Phil Naro is a singer/songwriter who has put in more time earning his "Badge of Honor" within the international music community. With as many as twenty recordings in his career, he is a much sought after musical entrepreneur who is ardently admired by his loyal fans and revered by many well known artists.
Phil's musical odyssey began in his hometown of Rochester, New York at the ripe old age of fifteen where he commenced to perfect his craft by performing in a variety of popular High School/Bar Bands prior to relocating to Toronto in 1980. Upon his arrival in the Great White North, Phil joined Chain Reaction, who subsequently released their debut album "X-Rated Dream" on Attic Records. Despite the album's outstanding review in Britain's "Kerrang!" Magazine and an intense touring schedule of 600 shows in just under two years, Chain Reaction soon disolved.
Upon returning to Western New York, Phil indulged himself by constantly writing and recording songs with other musicians in Rochester and Buffalo prior to being recruited by the world's greatest bass player Billy Sheehan (www.billysheehan.com) to be the throat of Talas in late 1983. With only eight performances with Talas under his belt, Phil and the rest of the group recorded "Live Speed On Ice" at L'Amour in New York City. "Live Speed On Ice" made the top ten charts in both England and Japan simultaneously while Talas pounded out a tour of heavy metal uniqueness in America by performing with many of the 80's top attractions such Yngwie J. Malmsteen's Rising Force, Anthrax, White Lion, Quiet Riot, and Iron Maiden. When Billy left Talas in 1985 to join David Lee Roth's solo band, Phil carried on with the group a bit longer before he hooked up with canadian AOR favorites Coney Hatch for a spell -replacing James LaBrie (Dream Theater), as the band's charismatic frontman.
Phil has also collaborated with ex-Kiss drummer Peter Criss (www.petercriss.net) and ran the helm of the Catman's solo project while enhancing his natural songwriting ability by creating an abundance of killer tunes with Peter. Two songs from those sessions entitled "Bad People" and "Blue Moon Over Brooklyn" appeared on Criss' 1995 release "Cat .1". Ironically, Phil was strongly reccomended to Peter by respected producer Eddie Kramer (Led Zeppelin, Kiss, Jimi Hendrix) and the Demon himself -Gene Simmons.
While Phil's impressive credentials are far too extensive to list here (they would fill a set of encyclopedias!), some key ones include writing songs for Lee Aaron's 1989 multi-platinum selling album "Body Rock" and studio work with Grammy winning producer Tom Lord-Alge (Billy Joel, The Cure, Steve Winwood, Marilyn Manson, The Rolling Stones). He also appeared on a compilation disc reeased through Liberty N' Justice Records entitled "Soundtrack Of A Soul" , which also features ex-Skid Row screamer Sebastian Bach, Mark Slaughter, and Joe Cerisano of Trans Siberian Orchestra. Phil has also collaborated with Kim Mitchell on the Canadian Icon's new album "Ain't Life Amazing".
His latest stellar accomplishments are fronting the pride of NYC and Kivel Records Tango Down (www.myspace.com/tangodown), producing Jim Crean's (www.metalworksband.com) new CD "Velvet Crush" for Glass Mountain Music, and the second D-Drive album "Straight Up The Middle" in which he and guiatrist Don Mancuso (www.myspace.com/donmancuso) have reunited with ex-Foreigner crooner Lou Gramm (www.lougramm.com) to surpass the magic of their self titled debut from 2004. The distinction of being named MVP of the highly popular series "Classic Albums Live" (www.classicalbumslive.com) is yet another of many feathers Phil can add to his hat.
With an agenda that would break the sanity of any other man, Phil still found time to release an outstanding joint-venture collection of unplugged covers entitled "Cover Art" with his right hand man John Rogers (formerly of Brighton Rock) while delighting audiences in Southern Ontario and Western New York as The Phil and John Show (www.thephilandjohnshow.com). The duo (along with drummer Roger Banks and bassist Chris Cambon) were awarded with an honorable mention for their comedic song "My Country Girl" at the 2007 International Songwriting Competition. This event featured 15,000 songs from participants in over 100 countries -not to mention a pannel of celebrity judges such as Joe Satriani, Cheech Marin, Ray Davies of The Kinks, and Nelly Furtado.
Although he's had his share of difficulties and set backs like anybody else in this world, Phil naro is a bonafide survivor. This man truly believes in himself and the music he conceives -which stand as an inspiration to us that anything in life is possible. Dreams can be realized and obstacles in whatever form they may appear can be overcome.
Phil's odyssey continues...........................with no end in sight.
