned to smooth jazz in 1999 . Again he worked on his album Dreams with well-known artists of the genre, including Gerald Albright , Grover Washington Jr. and Pat Metheny . In 2002 Soul on Jazz was released , which contains jazz standards and remakes. The album made it to number 45 on the jazz charts.

Since Maurice White retired from the stage, Philip Bailey and his brother Verdine White lead the band Earth, Wind & Fire.

Discography

Albums

year	Title music label	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes)						Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US	R&B
1983	Continuation Columbia, Pop / R & B	-	-	-	-	US71 (14 weeks) US	R&B19 (30 weeks) R&B	Producer: George Duke
1984	Chinese Wall Columbia, Pop / R & B	DE39 (17 weeks) DE	-	CH22 (1 week) CH	UK29 (17 weeks) UK	US22nd gold (35 weeks)US	R&B10 (35 weeks) R&B	Producer: Phil Collins
1986	Inside Out Columbia, Pop / R & B	DE65 (1 week) DE	-	CH29 (1 week) CH	-	US84 (11 weeks) US	R&B30 (15 weeks) R&B	Producers: Nile Rodgers , Philip Bailey
1994	Philip Bailey Zoo Entertainment, Pop / R&B	-	-	-	-	-	R&B100 (1 week) R&B

More albums

• 1984: The Wonders of His Love (Myrrh, Gospel)
• 1986: Triumph (Myrrh, Gospel) - Grammy (Best Male Gospel Performance)
• 1989: Family Affair (Myrrh, Gospel)
• 1997: Life and Love (Eagle, Gospel)
• 1999: Dreams (Heads Up / Telarc / In-Akustik, Smooth Jazz)
• 2002: Soul on Jazz (Heads Up / Telarc / In-Akustik, Smooth Jazz)
• 2019: Love Will Find a Way

Compilations

• 1991: The Best of Philip Bailey: A Gospel Collection
• 1998: Walking on the Chinese Wall

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)							Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US	R&B	Dance
1983	I know continuation	-	-	-	-	-	R&B10 (16 weeks) R&B	-	First published: June 1983 Author: Gerard McMahon
	Trapped continuation	-	-	-	-	-	R&B43 (10 weeks) R&B	-	First published: November 1983 Authors: Philip Bailey, Robert Brookins, Tony Haynes
1984	Photogenic Memory Chinese Wall	-	-	-	-	-	R&B61 (6 weeks) R&B	-	First published: September 1984 Authors: Davitt Sigerson, Jerry Knight, Lillie Mae Clarke
	Easy Lover Chinese Wall	DE5 (17 weeks) DE	AT21 (10 weeks) AT	CH8 (11 weeks) CH	UK1 gold (13 weeks)UK	US2 gold (23 weeks)US	R&B3 (19 weeks) R&B	Dance7 (9 weeks) Dance	First published: November 1984 with Phil Collins Authors: Nathan East , Phil Collins, Philip Bailey
1985	Walking on the Chinese Wall Chinese Wall	DE42 (8 weeks) DE	-	-	UK34 (9 weeks) UK	US46 (12 weeks) US	R&B56 (8 weeks) R&B	-	First published: March 1985 Authors: Billie Hughes, Marcy Levy , Roxanne Seeman
1986	State of the Heart Inside Out	-	-	-	-	-	R&B20 (13 weeks) R&B	-	First published: April 1986 Authors: Mic Murphy, Paul Pesco
1989	Twins Twins (Soundtrack)	-	-	-	UK82 (3 weeks) UK	-	-	-	First release: 1988 from the soundtrack of the film Twins with Little Richard ; Authors: Lorrin Bates, Skip Scarborough
1994	Here with Me Philip Bailey	-	-	-	-	-	R&B66 (8 weeks) R&B	-	First published: February 1994

More singles

1983: It's Our Time 1983: I'm Waiting for Your Love (release: October) 1984: The Wonders of His Love 1984: I Go Crazy 1984: I Want to Know You 1984: Woman 1984: Children of the Ghetto (release: November) 1986: Echo My Heart 1986: Thank You

1986: Back It Up 1986: Welcome to the Club 1993: People and Places (with Dee Dee Bridgewater ) 1994: A Diamond Just Like You 1997: Steppin 'Through Time 1997: How Can I Rely on You 1997: When Love Goes Wrong ( Earth, Wind and Fire feat. Philip Bailey and Maurice White ) 2001: Veloce

swell

1. ↑ Features - Philip Bailey , Sandy Stert Benjamin, Todays Christian Music
2. ↑ Entry in the Songwriters Hall of Fame ( Memento of the original dated February 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ↑ ^{a b c} gold / platinum databases: UK US
4. ^ Philip Bailey in the Grammy Database
5. ↑ Philipp Bailey in the US charts (Billboard)
6. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: Singles Albums UK US
7. ^ Joel Whitburn : Top R&B Albums 1965–1998, ISBN 0-89820-134-9 .
8. ^ Joel Whitburn : Hot R&B Songs 1942–2010: 6th Edition, ISBN 978-0898201864 .
9. ^ Joel Whitburn : Hot Dance / Disco 1974-2003, ISBN 978-0-89820-156-7 .

Web links

• Philip Bailey's Homepage (English)
• Philip Bailey at Allmusic (English)
• Philip Bailey at Discogs (English)