Renowned most for his zestful falsetto, Philip Bailey appeared in the early 1970s as the four-octave counterpart to
Maurice White in
Earth, Wind & Fire,
the repeatedly multi-platinum, Grammy-winning band who elevated the art
of performance to a spectacular level. In addition to singing and
playing percussion, Bailey co-wrote some of
EW&F's
earliest hits, including "Evil" and "Shining Star," and by the end of
the '70s extended his reach into production. Concurrent with the
enduring
EW&F,
Bailey started a solo career in the early '80s that has roamed across
R&B, jazz, gospel, and pop, illuminated by the number two Billboard
Hot 100 hit "Easy Lover" (1984), the Grammy-winning gospel recording
Triumph (1986), and the singer's most adventurous work,
Love Will Find a Way (2019), which topped Billboard's jazz chart the year
EW&F celebrated their 50th anniversary.
Philip Irvin Bailey began singing in church as a child in his native
Denver. He remained in his hometown for college, studying at
Metropolitan State University and the University of Colorado. During
this period, Bailey played in a band called Friends & Love. They
opened for
Earth, Wind & Fire, whose
Maurice White consequently invited Bailey -- and eventually the singer and percussionist's bandmate, saxophonist
Andrew Woolfolk -- to be part of his group's overhauled lineup. Bailey joined in time to cut the third
EW&F album,
Last Days and Time (1972), and took on a greater role in the following
Head to the Sky
(1973), co-writing "Evil" and fronting "Keep Your Head to the Sky," the
band's first two singles to peak within the Top 25 of the R&B
chart.
Bailey became an integral component of
EW&F,
an electrifying live act with remarkably consistent commercial and
critical success. From the mid-'70s through the early '80s, Bailey
co-wrote and was showcased on some of their signature songs, including
the Top 40 pop hit "Devotion" and the number one pop and R&B single
"Shining Star," which went gold and won the band their first Grammy for
Best R&B Performance. Furthermore, Bailey co-wrote and fronted
"Reasons," a show stopper rivaled only by
the Isley Brothers'
"Footsteps in the Dark" as the era's finest, well-known ballad not
released as an A-side. During intermittent breaks in touring and
recording, Bailey participated in numerous jazz and R&B sessions for
other artists, frequently with his bandmates, writing, arranging,
singing, and playing percussion in varying combinations. Most
significantly, he was at the fore of
Ramsey Lewis' "Sun Goddess," a number 20 R&B hit, and he led
Paulinho Da Costa's
EWF-spirited "Deja Vu," a deep gem that didn't receive the promotional push it deserved. Fledgling acts
Free Life,
Dazz Band precursor
Kinsman Dazz, and
Splendor were produced by Bailey during this time, too.
Earth, Wind & Fire's long-term home label, Columbia, offered Bailey a solo deal, and in 1983 the singer made his debut as a headliner with the
George Duke-produced
Continuation.
The album reached number 19 on the R&B chart, supported by "I
Know," a number ten hit on the corresponding singles chart. The singer
branched out again the next year with his first gospel recording for the
Myrrh/Word family,
The Wonders of His Love, and also returned to Columbia and the pop-R&B market with
Chinese Wall, produced by
Phil Collins.
Chinese Wall became Bailey's most successful solo LP. It peaked at number ten on the Billboard 200 with help from the
Collins
duet "Easy Lover," a crossover smash that reached the third and second
positions on the R&B and pop charts. Bailey soon had Grammy
nominations in three fields.
The Wonders of His Love was nominated for Best Inspirational Performance.
Chinese Wall
and "Easy Lover" were respectively up for Best R&B Performance and
Best Pop Performance. Bailey issued albums in multiple idioms again in
1986 with the mostly self-produced
Triumph (for Word/Horizon) and
Inside Out
(for Columbia). The former earned Bailey a Grammy for Best Gospel
Performance. For the latter, a Top 30 R&B entry, Bailey worked
closely with
Nile Rodgers and was aided by the likes of
Duke,
Collins, and
Ray Parker, Jr. A third charting religious LP,
Family Affair, closed out the decade, by which point Bailey's name could be spotted on sleeves of albums by
Deniece Williams,
Kenny Loggins,
Stevie Wonder, and
Nancy Wilson.
Bailey continued to balance solo and group activity throughout the
'90s and into the following decade. In 1992, he was part of the
star-filled ensemble that met for
Pride of Lions, a categorization-defying session arranged and conducted by
James Mack.
From 1994 through the decade's end, Bailey added three albums (on as
many labels) to his solo discography. First was the contemporary
R&B-oriented
Philip Bailey, co-executive produced by
Mack with input from
Chuckii Booker,
Brian McKnight, and
P.M. Dawn. Three years later -- after
Maurice White retired from touring, making Bailey the on-stage leader of
EWF -- the singer resumed his solo career with
Life and Love, containing collaborations with
Incognito's
Jean-Paul Maunick and
Graham Harvey. Bailey then inched more toward jazz on
Dreams, a 1999 release with versions of "The Masquerade Is Over" and
Pat Metheny and
Lyle Mays' "Something to Remind You."
Soul on Jazz
followed in 2002 and was even more jazz-oriented with updates of
compositions such as "Compared to What," "Nature Boy," and "Tell Me a
Bedtime Story."
Highlighted by inductions into the Rock
& Roll Hall of Fame (2000) and the Songwriters Hall of Fame (2010), Earth, Wind & Fire
collected numerous honors as they remained a steady live draw and
released a few more albums during the next couple decades. In 2019, the
year the band hit the half-century mark, Bailey also released his 11th
solo album. Issued on Verve, Love Will Find a Way saw him alternate between originals and interpretations with a multi-generational cast of jazz musicians -- Chick Corea, Robert Glasper, and Kamasi Washington among it. The expansive recording entered Billboard's Jazz Albums chart at the top.
Philip Bailey discography
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