Glen Phillips (singer)

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Template:Short description Template:For-multi Template:Infobox musical artist Glen Phillips (born December 29, 1970)<ref name=hear/> is an American songwriter, lyricist, singer and guitarist. He is the lead singer and songwriter of the alternative rock group Toad the Wet Sprocket and also records and performs as a solo artist.

Biography

Early life

Phillips was born to a Reform Jewish family in Santa Barbara, California. His father was a college professor who taught physics. Although his family was Jewish, with Glen having a Bar Mitzvah, his family was secular and his father took him to meditation classes.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Phillips attended San Marcos High School, where he was a part of choir and theatre.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He originally envisioned becoming a teacher. He began to make music at 14 years old. Phillips took the California High School Proficiency Exam so he could graduate early.<ref name=hear>Template:Cite web</ref>

Career

Phillips formed Toad the Wet Sprocket in 1986, at the age of 15, with friends from his high school.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1991, at age 20, Phillips wrote the song "All I Want".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The band recorded five albums but broke up in 1998, after escalating tensions, shortly after Phillips' father died of colon cancer.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

During his time in Toad the Wet Sprocket, Phillips was involved in a pop rock project called Flapping, Flapping, which released the album Montgomery Street in 1996.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2001, three years after the breakup of Toad, Phillips released his first solo album, Abulum.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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 released a collaboration with Nickel Creek, under the name 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 Music Group's 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 parted ways due to creative differences. A compilation of six outtakes from the album were published as an EP titled Unlucky 7, the first track ("The Hole") of which was featured in the second episode of the AMC television series Breaking Bad.

Phillips released his third proper solo album, Mr. Lemons in the spring of 2006.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In January 2008, Phillips released an EP Secrets of the New Explorers, with music influenced by Talk Talk and Peter Gabriel.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

In January 2008, Phillips formed the supergroup Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) featuring 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 released an album in 2009.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2008, under the moniker Plover, Phillips recorded an album with Neilson Hubbard and Garrison Starr.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2009, Phillips recorded a cover version of The Beatles' song "I'll Follow the Sun" for the soundtrack of the film Imagine That.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In April 2018, Phillips signed with Compass Records Group.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> His 2016 album, Swallowed By the New, was re-released on May 4, 2018, with a new bonus track "Nobody's Gonna Get Hurt".

Personal life

Phillips and his ex-wife, Laurel, whom he was married to from 1989 to 2014, have three daughters.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

On October 8, 2008, Phillips injured his arm while at a friend's house, where he was sitting on a glass coffee table that collapsed when he moved back. Phillips had surgery to repair a damaged ulnar nerve and muscle in his left arm. His ability to play guitar was hampered during his recovery, but he toured despite the injury.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Phillips has suffered from depression.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Phillips is known for performing barefoot.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Discography

Studio albums

  • Abulum (Unami Records, 2001)
  • Winter Pays for Summer (Lost Highway Records, 2004)
  • Unlucky 7 (2006, independent)
  • Mr. Lemons (Unami Music, 2005)
  • Secrets of the New Explorers (2008, independent)
  • Tornillo (2010, independent) – recorded in 2002 with producer David Garza but scrapped in favor of making "Winter Pays For Summer" with John Fields.
  • Coyote Sessions (2012, independent) – compilation of previously unreleased songs, recorded live in studio with one central microphone
  • Options – B-sides & Demos (2014, Umami Music) – primarily outtakes from the 2003–2004 "Winter Pays For Summer"
  • Swallowed by the New (Compass Records, 2015)
  • There Is So Much Here (Compass Records, 2022)

Other releases

  • Live at Largo (Unami, 2002)
  • Connect Sets (2005) – recorded live in studio to support Winter Pays for Summer
  • Live at the Belly Up (2016, Belly Up Live)

With Toad The Wet Sprocket

With flapping, Flapping

  • Montgomery Street (1996)

With Lapdog

  • Near Tonight (2000)
  • Mayfly (2002)

With Mutual Admiration Society

With Plover

  • Plover (2008)

With RemoteTreeChildren

  • Veteran of the Loudness Wars (2008)

With Works Progress Administration

  • WPA (2009)

References

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