Phil Perry is an American R&B singer, songwriter, musician and a former member of the soul group The Montclairs from 1971 to 1975.

Biography

In 1972, The Montclairs recorded under the Paula label with minor soul ballads that included "Dreaming's Out Of Season", "Prelude to a Heartbreak", and "Begging's Hard To Do". The Montclairs left Paula Records and disbanded in 1975.

Perry later moved to California with former Montclair, Kevin Sanlin, and teamed up as a duo , that had a short stay with two albums, at Capitol in the early 1980s (produced by Chuck Jackson and Dr. Cecil Hale). One song 'Just to Make You Happy' had a respectable level of success in radio.

In 1985 he married singer Lillian "Tang" Tynes, and began a marriage partnership that has lasted ever since. The Perrys are featured singing background for numersous projects and TV/Radio jingles, as well as in a duet titled 'Do Not Disturb' on the ONE HEART ONE LOVE album, released in 1998. 'Lill' Perry is also featured on the background vocals of Perry's first five solo albums. The nearly 25 year marriage has produced four children, Joseph, Paloma, Philip II, and Jacob.

In the 1990s he had his biggest success with the number-one R&B hit "Call Me" (previously recorded and written by Aretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin

Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...

), a remake of the 1970 hit, as well as the top forty R&B singles "Amazing Love" and "Forever" (written by Brenda Russell

Brenda Russell

Brenda Russell is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter and keyboardist. Known for her eclectic musical style, her recordings have encompassed several different genres, including pop, soul, dance, jazz and adult contemporary...

) all from the hit album, Perry's first solo release The Heart of the Man (1991), even though he has released many albums since his breakthrough in 1991

1991 in music

See also:* 1991 in music Record labels established in 1991-Summary:The year 1991 is the year that grunge music made its popular breakthrough. Nirvana's Nevermind, led by the surprise hit single "Smells Like Teen Spirit", becomes the most popular U.S. album of the year...

. Phil Perry is also featured on many GRP Records

GRP Records

GRP Records is an American jazz record company, owned by Universal Music Group and operates through its Verve Music Group. The company's name has had different meanings. In its early days, it stood for "Grusin/Rosen Productions," after the founders...

 projects, with guitarist Lee Ritenour

Lee Ritenour

Lee Mack Ritenour is an American jazz guitarist who has recorded over 42 albums, appeared on over 3000 sessions, and has charted over 30 instrumental and vocal contemporary jazz hits since 1976. One of his most popular songs was the smash hit, “Is It You” in 1981. Ritenour is considered to be a...

 in particular.

He is a featured vocalist on recordings by Ron Kenoly

Ron Kenoly

Ron Kenoly is an American Christian worship leader, singer, and songwriter whose expressed mission is "to create an environment for the manifest presence of God". His musical style is one of jubilant praise and individual excellence on musical instruments...

, Michel Colombier

Michel Colombier

Michel Colombier was a French composer, songwriter, arranger, and conductor.- External links :*...

, Don Grusin

Don Grusin

Don Grusin , is an American songwriter, producer and keyboardist. He holds a Masters Degree in Economics from the University of Colorado and for a period of his life taught at the National Autonomous University of Mexico as well as at Foothill College, California before deciding to enter the music...

, Dave Grusin

Dave Grusin

David Grusin is an American composer, arranger and pianist. Grusin has composed many scores for feature films and television, and has won numerous awards for his soundtrack and record work, including an Academy award and 12 Grammys...

, Freddie Hubbard

Freddie Hubbard

Frederick Dewayne "Freddie" Hubbard was an American jazz trumpeter. He was known primarily for playing in the bebop, hard bop and post bop styles from the early 1960s and on...

, George Duke

George Duke

George Duke is a multi-faceted American musician, known as a keyboard pioneer, composer, singer and producer in both jazz and popular mainstream musical genres. He has worked with numerous acclaimed artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and professor of music...

, Najee

Najee

Jerome Najee Rasheed , known professionally as Najee, is an urban jazz saxophonist and flautist.He attended New England Conservatory of Music in Boston where he studied with George Russell and Jaki Byard....

, Bill Withers

Bill Withers

William Harrison "Bill" Withers, Jr. is an American singer-songwriter and musician who performed and recorded from 1970 until 1985. Some of his best-known songs are "Lean on Me", "Ain't No Sunshine", "Use Me", "Just the Two of Us", "Lovely Day", and "Grandma's Hands"...

, Barbara Streisand, Johnny Mathis

Johnny Mathis

John Royce "Johnny" Mathis is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standards, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status, and 73 making the Billboard charts...

