8. 5. UNIVERS SAFFF GrantLeePhillips MP3
GRANT LEE PHILLIPS
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=46478435
Rock, Alternative rock, Folk, Pop, Americana, Indie
Instrument(s): vocals, Acoustic guitar, Electric guitar, Bass, Banjo, Mandolin, Harmonica, drums, Piano, Synthesizer
Years active: 2000-present
Label(s) Rounder Records
Associated acts: Shiva Burlesque, Grant Lee Buffalo, Robyn Hitchcock, R.E.M.
Website: www.grantleephillips.co
Grant-Lee Phillips is best known as the voice and vision of the critically acclaimed group Grant Lee Buffalo. 
Soon after the band's 1993 debut album "Fuzzy" was on the shelves they headed for Europe, it was there that the band had it's first taste of commercial and critical success. Soon, they found themselves headlining large venues and playing every major festival, touring at a dizzying pace.
At home a strong fan base was forming seeded by some of popular music's greatest names, and soon these band's offered Grant Lee Buffalo opening slots on major tours. Grant Lee Buffalo went on the road with REM, Pearl Jam and The Smashing Pumpkins to name just a few. It was this incessant touring that earned Grant-Lee Buffalo a devoted following both in the States and abroad.
Meanwhile, Grant-Lee Phillips' searching, sometimes political songwriting continues to evolve well after the release of four major albums. The singer-songwriter has always moved restlessly, beginning with the mercurial acoustic-fuzz driven ballads of "Fuzzy," to the moody cinematic "Mighty Joe Moon" in '94 which yielded the classic single "Mockingbirds." 
From the diverse orchestral labyrinth of "Copperopolis" in '96 to the celebrational swan song of "Jubilee," which brought with it the widely successful gem "Truly, Truly."
After being voted best male vocalist of '95 by Rolling Stone magazine, he was heralded by fans and critics alike as being both a visionary and one of the most important songwriters of his generation. Known for his sweepingly cinematic forum that are both profoundly insightful and casually poetic his music continues on in this tradition.
In 1999 after many tumultuous changes at Warner Brothers both the band and the company had reached an impasse. Shortly after a long tour of duty in Australia promoting Jubilee word circulated that Phillips would continue on alone, while the fate of Grant Lee Buffalo would remain open. It was during this time that a mutual agreement was found, Warners would not pick up the option if Phillips wanted to go elsewhere and so he packed his bags and looked forward to the future.
Currently, Phillips is busy in Los Angeles playing to rapidly sold out shows at Largo. During these performances he has been showcasing new songs and approaches. His recent material carries the same depth and insight as his previous work but with added vibrancy and a new experimental edge. A bonus to Phillips solo engagements has been the exposure of a deeply human side, a unique, off beat sense of humor and love of spontaneity that might have been lost in the echo of mammoth venues. -Anna Ballas
In WIKIPEDIA
Background
Born in Stockton, California, Phillips began playing the guitar in his early teens and persevered throughout high school. At age 19 he moved to Los Angeles where he worked tarring roofs to fund evening classes at UCLA and the possibility of forming a band at weekends. He eventually dropped out of college and linked up with an old friend from Stockton n
amed Jeffery Clark. Together they formed Shiva Burlesque and released two lauded LPs Shiva Burlesque (Nate Starkman & Son; 1987) and Mercury Blues (Fundamental; 1990) which due to a failure to fit with LA's glam metal scene of the late 1980s did not make any commercial impact. Phillips and Clark disbanded shortly afterwards which duly meant the end of the band.
Grant Lee Buffalo
Following a handful of solo shows at clubs around Hollywood, Phillips recruited ex-Shiva members Joey Peters (drums) and Paul Kimble (bass) for rehearsals as Grant Lee Buffalo in mid-1991. Phillips was now writing lyrics as well as music and the trio quickly built up a local following, selling out clubs on the strength of Phillips's intense performance. His political storytelling was delivered in a recently discovered voice: both a soaring falsetto and a nourishing drawl that matched his aggressive acoustic guitar stomp and pouting physicality. One song, "Fuzzy", was released on Bob Mould's Singles Only Label in 1992 to huge critical acclaim and lead to Grant Lee Buffalo being signed to Slash Records. The debut LP, also called Fuzzy, was released a year later, upon which Michael Stipe of R.E.M. declared it "the best album of the year hands down".
A further three Grant Lee Buffalo albums followed. Mighty Joe Moon (1994), Copperopolis (1996), and Jubilee (1998) were all quite different and highly accomplished. A live performance of Mighty Joe Moon's title track is available online from the South by Southwest festival.[1] Though all were heavily promoted through concert touring, they never escaped cult status largely thanks to a lack of support from the Warner Bros label and a frustrated Phillips disbanded the band in early 1999.
Solo career
Phillips immediately signed to the Boston-based indie label Rounder Records and launched a solo career, issuing the intimate Ladies Love Oracle over the Internet in 2000. The recording was later more widely released. His first full-length LP, Mobilize, was released to enormous critical acclaim in 2001. Being praised as much for its gentleness as much as Buffalo were for their rock, it featured Phillips's talents on many instruments, including both dreamy pop and dark but comforting ballads. Touring followed with sets containing solo and Buffalo material in equal measure.
In 2004 Virginia Creeper arrived and with it a more folky, almost-country record noted for the complete absence of the electric guitar. In 2006 Phillips released another acoustic album, Nineteeneighties. An ambitious set of cover versions, it featured songs from the Pixies, New Order, Robyn Hitchcock, R.E.M., The Church, and Echo & the Bunnymen. A new record of his own material, Strangelet, was released on March 27, 2007.
DISCOGRAPHIE:
2000 Ladies Love Oracle
2001 Mobilize
2004 Virginia Creeper
2006 nineteeneighties
2007 Strangelet