Phil Varone
Encyclopedia
Phil Varone is an American drummer, music producer and songwriter. He is a founding member of the band Saigon Kick
, and later joined Skid Row. He has also played drums for Vince Neil
and Prunella Scales
.
. The band signed a recording contract with Atlantic Records
after two years. They earned a Gold Record for the album, The Lizard
as well as a Billboard top 10 single for the song, "Love is On the Way". In 1996, Saigon Kick
disbanded and Varone stayed busy producing and doing studio work for a variety of artists.
In 2000, Varone joined multi-platinum recording artists Skid Row. Together they toured the world with Kiss
, Poison
, Def Leppard
and Tesla
; along the way, they recorded a new record, Thickskin
. Additionally, the band produced Under the Skin: The Making of Thickskin, which was internationally distributed on DVD.
In 2003, Varone played drums for Vince Neil
of Motley Crue
on his solo tour.
, in which he got a tattoo of his son's name. He also appeared in episodes of the Showtime series Californication
, and the CBS
series Numbers. Varone appeared the E!
program Inside Celebrity Rehabs, the NBC
game show Identity, in which he was correctly matched to his identity as a rock and roll
drummer, and on an episode of Celebrity Ghost Stories
on the BIO Channel. He also appeared in an Asian Nokia
TV commercial.
Varone produced and starred in the acclaimed 2007 feature-length documentary, Waking Up Dead, in which a film crew followed him around for several years to document his life as a touring drummer.
In April 2009, Varone participated in Sex Rehab with Dr. Drew
, a VH1
spinoff
of Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew
that features celebrities being rehabilitated for sex addiction. In the first episode, Varone revealed that his sex addiction worsened after his mother died from a cerebral aneurysm in 1998. Another pivotal moment occurred when his maternal grandmother Josephine died during the taping of the show. Varone also spoke about this sex addiction in an episode of Oprah
, The Tyra Banks Show
and the Today Show.
In the September 26, 2010 episode of Strange Sex
on the Discovery Health Channel Varone and his girlfriend, Achsha, discussed Phil's sex addiction and recovery and how it related to their new relationship.
Varone was Playgirl
magazine's centerfold for December 2010, in which he appeared to promote the launch the “Sex Stand Up Rock And Roll Show" tour in the United States.
In July 2011 Vivid Entertainment
released Phil Varone's Secret Sex Stash video as part of their celebrity sex tape series.
Saigon Kick
Saigon Kick was an American rock band from Miami, Florida that formed in 1988.-History:Saigon Kick was formed by lead vocalist Matt Kramer and guitarist Jason Bieler along with bassist Tom Defile, and drummer Phil Varone. They gained a following on the local club scene and generated enough of a...
, and later joined Skid Row. He has also played drums for Vince Neil
Vince Neil
Vincent Neil Wharton is an American vocalist and musician, best known as the lead vocalist of heavy metal band Mötley Crüe.-Early life:Neil was born in Hollywood, California to Odie and Shirley Wharton...
and Prunella Scales
Prunella Scales
Prunella Scales CBE is an English actress, known for her role as Basil Fawlty's long-suffering wife in the British comedy Fawlty Towers and her award-nominated role as Queen Elizabeth II in the British film A Question of Attribution.-Career:Throughout her long career, Scales has usually been cast...
.
Early life
Varone was born on Long Island, New York, to parents Phil and Angela Varone, both of Italian descent. His family relocated to Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 1980. Phil received his first drum kit as a Christmas gift as a young child. He began playing percussion in grade school at the age of 7 and continued into the first years of junior high. Self taught, Phil credits his skills to listening to his favorite bands and drummers.Music
Varone began playing in various local bands while still in high school in Fort Lauderdale. In 1988, he joined together with some of his friends and formed Saigon KickSaigon Kick
Saigon Kick was an American rock band from Miami, Florida that formed in 1988.-History:Saigon Kick was formed by lead vocalist Matt Kramer and guitarist Jason Bieler along with bassist Tom Defile, and drummer Phil Varone. They gained a following on the local club scene and generated enough of a...
. The band signed a recording contract with Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
after two years. They earned a Gold Record for the album, The Lizard
The Lizard
The Lizard is a peninsula in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The most southerly point of the British mainland is near Lizard Point at ....
as well as a Billboard top 10 single for the song, "Love is On the Way". In 1996, Saigon Kick
Saigon Kick
Saigon Kick was an American rock band from Miami, Florida that formed in 1988.-History:Saigon Kick was formed by lead vocalist Matt Kramer and guitarist Jason Bieler along with bassist Tom Defile, and drummer Phil Varone. They gained a following on the local club scene and generated enough of a...
disbanded and Varone stayed busy producing and doing studio work for a variety of artists.
In 2000, Varone joined multi-platinum recording artists Skid Row. Together they toured the world with Kiss
KISS (band)
Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in January 1973. Well-known for its members' face paint and flamboyant stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid to late 1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood spitting,...
, Poison
Poison (band)
Poison is an American glam metal band that achieved great success in the mid-1980s to mid-1990s. To date, Poison has sold over 30 million records worldwide and have sold 15 million records in the United States alone. The band has also charted ten singles to the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100,...
, Def Leppard
Def Leppard
Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1977 in Sheffield as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. Since 1992, the band have consisted of Joe Elliott , Rick Savage , Rick Allen , Phil Collen , and Vivian Campbell...
and Tesla
Tesla (band)
Tesla is an American hard rock band formed in Sacramento, California in 1984. They have sold 14 million albums in the United States.-Formation and Mechanical Resonance :...
