Glen Phillips

Infobox musical artist

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Name = Glen Phillips
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Background = solo_singer
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Born = Birth date and age|1970|12|29|mf=y
Santa Barbara, California, U.S.
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Instrument = Vocals, guitar
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Genre = Alternative rock, rock, folk rock
Occupation =
Years_active = 1986–present
Label = Umami
Associated_acts = Toad the Wet Sprocket
Mutual Admiration Society
Works Progress Administration
URL = [http://www.glenphillips.com/ GlenPhillips.com]
Notable_instruments =

Glen Phillips (born December 29, 1970) is a songwriter, lyricist, singer and guitarist. He is best known as the singer and songwriter of 1990s alternative rock group Toad the Wet Sprocket.

Personal life

Phillips was born in Santa Barbara, California, and began making music at age 14 when he formed Toad the Wet Sprocket. In 1998, after the band broke up, he settled down before beginning to release solo work. Glen grew up in a Reform Judaism household and his faith has been one of the major themes of his writing.

Phillips and his wife, Laurel have three girls (Sophia, Freya, and Zola).

Music

Phillips began Toad the Wet Sprocket in 1986, at the age of 16. [ [http://www.flemingartists.com/admin/artist_files/tw/bio/tw_bio.pdf Fleming Artists: Toad the Wet Sprocket biography.] ] By 1988, they had signed with Columbia Records and recorded five albums and many major tours until 1998 when they disbanded.

During his time in Toad the Wet Sprocket, Phillips was involved in a pop rock project called Flapping, Flapping.

Three years later, following the breakup of Toad, Phillips released his first solo album, "Abulum", which was a change from the sound that Toad the Wet Sprocket was known for. This was followed up by a self-released live album and solo touring, along with a reunion tour with his former Toad bandmates

In 2004, Phillips, with Nickel Creek, released a long-awaited collaboration as Mutual Admiration Society. The self-titled album had been recorded in 2000 and featured songs written by both Phillips alone and as collaborative efforts, and was released on Sugar Hill Records.

In 2005, Phillips returned to a major label via Universal Records' imprint Lost Highway Records and released the critically acclaimed "Winter Pays For Summer". The album included the radio single "Duck and Cover," but Phillips and the label would part ways due to some creative differences.

Phillips released his third proper solo album, "Mr. Lemons" in the spring of 2006. The music video for the album's first single, "Everything But You," made its debut as a Yahoo! Exclusive Premiere on May 11, 2006.

In 2007 Phillips reunited with Sara Watkins and Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek as well as Grant-Lee Phillips and Luke Bulla to perform as part of The Various & Sundry Tour.

In January 2008, Phillips released an EP with Talk Talk and Peter Gabriel influences titled "Secrets of the New Explorers".

In January 2008, it was reported by Billboard that a new supergroup octet had formed. After a tentative band name of The Scrolls, in September 2008, they settled on the new name, Works Progress Administration (WPA). The octet is comprised of Phillips, Sean Watkins (guitar), his sister Sara Watkins (fiddle), Benmont Tench (piano), Luke Bulla (fiddle), Greg Leisz (various), Pete Thomas (drums), and Davey Faragher (bass). The group plans to have an album out in early 2009. Three tracks from the album, "Always Have My Love", "Paralyzed" and "Who's Gonna Cry" are now streaming on their myspace page.

Phillips has also completed an album with Neilson Hubbard and Garrison Starr under the band name, Plover, for an expected release sometime in 2009.

Discography

tudio albums

* "Abulum" (CD) - Brick Red Records - 2000
* "Winter Pays For Summer" (CD) - Lost Highway Records - 2005
* "Mr. Lemons" (CD) - Umami/bigHelium - 2006Note: "Abulum" was released independently in 2000, then under Brick Red in 2001.

Other major releases

* "Live at Largo" (CD) - independent release - 2003
* "Unlucky 7" (EP) - independent release - 2006
* "Secrets of the New Explorers" (EP) - independent release - 2008

References

External links

* [http://www.glenphillips.com/ Glen Phillips] The official site with news, tour dates, blog, photos. (.com)
* [http://www.glenphillips.net/ Glen Phillips] The official site with news, tour dates, blog, photos. (.net)
* [http://www.glen.musicengine.net/ Glen Phillips message board] Official message board.
* [http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=8670535 Glen's MySpace site] Glen's MySpace site with blog, photos and information on any upcoming tour dates.
* [http://comebackdownload.com ComeBackDownload.com] This Toad the Wet Sprocket site also has a great deal of content devoted to Glen's solo career.
* [http://comebackdownload.com/glenfaq.htm Unofficial Glen Phillips FAQ] This is an out-of-date and incomplete patchwork of information, but it's still somewhat useful.
* [http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=Glen%20Phillips Archive.org] A large database of downloadable live performances. The shows are also indexed at [http://comebackdownload.com/downloads.htm ComeBackDownload.com] .
* [http://www.wpamusic.com/ Works Progress Administration] The official site for WPA.
* [http://www.popgurls.com/article_show.php3?id=434 PopGurls 20 Questions with Glen Phillips] . Interview from 2003.
* [http://www.thebackstagepass.ca/interviews.html Interview with Glen Phillips on The BackStage Pass Internet Radio Show]
* [http://www.therainfarm.com/paradigm] April 2007 interview with Glen Phillips on Rain Farm's literary journal Paradigm, located under the Poetry section.
* [http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=glen+phillips&search=Search] Glen Phillips on YouTube.com
* [http://www.xndtv.com/?v=channel-rock.php&subaction=showfull&id=1177827415&ucat=1 Glen Phillips JBTV interview on XNDTV.com] Interview from 2007.
* [http://www.mutual-admiration-society.com/ Mutual Admiration Society] The official site for Mutual Admiration Society.
* [http://www.singersongwritermusic.nl/artist.asp?strArtistId=1 SingerSongwriterMusic.nl] Dutch profile website with exclusive interview.