Simon Phillips (drummer)

Simon Phillips (born 6 February 1957) is an English jazz, pop, and rock drummer, songwriter, and record producer. He worked with rock bands during the 1970s and 1980s and was the drummer for the band Toto from 1992 to 2014.

Phillips started to play professionally at the age of twelve in his father's dixieland band for four years. Phillips was the drummer on the 1976 album 801 Live with Phil Manzanera and Brian Eno. He worked as a session drummer for Jeff Beck, Gary Moore, Bernie Marsden, Mike Oldfield, Judas Priest, Mike Rutherford, Tears for Fears, and The Who. He was the drummer for The Who during the band's American reunion tour in 1989. He became the drummer for the band Toto in 1992 after the death of Jeff Porcaro.

Career
Phillips began to play professionally at the age of twelve in a dixieland band led by his father, Sid Phillips. After his father's death, he started playing pop and rock and found work in a production of the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. He worked as a session musician for cast members, and this led to other session work. Beginning in the 1970s, he worked with Jeff Beck, Gil Evans, Stanley Clarke, Peter Gabriel, Pete Townshend, and Frank Zappa.

Phillips was the drummer in the Phil Manzanera and Brian Eno supergroup 801 on their 1976 album 801 Live. He replaced Judas Priest drummer Alan Moore on the band's Sin After Sin album (1977) and went on to record Michael Schenker's 1980 debut album The Michael Schenker Group, as well as in Mike Rutherford's Smallcreep's Day. In the early 1980s, Phillips formed part of RMS with session musicians Mo Foster and Ray Russell. He was the drummer for The Who on their 1989 American reunion tour and appeared on solo recordings by band members Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend.

Around 1978, British guitarist Gary Boyle made a fantastic album called "The Dancer" featuring Simon Phillips. Phillips later also played on Evita where he contributed some fabulous grooves.

In 1989 he recorded his debut album with the band Protocol. He moved to Los Angeles in the 1990's to continue his music career.

Toto
In 1992, Phillips was invited by Toto to fill in for Jeff Porcaro after the latter died following the completion of the recording of Kingdom of Desire. He became the band's only choice as Porcaro liked his style and that he toured with Steve Lukather and Carlos Santana on their solo tours. After the Kingdom of Desire tour, Phillips officially joined Toto.

As the band began its 1995 Tambu tour, Phillips suffered from back problems and was unable to play on the first leg of the said tour; the band turned to Gregg Bissonette to substitute for him. When Phillips fell ill prior to the 2004 Night of the Proms concert, Bissonette was unavailable to take over his drumming duties, causing the band to invite Ricky Lawson instead.

Phillips' last show with Toto was in 2013. He left the following year to focus on his solo career and was replaced by Keith Carlock.

Other ventures
Five years later he led a jazz band that performed at the North Sea Jazz Festival. In 2002 he recorded a jazz album, Vantage Point, with trumpeter Walt Fowler, saxophonist Brandon Fields, and pianist Jeff Babko. He has co-produced and engineered albums by Mike Oldfield, Derek Sherinian, and Toto. After leaving Toto, he became a member of a trio with Hiromi Uehara and bassist Anthony Jackson. Phillips has also worked with Big Country, Jack Bruce, David Gilmour, Big Jim Sullivan, and Whitesnake.

In 2009, Phillips joined with keyboardist Philippe Saisse and bassist Pino Palladino in forming an instrumental jazz/funk rock trio: Phillips Saisse Palladino, PSP, which toured in Europe in 2009 and 2010. Phillips also performed on Joe Satriani's album Super Colossal, appearing on multiple tracks. Phillips appears in Alan Parsons' Art & Science of Sound Recording educational video series, as well as the program's single "All Our Yesterdays". He played in the Michael Schenker Group album In the Midst of Beauty and took part to the band's 30th Anniversary world tour in 2010. Phillips is featured on Hiromi Uehara's 2011 album, Voice. He also toured with Hiromi and bassist Anthony Jackson as part of the Hiromi Trio Project.



In 2019 Phillips was featured on the album Origin of Species. In addition to playing drums and keyboards, he engineered, mixed, and helped produce.

Phillips cites Buddy Rich, Tony Williams, Billy Cobham, Steve Gadd, Ian Paice, Tommy Aldridge and Bernard Purdie as his main influences.

