Bernard Fowler

One of pop music’s most prolific singers, boasting perhaps its broadest array of credits, Bernard Fowler has lent his voice to projects by the Rolling Stones, Bootsy Collins, left-field producer Adrian Sherwood, and minimalist composer Philip Glass. A lifelong New Yorker, Fowler made his recording debut in 1974 as a member of Total Eclipse. Two dance-club successes followed in 1982: “Don’t Make Me Wait,” recorded with the Peech Boys, and “I’m the One,” cut for Bill Laswell’s band Material. The next year he contributed to Herbie Hancock’s Future Shock, and in 1985 his vocals appeared on Public Image Ltd.’s Compact Disc, Sly & Robbie’s Language Barrier, and Mick Jagger’s solo debut, She’s the Boss. For Philip Glass’s 1986 album Songs from Liquid Days, Fowler performed a Paul Simon composition written expressly for the project; the following year he sang backup on James Blood Ulmer’s America: Do You Remember the Love? In 1988 he joined Bootsy Collins for What’s Bootsy Doin’? A year later Fowler fronted the Adrian Sherwood-associated group Tackhead and accompanied the Rolling Stones on their Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle world tour. Throughout the 1990s he issued additional Tackhead recordings, continued working and touring with the Stones, took a featured role in drummer Charlie Watts’s jazz ensemble, and guested on albums by Herb Alpert, Little Axe, Todd Terry, and INXS frontman Michael Hutchence’s first solo effort. His own debut solo album, Friends with Privileges, finally arrived in 2006 via Sony Japan.