, The Benoit-Freeman Project (David Benoit

David Benoit

David Benoit, is an American jazz fusion/smooth jazz pianist, composer and producer from Los Angeles, California. He has been nominated for five Grammy Awards...

 & Russ Freeman), Sergio Mendez

Sergio Méndez

Sergio de Jesús Méndez Cortéz was a football player from El Salvador who represented his country at the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico.-Club career:Nicknamed el Tabudo, Méndez played for Atlético Marte and Águila....

, Bobby Womack

Bobby Womack

Robert Dwayne "Bobby" Womack is an American singer-songwriter and musician. An active recording artist since the early 1960s where he started his career as the lead singer of his family musical group The Valentinos and as Sam Cooke's backing guitarist, Womack's career has spanned more than 40...

, Chaka Khan

Chaka Khan

Chaka Khan , frequently known as the Queen of Funk, is a 10-time Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter who gained fame in the 1970s as the frontwoman and focal point of the funk band Rufus. While still a member of the group in 1978, Khan embarked on a successful solo career...

, Fourplay

Fourplay

Fourplay is a contemporary jazz quartet in the United States. The original members of the group were Bob James , Lee Ritenour , Nathan East , and Harvey Mason . In 1997, Lee Ritenour left the group and Fourplay chose Larry Carlton as his replacement...

, and Wil Downing, to name a few.

Solo hits also include "Love Don't Love Nobody" and "One Heart, One Love". He is also featured on the Bebe's Kids soundtrack singing a track with the late Renee Diggs. Other film song credits include 'Roots", "Pretty in Pink", "Short Circuit", "Mr. Wonderful", "Nice Girls Don't Explode", Riding Bean

Riding Bean

is an anime original video animation following the exploits of courier-for-hire Bean Bandit and his partner, gunwoman Rally Vincent.There was also a manga published in the Japanese magazine that was left unfinished after its fourth chapter...

, "Captain Ron" and a cameo appearance in the 2009 release of the Harrison Ford

Harrison Ford

Harrison Ford is an American film actor and producer. He is famous for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy and as the title character of the Indiana Jones film series. Ford is also known for his roles as Rick Deckard in Blade Runner, John Book in Witness and Jack Ryan in...

 film "CROSSING OVER".

On September 11, 2001, Perry was scheduled to perform at the World Trade Center

World Trade Center

The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...

, for the lunch hour jazz concerts between 11 am and 1 pm. His 5th solo album Magic was released that day, as well. As fate would have it, Perry was spared the devastation of the terrorist attacks on the two towers. However, for the next six years, he sunk into an artistic depression, and did not record again until invited by long time friend, Don Grusin, who he joined for a collaborative venture titled "THE HANG". This CD/DVD project was nominated for a Grammy, and included Dave Grusin, Harvey Mason

Harvey Mason

Harvey William Mason is an American jazz drummer. He has worked with many jazz and fusion artists such as Bob James, The Brecker Brothers, Lee Ritenour, Herbie Hancock's Headhunters and almost all the Mizell Brothers productions with Donald Byrd, Johnny Hammond, Bobbi Humphrey and Gary Bartz...

, Patti Austin

Patti Austin

-Life and career:Austin was born in Harlem, New York. She made her debut at the Apollo Theater at age four and had a contract with RCA Records when she was only five. Quincy Jones and Dinah Washington have proclaimed themselves as her godparents....

, Natali Renee, Abraham Loboriel, Alex Acuna

Alex Acuña

Alejandro Neciosup Acuña aka Alex Acuña is a Peruvian drummer and percussionist, in the Afro-Cuban jazz style.Born in Pativilca, Peru, Acuña played in local bands from the age of ten, and moved to Lima as a teenager. At the age of eighteen he joined the band of Perez Prado, and in 1967 he moved...

, Ernie Watts

Ernie Watts

Ernest James "Ernie" Watts is an American jazz and rhythm and blues musician. He plays saxophone and flute. He might be best known for his work with Charlie Haden's Quartet West and his Grammy Awards as an instrumentalist...

, Lee Ritenour, and others.

In 2006, former co-producer of the Magic album, Chris 'Big Dog' Davis, urged Perry to record a collection of R&B hits, titled Classic Love Songs as an independent one-off project for Shanachie Records

Shanachie Records

Shanachie Records was founded in 1976 by Richard Nevins and Dan Collins. According to Harvey Pekar , it is one of the largest independent record labels in the world, and is currently distributed by E1 Music. Starting as a label that specialized in fiddle music, they began releasing work by Celtic...