Awards and honors

 * In 2015 at the 14th Annual Independent Music Awards, Phillips was the winner in the Jazz Instrumental Album category for Protocol II.
 * In 2003, he was inducted into the Modern Drummer magazine Hall of Fame.

As leader

 * Protocol (Food for Thought, 1988)
 * Simon Phillips (Manhattan, 1992)
 * Force Majeure with Ray Russell, Anthony Jackson, Tony Roberts (B&W, 1993)
 * Symbiosis (Lipstick, 1995)
 * Another Lifetime (Lipstick, 1997)
 * Out of the Blue (Victor, 1999)
 * Vantage Point with Jeff Babko (Jazzline, 2000)
 * Protocol II with Andy Timmons, Steve Weingart, Ernest Tibbs (Phantom, 2013)
 * Protocol III with Andy Timmons, Steve Weingart, Ernest Tibbs (In-akustik, 2015)
 * Protocol 4 with Greg Howe, Dennis Hamm, Ernest Tibbs (Phantom, 2017)

As sideman
With 801
 * 801 Live (1976)
 * Listen Now (1977)
 * Live @ Hull (2009)
 * Latino (2013)
 * Manchester (2015)

With Jon Anderson
 * Song of Seven (Atlantic, 1980)
 * Animation (Polydor, 1982)

With Asia
 * Aqua (1992)
 * Aura (2001)

With Jeff Beck
 * There & Back (Epic, 1980)

With Jack Bruce
 * How's Tricks (RSO, 1977)
 * Cities of the Heart (CMP, 1994)
 * Jet Set Jewel (Polydor, 2003)

With Steve Hackett
 * Beyond the Shrouded Horizon (WHD 2011)
 * At the Edge of Light (2019)

With Hiromi
 * Voice (Telarc, 2011)
 * Move (Telarc, 2012)
 * Alive (Telarc, 2014)
 * Move: Live in Tokyo (Telarc, 2014)
 * Spark (Telarc, 2016)

With Nik Kershaw
 * Radio Musicola (1986)
 * You've Got to Laugh (2006)

With Steve Lukather
 * Candyman (Columbia, 1994)
 * Santamental (Favored Nations, 2005)

With Gary Moore
 * Back on the Streets (1978)
 * After the War (1989)

With Mike Oldfield
 * Crises (Virgin, 1983)
 * Discovery (Virgin, 1984)
 * Islands (Virgin, 1987)
 * Heaven's Open (Virgin, 1991)

With Ph.D.
 * PhD (Atlantic, 1981)
 * Is It Safe? (WEA, 1983)
 * Three (Voiceprint, 2009)

With Joe Satriani
 * Flying in a Blue Dream (Relativity, 1989)
 * The Extremist (Relativity, 1992)
 * Time Machine (Relativity, 1993)
 * Super Colossal (Epic, 2006)

With Michael Schenker
 * The Michael Schenker Group (Chrysalis, 1980)
 * The 30th Anniversary Concert – Live in Tokyo (In-akustik, 2010)
 * Temple of Rock (In-akustik, 2011)
 * In the Midst of Beauty (In-akustik, 2008)

With Derek Sherinian
 * Inertia (Inside Out, 2001)
 * Black Utopia (J.S.H.P., 2003)
 * Mythology (Inside Out, 2004)
 * Blood of the Snake (Inside Out, 2006)
 * Oceana (Music Theories, 2011)

With Toto
 * Absolutely Live (Columbia, 1993)
 * Tambu (Columbia, 1995)
 * Toto XX (1998)
 * Mindfields (Columbia, 1999)
 * Livefields (Columbia, 1999)
 * Through the Looking Glass (EMI, 2002)
 * Live in Amsterdam (Eagle, 2002)
 * Falling in Between (Frontiers, 2006)
 * Falling in Between Live (2007)
 * Live in Poland (Eagle, 2014)

With Pete Townshend
 * Empty Glass (ATCO, 1980)
 * All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes (ATCO, 1982)
 * White City: A Novel (ATCO, 1985)
 * The Iron Man: The Musical by Pete Townshend (Virgin, 1989)

With Toyah
 * The Changeling (1982)
 * Warrior Rock: Toyah on Tour (1982)

With The Who With Judas Priest
 * Join Together (Virgin, 1990)
 * Thirty Years of Maximum R&B (Polydor, 1994)
 * Sin After Sin (CBS, Inc. (UK)), (Columbia (US)) (1977)