Grant Lee Phillips

Singer/songwriter/actor Grant-Lee Phillips, formerly of the band Grant Lee Buffalo, He was voted "Best Male Vocalist" of 1994 by Rolling Stone. The band's most popular songs include "Fuzzy", "Mockingbirds" and "Truly, Truly." Phillips stars in the recurring role of The Town Troubadour on the popular series _Gilmore Girls (2000)_ (qv). His foray into performing dates back to the age of 10, as a professional magician. His teenaged years were spent performing on stage in a melodrama/vaudeville revival house in northern California. Film school beckoned Phillips to Los Angeles in 1983, where he did a year's stint before opting for a career in music and performance. In addition to worldwide headliner tours, he is also a regular music and comedy guest at L.A.'s prestigious Largo cabaret.Various credits include _1 Giant Leap (2002)_ (qv) with 'Dennis Hopper' (qv) and 'Michael Stipe' (qv). Phillips has been a featured guest vocalist/instrumentalist on the albums of 'Eels' (qv), 'Aimee Mann' (qv), 'Rickie Lee Jones' (qv), 'Robyn Hitchcock' (qv), 'Michael Penn' (qv) and 'John Doe' (qv) and has co-written works with musicians 'Michael Stipe' (qv) of 'R.E.M.' (qv), 'Gary Louris' (qv) of 'The Jayhawks' (qv), 'Paul Oakenfold' (qv) and 'Jon Brion' (qv). Phillips composed and performed songs for the 'Todd Haynes' (qv) film _Velvet Goldmine (1998)_ (qv)and has scored various independent films including _Zig Zag (1999)_ (qv) and _Easy (2003)_ (qv). Compositional works for television included _Witchblade (2001)_ (qv) and "The Gilmore Girls" (as well as the ABC TV series _What About Brian (2006)_ (qv). Other written works by Grant-Lee Phillips include the collaborative, "Haiku Year" (1996), a collection of contemporary haiku poems by Phillips, Tom Gilroy, Jim McKay, 'Michael Stipe' (qv), Douglas A. Martin and others. Phillips is also an accomplished visual artist, whose drawings, paintings and printed works are frequently featured in his album designs.::Richard Ellison