Philip Bailey

Philip Bailey earned widespread recognition chiefly through his exuberant falsetto when he surfaced in the early 1970s as the four-octave vocal counterpart to Maurice White inside Earth, Wind & Fire. That ensemble, celebrated for its string of multi-platinum releases and Grammy triumphs, raised concert presentation to theatrical heights. Alongside vocals and percussion duties, Bailey contributed to the writing of EW&F’s initial successes such as “Evil” and “Shining Star,” then broadened his work into production by the close of the 1970s. While remaining central to the long-running group, he initiated a solo trajectory in the early 1980s that traversed R&B, jazz, gospel, and pop, marked by the Billboard Hot 100 number-two single “Easy Lover” (1984), the Grammy-winning gospel album Triumph (1986), and his most exploratory project, Love Will Find a Way (2019), which led Billboard’s jazz chart in the year Earth, Wind & Fire marked their 50th anniversary.

Philip Irvin Bailey first sang in church during childhood in his native Denver. He stayed local for higher education, attending Metropolitan State University and the University of Colorado. In those years he performed with the band Friends & Love, whose opening slot for Earth, Wind & Fire prompted Maurice White to recruit both Bailey and, later, his bandmate saxophonist Andrew Woolfolk into the revamped lineup. Bailey arrived in time to record the third EW&F album, Last Days and Time (1972), and assumed a larger role on the follow-up Head to the Sky (1973), co-writing “Evil” and leading “Keep Your Head to the Sky,” the group’s first two singles to reach the R&B Top 25.

Bailey became a core member of Earth, Wind & Fire, an electrifying stage act that sustained remarkable commercial and critical consistency. From the mid-1970s into the early 1980s he co-wrote and featured on signature tracks including the Top 40 pop single “Devotion” and the number-one pop and R&B hit “Shining Star,” which earned gold certification and the band’s first Grammy for Best R&B Performance. He also co-wrote and fronted “Reasons,” a concert staple matched only by the Isley Brothers’ “Footsteps in the Dark” as the period’s most acclaimed ballad never issued as an A-side. During pauses in group commitments Bailey lent vocals, arrangements, and percussion to numerous jazz and R&B dates for fellow artists, often alongside his bandmates. Chief among these were his prominent role on Ramsey Lewis’ number-20 R&B single “Sun Goddess” and his lead on Paulinho Da Costa’s EWF-infused “Deja Vu,” an under-promoted gem. He simultaneously produced early efforts by Free Life, Kinsman Dazz (later Dazz Band), and Splendor.

Columbia, Earth, Wind & Fire’s longstanding label, extended Bailey a solo contract, resulting in the 1983 George Duke-produced debut Continuation. The set reached number 19 on the R&B chart, buoyed by “I Know,” a number-ten R&B single. The following year he explored gospel with The Wonders of His Love on the Myrrh/Word imprint and returned to Columbia for the Phil Collins-produced pop-R&B album Chinese Wall. That release became his most commercially successful solo project, climbing to number ten on the Billboard 200 on the strength of the Collins duet “Easy Lover,” a crossover hit that peaked at numbers three and two on the R&B and pop charts. Bailey promptly collected Grammy nominations across three categories: Best Inspirational Performance for The Wonders of His Love, Best R&B Performance for Chinese Wall, and Best Pop Performance for “Easy Lover.” In 1986 he issued the largely self-produced gospel album Triumph on Word/Horizon, which secured a Grammy for Best Gospel Performance, and the Columbia set Inside Out, a Top 30 R&B entry shaped by close work with Nile Rodgers and contributions from George Duke, Phil Collins, and Ray Parker, Jr. The decade closed with the charting gospel release Family Affair, by which time Bailey’s credits also appeared on recordings by Deniece Williams, Kenny Loggins, Stevie Wonder, and Nancy Wilson.

He maintained parallel solo and group work through the 1990s and into the next decade. In 1992 Bailey joined the all-star session Pride of Lions, arranged and conducted by James Mack. From 1994 onward he added three further solo albums on separate labels. The contemporary R&B-oriented Philip Bailey, co-executive produced by Mack with input from Chuckii Booker, Brian McKnight, and P.M. Dawn, came first. Three years later, after Maurice White stepped back from touring and Bailey assumed onstage leadership of Earth, Wind & Fire, he released Life and Love, featuring collaborations with Incognito’s Jean-Paul Maunick and Graham Harvey. He moved closer to jazz with the 1999 album Dreams, containing readings of “The Masquerade Is Over” and Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays’ “Something to Remind You.” Soul on Jazz followed in 2002, even more jazz-focused and featuring updated versions of “Compared to What,” “Nature Boy,” and “Tell Me a Bedtime Story.”

Earth, Wind & Fire received inductions into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (2000) and the Songwriters Hall of Fame (2010) while continuing as a consistent live attraction and issuing additional albums over subsequent decades. In 2019, the year the band reached its half-century milestone, Bailey issued his eleventh solo album. Released on Verve, Love Will Find a Way alternated originals and reinterpretations with a multi-generational roster of jazz musicians including Chick Corea, Robert Glasper, and Kamasi Washington. The expansive set debuted at number one on Billboard’s Jazz Albums chart.