“For me, I’ve had number one hits with my old band, but it’s an honor to be able to work with all these other artists.  It’s fun to do.  It’s not a bad thing to be known as a sideman.  If you’re accompanying someone, we are all contributing on stage.  We may not be the guy up front, but I look at it as being a support person and a significant contributor.” 

Many of the artists that we know and love have been making music for years, but very few had their first live performance at age 12.  Nate Phillips was born and raised in Portland, Oregon.  One of twelve children and the youngest of nine boys, Nate had the music in him from a young age.  “I knew I always liked music.  But growing up in Portland, we didn’t have much money.  I had to go out to the fields and pick berries and beans after school closed. I would find ways to amuse myself, keep myself occupied.  I saved and bought myself a transistor radio and would listen to AM stations.  I knew there was something in the music and loved it.”  While Nate’s mother and the rest of siblings sang around the house or in church, he took another route and wanted to play an instrument.  “One day I asked my parents for a guitar for Christmas, and they went to the store and bought me a 6-string guitar, a lead guitar.  I must have been around 9 or 10.  Friends of mine already had guitars and drums.  We had 2 or 3 guitars and no bass, so someone had to switch to bass and it was me!  I just kind of stuck with that but didn’t get serious until my early teens.  And I didn’t begin singing until much later on.  I was a very shy kid.” 

Nate has had no formal training on the bass, except for a couple of years in college.  But prior to that, his training came through people he knew.  “I got my best teaching from working with other people who were better than me.  It was the school of hard knocks. Most of my learning was on the street, but playing with people who had more experience turned out to be kind of rough.  You get yelled at a lot.  Guys are yelling “Why are you playing that?  Don’t play that note, you idiot!”  It was a great experience and I got to perform a lot.” 

Playing in front of a live audience at age 12 was to set the tone for this young bassist.  While in his first band as a young kid, the father of one of the band members decided to rent out a church for them to hold a show.  They played Sly and The Family Stone, Kool and the Gang, and other pop and R&B.  Nate says of that experience, “I’m not sure how it sounded, but we tried!”  The band held on and continued to play around town.  There was also another band in town that was getting some play, and the two bands finally decided to join forces.  That was the creation of Pleasure when Nate was the ripe old age of 16.  The band, through the help of Wayne Henderson of the Jazz Crusaders, was signed to Fantasy Records, for whom they made about eight records.  “We made a little demo and we would always go see the national talent that played in town at the Paramount Theater.  We met Mr. Henderson and gave him the tape and he liked what we heard.  He shopped a demo for us and we wound up getting a shot at going to Whisky A Go Go [in West Hollywood].  We were all like 16 or 17 years old.  We were so nervous and thought we sounded terrible, but the president of Fantasy Records liked us and signed us. Wayne Henderson produced all of those records.”   

It was these connections that got Nate to where he is today.  “When I was playing with the Crusaders, which was for a number of years, I was playing with Dwight Sills and Rayford Griffen, who eventually hooked me up with others.”  Those others are Ronnie Laws, George Benson, Bobby Lyle, Jeff Lorber, Herb Alpert, Jeff Golub, Richard Elliott, Rick Braun, and Peter White, among others.  Nate’s dream-come-true performance came not so long ago when he had the opportunity to perform with George Duke.  But if Prince, The Stones or Paul McCartney ever called, he’d jump at the chance! 

Outside of the music world, Nate Phillips can be found spending quality time with his family.  His son and daughter are musical, but his daughter, who plays trumpet, piano, flute, clarinet, and sings, decided to take the route of a “real” job and is a nurse.  Besides family time, Nate’s greatest hobby is collecting old records, 45s, 8-tracks, and even old reel-to-reel tapes.  His collection, of over 2,000 pieces, spans many different genres like R&B, jazz, and classical. 

In closing, Nate offered up this advice to up and coming musicians:  “Learn as much as you can as early as you can.  And whatever you do, make sure you are having fun at it because if you’re not having fun making music, then move on.”