; along the way, they recorded a new record, Thickskin
Thickskin
Thickskin is the fourth full-length studio album released by Skid Row, and first to feature Sebastian Bach replacement Johnny Solinger and both first and last to feature drummer Phil Varone. The album charted at number 46 on the Top Independent albums chart...
. Additionally, the band produced Under the Skin: The Making of Thickskin, which was internationally distributed on DVD.
In 2003, Varone played drums for Vince Neil
Vince Neil
Vincent Neil Wharton is an American vocalist and musician, best known as the lead vocalist of heavy metal band Mötley Crüe.-Early life:Neil was born in Hollywood, California to Odie and Shirley Wharton...
of Motley Crue
Mötley Crüe
Mötley Crüe is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1981. The group was founded by bass guitarist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee, who were later joined by lead guitarist Mick Mars and lead singer Vince Neil...
on his solo tour.
Television and film
When Varone left the music business in 2004 he decided to pursue a career in acting and stand up comedy. Varone appeared as a celebrity customer in an episode of Miami InkMiami Ink
Miami Ink is an American reality show on TLC that follows the events that took place at a tattoo shop in Miami Beach, Florida. The show premiered in July 2005 and has finished broadcasting its fourth season...
, in which he got a tattoo of his son's name. He also appeared in episodes of the Showtime series Californication
Californication (TV series)
Californication is an American comedy-drama that premiered on Showtime on August 13, 2007. The show was created by Tom Kapinos. The protagonist, Hank Moody , is a troubled novelist whose move to California, coupled with his writer's block, complicates his relationships with his longtime girlfriend...
, and the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
series Numbers. Varone appeared the E!
E!
E! Entertainment Television is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by NBCUniversal. It features entertainment-related programming, reality television, feature films and occasionally series and specials unrelated to the entertainment industry.E! has an audience reach of...
program Inside Celebrity Rehabs, the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
game show Identity, in which he was correctly matched to his identity as a rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
drummer, and on an episode of Celebrity Ghost Stories
Celebrity Ghost Stories
Celebrity Ghost Stories is a television show on BIO & A&E Network. It is a reality show that interviews various celebrities who have witnessed paranormal events at certain points in their lives.-Season 1 - ::...
on the BIO Channel. He also appeared in an Asian Nokia
Nokia
Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki...
TV commercial.
Varone produced and starred in the acclaimed 2007 feature-length documentary, Waking Up Dead, in which a film crew followed him around for several years to document his life as a touring drummer.
In April 2009, Varone participated in Sex Rehab with Dr. Drew
Sex Rehab with Dr. Drew
Sex Rehab with Dr. Drew is a VH1 reality television show that documents people being treated for sexual addiction by Dr. Drew Pinsky and his staff at the Pasadena Recovery Center in Pasadena, California. Premiering on November 1, 2009, Sex Rehab is a spin-off of Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, in...
, a VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
spinoff
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
of Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew
Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew
Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew is a reality television show airing on the cable network VH1 that chronicles a group of celebrities as they are treated for alcohol and drug addiction by Dr. Drew Pinsky and his staff at the Pasadena Recovery Center in Pasadena, California. The first season premiered...
that features celebrities being rehabilitated for sex addiction. In the first episode, Varone revealed that his sex addiction worsened after his mother died from a cerebral aneurysm in 1998. Another pivotal moment occurred when his maternal grandmother Josephine died during the taping of the show. Varone also spoke about this sex addiction in an episode of Oprah
The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
, The Tyra Banks Show
The Tyra Banks Show
The Tyra Banks Show, also known as and shortened to Tyra or The Tyra Show, is an American talk show hosted by Tyra Banks. The last new episode aired on Friday, May 28, 2010.-2005-2009: Syndication:...
and the Today Show.
In the September 26, 2010 episode of Strange Sex
Strange Sex
Strange Sex is a 6-part TLC documentary television series produced by Sirens Media about sexual dysfunction that premiered on 18 July 2010...
on the Discovery Health Channel Varone and his girlfriend, Achsha, discussed Phil's sex addiction and recovery and how it related to their new relationship.
Other work
Phil is the creator and host of the Sex Stand Up Rock and Roll Show; a variety show combining comedy and rock music with audience participation.Varone was Playgirl
Playgirl
Playgirl is a print quarterly adult magazine published in the United States that is marketed mainly to heterosexual women, but has also gained a considerable gay following...
magazine's centerfold for December 2010, in which he appeared to promote the launch the “Sex Stand Up Rock And Roll Show" tour in the United States.
In July 2011 Vivid Entertainment
Vivid Entertainment
Vivid Entertainment Group is an adult video producer, featuring a catalog of VHS and DVD titles and internet content. In 2006 it was described by Reuters as one of the handful of studios that dominate the U.S. porn industry....
released Phil Varone's Secret Sex Stash video as part of their celebrity sex tape series.
With Saigon Kick
- Saigon Kick (1991)
- The Lizard (1992)
- Water (1993)
- Devil In The Details (1995)
- Greatest Mrs.: The Best of Saigon Kick (1998)
- Moments From The Fringe (1998)
- Bastards (1999)
- Greatest Hits Live (2000)
- Live Around The World 1991–1996 (2007)
External links
- "Sex Rehab With Dr. Drew – Peep The Full Cast" VH1VH1VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
. accessed July 27, 2011. - Jaret, Fabio. "Phil Varone - Interview" Saviours of Rock. December 2007