Randy Phillips Has A Story To Sing!

All Photos:  Alan Mercer

When Singer Randy Phillips decided he needed some new publicity shots, our mutual friend Kimberly Dallesandro recommended he get in touch with me. We had a photo session last Sunday in North Hollywood. I was overwhelmed with Randy's experience and how much he has accomplished.

His television work includes singing on 'Ally McBeal,' 'Touched By an Angel,' 'West Wing,' and 'ER.' He has done Vocal Arrainging for 'Arsenio Hall,' 'Elizabeth Taylor’s 60th Birthday,' 'MTV Awards,' 'Carol Burnett Show' and 'The 79th Academy Awards.'

Musical film work includes 'The 6th Man,' 'Hercules,' 'Cats Don’t Dance,' 'Lion King,' 'The Negotiator,' 'Amistad,' 'Big Mommas House,' 'Mighty Joe Young,' 'Mean Girls'and 'Happy Feet.' He has written and performed jingles for Coca Cola and Mountain Dew.

He can be heard on recordings by Celine Dion, Diana Ross, Keb Mo, Quincy Jones, Andy Griffith and three of Michal Jackson's albums, just to name a few.

And he has performanced LIVE with Patti LaBelle, Yolanda Adams, Sandy Patty, Tremaine Hawkins, Andre Crouch, Rod Stewart, Randy Newman, George Duke, Gladys Knight, The Winans, Dennis Edwards, Miles Davis, Take Six, Diana Ross, Al Green, The Staple Singers, Prince, Frank Sinatra, Siedah Garrett, Beyonce and Jennifer Hudson.

Talk about a professional! Randy is a warm, vibrant and out-going gentleman. He brought his wife and daughter with him and we got a nice shot of the three of them too. His new CD "Peace In The Midst Of The Storm' is a luscious work of art showcasing Randy's spiritual side.

AM: Randy! I can't get over your credits! You've been singing professionally since you were twelve!?!

RP: A woman, who was a friend of my Mom's, knew that I sang, and she knew Bob Mitchell had an all boy's choir then. They arranged an audition for me and I got the job. In two weeks I was on the road with Bob Mitchell. My first professional gig was at Nancy Sinatra's twenty-first birthday party. That was crazy. Every Hollywood person was there from Ella Fitzgerald to Quincy Jones, Sammy Davis Jr., the whole Rat Pack, Dick Cavett, Carol Burnett, everybody was there.

AM: What did it mean to you?

RP: It didn't mean anything until I was in my forties and then....it impacted me, my goodness I was in this room with all this greatness and didn't even know it.

AM: That's the joy of being a kid!

RP: Absolutely!

AM: What happened after joining the choir?

RP: My Dad was pastoring so I had an opportunity to sing and play the organ in his church. Then he decided to move to Chicago. We met these "weird people" called the Staple Singers. We started playing around with them...(laughing)

AM: I'm so happy that Mavis Staples finally got her Grammy.

RP: Oh yes! Mavis if you read this I remember Mom's sweet potato pie. Her Mom made the best sweet potato pie! A lady named Theresa Davis who was in the group 'The Emotions'...

AM: I know Theresa Davis. I photographed her for 'Tour De 4Force!'

RP: That's my girl. She's one of my dearest friends. She brought me and my sister to the Staples. Since I was a kid I really dug in that sweet potato pie. Then we started meeting a lot of people like Marvin Yancy. Things started expanding musically for us there.

AM: When did you get back to LA?

RP: In the winter of 1975 I moved back to California and regrouped with a lot of the people I was in the choir with. I started doing a lot of professional music from this point.

AM: Has growing up in the church remained an important part of your life?

RP: Absolutely. I have the people from the church as an anchor. It's more important now then it was back then. You don't know what happens when you plant a seed until it starts to grow. I'm getting a wonderful opportunity to see the seeds grow now.

AM: That's great! I'm sure everyone wants to know what was it like working with Michael Jackson?

RP: Of course...I worked on three albums with him. I had the wonderful privilege of working with Andre Crouch when I sang with Michael. We did the MTV Awards.

AM: Did you get to know Michael at all?

RP: I had some time to have conversations with him. We would hang out and we took pictures with him. He was always a very soft spoken person who knew exactly what he wanted musically and that's the most important part about him...he is music.

AM: So you found Michael easy enough to work with?

RP: When you are recording with people you want to give them their space and respect. He was in the circle with us and saying let me join in. He prayed with us. It was incredible what happened in the studio that day. He was a very, very personable, very kind, very gentle spirit. I'm glad that he's on my resume.

AM: Does anything else stand out in your mind about the Michael Jackson expereince?

RP: I'll never forget the first time I worked with him and went to New York and my son was ten then and he went and told his teacher that Michael Jackson was getting ready to pick the whole family up in a limousine and take us for a ride.

AM: Those are some great memories. What can you tell me about working with another Motown Legend, Miss Diana Ross?

RP: I got called in to do some background singing on the album 'Force Behind The Power.' I also had a wonderful opportunity to perform it with her live. I even got a chance to use her iron to iron my shirt. (laughing)

AM: So she was gracious to be around?

RP: She was very gracious....as she seems to be. She was a Mom and you could tell. It didn't matter how old we were singing with her. We were her children. Our voices made her our Mom.

AM: I noticed you worked with my buddy Siedah Garrett?

RP: I did the Dennis Edwards session with her. Day-O Day-O!

AM: I love that song!

RP: Not only did I record with her but I had the opportunity to do it live with her when we opened for Prince.

AM: Now along with working with all these legends of show business, you have your own thing going on as well. Are you focusing on Gospel Music?

RP: No I'm not. It's just the focus of my album 'Peace In The Midst Of The Storm.' My focus now is so universal. I love jazz and blues. That's my goal. I've worked with one of the Blues Greats, Keb Mo.

AM: Oh I love Keb Mo!

RP: Just watching how he does things...if I could do blues like that I would do blues.

AM: What are you really looking to do now?

RP: Now that my kids are more grown I have time because I could not focus 100% on music then because I had to concentrate on raising a family. Now I want to sing my story.

AM: Your story has to be about faith. What does faith mean to you?

RP: When you put it in your heart and mind that you can look at a mountain and tell it to move and the only thing that the mountain will do is ask in which direction...that's when you've grown in faith. Something incredible has happened over the last two years. I've learned how to receive God's grace moment by moment. I just want my story told.