. Since that time, Perry has recorded four projects for Shanachie with 'The Big Dog', including the recent duo project with the great Melba Moore

Melba Moore

Beatrice Melba Smith , known by her stage name, Melba Moore is an American disco, R&B singer and actress. She is the daughter of saxophonist Teddy Hill and R&B singer Bonnie Davis.-Early life:...

.

In 2007 he toured the country with saxophonist Dave Koz

Dave Koz

Dave Koz is an American smooth jazz saxophonist.- Life and career :Dave Koz was born on March 27, 1963 in Encino, California....

. That same year he released his acclaimed album "Mighty Love," for which he was voted the 2007 Male Vocalist of the Year, in the SoulTracks Readers' Choice Awards.

Perry recently fainted during a performance with Pieces of a Dream

Pieces of a Dream

"Pieces of a Dream" is a song by American pop singer-songwriter Anastacia from her first greatest hits album, Pieces of a Dream . Written by Anastacia, Glen Ballard, and David Hodges, it was produced by Hodges and released as the album's lead single in Europe on November 11, 2005...

, on Friday October 23, 2009 at the Southern Connecticut State University. False rumors began to circulate that he had died. While there is no definitive medical reason for the collapse, Perry was treated at a local New Haven hospital, and released with the recommendation that he take some time off to rest after extensively traveling throughout the summer. Perry is alive and doing well, and is preparing to record his 10th album at the start of 2010.

Trivia

Phil Perry composed, wrote and performed several songs for the Japanese anime OVA Riding Bean

Riding Bean

is an anime original video animation following the exploits of courier-for-hire Bean Bandit and his partner, gunwoman Rally Vincent.There was also a manga published in the Japanese magazine that was left unfinished after its fourth chapter...

 with friend and co-writer, David "Creatchy" Garfield.

Phil Perry, Kevin Sanlin, James Ingram

James Ingram

James Ingram is an American soul musician. He is best known as a vocalist. He is also a self-taught musician who plays piano, guitar, bass, drums and keyboards...

, and Howard Hewett

Howard Hewett

Howard Hewett is an American R&B and gospel singer and former lead vocalist of the R&B group Shalamar.Raised in Akron, Ohio, Hewett moved to Los Angeles. He would eventually meet Soul Train dancer and future first wife Rainey Riley-Cunningham, then a secretary of the show's creator and original...

 are singing the background vocals on the Carl Carlton hit, BAD MAMMA JAMMA.

Perry makes a cameo appearance in the 2009 Harrison Ford film, CROSSING OVER, starring Ford, Ray Liotta, and Ashley Judd.

Solo Album

• “The Heart of the Man” (1991); Capitol 92115
• “Pure Pleasure” (1994); GRP/MCA 4026
• “One Heart One Love” (1998); Private Music/Peak 82163
• “My Book of Love” (2000); Private Music/Peak 82181
• “Magic” (2001); Peak 8504
• “Classic Love Songs”(2006); Shanachie 5139
• “A Mighty Love” (2007); Shanachie 5153
• “Ready for Love” (2008); Shanachie 5164
• "The Gift of Love (2009) with Melba Moore
  Melba Moore
  Beatrice Melba Smith , known by her stage name, Melba Moore is an American disco, R&B singer and actress. She is the daughter of saxophonist Teddy Hill and R&B singer Bonnie Davis.-Early life:...
  
  ; Shanachie 5176

Session

As The Montclairs featuring Phil Perry:

• "Dreaming Out of Season" (1972) Paula Records 2216

As Perry & Sanlin:

• “For Those Who Love” (1980); Capitol
• "We're The Winners" (1981); Capitol

As Phil Perry & David Garfield:

• "Together in the Arms of Love";
• "Deep Within Each Man"; presented by Shorinji Kenpo (Japan)

Phil Perry Songs recorded by other artists:

• "Perfect Island Nights" Bobby Caldwell (2007 - title song)
• "Romance the Night Away" Najee (2007)
• "United Together" "Take Me With You" "Together Again" Aretha Franklin's ARETHA album (1981)
• "East St. Louis Melody" Noel Pointer ALL MY REASONS album (1981)
• "That Secret Place" Patti Austin
• "In the Morning" "Malibu" "If I'm Dreamin' (Don't Wake Me)" "Turn The Heat Up" Lee Ritenour

External links

• Phil Perry's Homepage Phil Perry
• Phil Perry's catalogue Phil Perry credits
• Phil Perry at Wenig-LaMonica Associates
• Phil Perry Biography and his note to fans Phil Perry Page at SoulTracks.com