Bernard Fowler

3. Friends with Privileges: It's not every day you get to meet a member of the Rolling Stones. Admittedly, he's not Jagger or Richards, but Bernard Fowler, a background singer and percussionist for the group, is no slouch-- he's also worked with artists ranging from Alice Cooper to Philip Glass. He's in town to promote his new album, Friends with Privileges, and the San Francisco Art Exchange will host him at a meet-and-greet next Thursday. Oh yeah, and they'll be offering free wine and hors d'oeuvres, too. Who said you can't always get what you want? RSVP here. (Thursday, October 15, 5-7 pm, at San Francisco Art Exchange, 458 Geary St., Tenderloin.)
http://www.7x7.com/blogs/buzzed/lowering-bar-5-places-drink-cheap-or-free-week-13 - San Francisco 7x7

JIM TRAGESER - jtrageser@nctimes.com | Posted: Wednesday, September 30, 2009 12:25 pm | No Comments Posted

Three years ago, Fowler released his first solo album, "Friends With Privileges." It included some covers (Neil Young, the Isley Brothers, the Rolling Stones), as well as some songs Fowler wrote or co-wrote himself. "I wanted to do what I wanted to do ---- and what I wanted to do was a lot of different feels. I like a whole lot of things, and it was my record and I was going to put on my record what I wanted. I didn't have to answer to anybody, and that was a treat."
Bernard Fowler is the music world's version of a respected character actor ---- everyone knows his work, but few can recall his name. Best-known for his duties as backup singer for the Rolling Stones the past two decades, Fowler has also sang with everyone from blues guitarist James "Blood" Ullmer to jazz experimentalist Bill Laswell to the art punk of Public Image Limited to Charlie Watts' jazz swing orchestra.
And in the view of Fowler (who is headlining a show at Brick by Brick on Saturday), the chance to work in such a broad range of styles with some of the planet's top talents is better than fame.
"I'm into music because I love it, and I love the way it makes me feel," Fowler said during a recent phone interview from Austria, where his solo tour had taken him. "To be a rock star ---- that dream left a long time ago. As far as I'm concerned, I am a rock star. I get to play with the best."
Fowler said that singing in so many different styles does demand a certain willingness to try different techniques in different situations.
"You've got to have a different approach ---- you can't approach them all the same way. Charlie Watts is not experimental ---- you try to stay true to the jazz form, true to the swing.
"I love standards, I love experimental music ---- it's nothing for me to go from James 'Blood' Ullmer to Philip Glass. If I hear it and it catches me, I do it."
That love of variety was nurtured sitting in front of his parents' stereo system while growing up in Queens, N.Y., Fowler said.
"It was listening to my folks' records and listening to the radio.
"It was an Emerson hi-fi, I'll never forget it ---- it had a red light on the outside to let you know it was on. I grew up listening to their records, and singing to their records."
Among his parents' LPs, Fowler remembers listening to Little Walter, Mahalia Jackson, Joe Tex, J.B. Lenoir, Don Covay and the Temptations. And when it came to radio, it was a couple of New York City AM disc jockeys who helped shape his musical landscape.
"I grew up listening to Symphony Sid and Frankie Crocker on AM radio. ... Crocker loved all kinds of music ---- Joni Mitchell and James Taylor. When I heard the Isley Brothers doing James Taylor, that took my head off.
"I listened to all kinds of stuff growing up, so when I decided to make music my career, I was well-prepared."
In fact, it was the experimental projects that led to the mainstream success and the long-running gig with the Stones.
"I got a call from Bill Laswell ---- he heard a record I was doing, "Don't Make Me Wait," by the Peech Boys. I guess Bill heard it and liked it and asked me to come in to do a Material record with him. Then we became really good friends and did a lot of projects together.
"Laswell's the one who introduced me to Mick Jagger."
Fowler said that being on tour as the headlining act is a bit different than when he's on tour working for the Rolling Stones ---- it's not only the difference between playing at Petco Park or Brick by Brick, but the hotels you stay at and the luxuriousness of the bus you travel in.
But he said his father cautioned him against getting caught up in the Stones' lifestyle when he's touring with them, and that's helped keep him grounded.
"You learn quick: Never get spoiled, because it's real nice with the Stones."
Three years ago, Fowler released his first solo album, "Friends With Privileges." It included some covers (Neil Young, the Isley Brothers, the Rolling Stones), as well as some songs Fowler wrote or co-wrote himself.
"I wanted to do what I wanted to do ---- and what I wanted to do was a lot of different feels. I like a whole lot of things, and it was my record and I was going to put on my record what I wanted. I didn't have to answer to anybody, and that was a treat."
While Fowler's been a member of Tackhead off and on for years, he said for his first solo project that he wanted to focus on music more than business.
"Getting a band together and keeping a band together is one of the most difficult things in music. I decided to do a record without that headache."
And his second solo album will be out soon ---- those attending his San Diego show should expect to hear a few cuts from that upcoming release ---- as well as a bit of almost everything he's done in his varied career.
"(The set list) is a lot of stuff from my record, some stuff with the records I did with (locally based musician) Stevie Salas. I have to add a couple of Stones songs, because a lot of people do recognize me from that relationship."
Bernard Fowler with the Styletones and Midnight Rivals
When: 8 p.m. Saturday
Where: Brick by Brick, 1130 Buenos Ave., San Diego
Tickets: $12-$14
Info: 619-275-5483 or brickbybrick.com
Web: bernardfowler.com

http://www.nctimes.com/entertainment/music/article_7f568ea1-9fd2-5dfb-83fc-21e431ebb3ea.html - North County Times - San Diego

Bernard Fowler has sung backup on every Rolling Stones album (and tour) since 1989's "Steel Wheels" as well as on projects by Robert Plant, Yoko Ono, Herbie Hancock and Philip Glass, to name a few. On his solo album "Friends With Privileges," Fowler is aggressively soulful with a flair for funk-rock grooves. The New Yorker's touring band includes L.A. hotshot guitarist Waddy Wachtel (Warren Zevon, Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne). (9:30 p.m. Thu., Lee's Liquor Lounge, $15.) (J.B.)

http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/music/65589312.html?page=3&c=y
- Minneapolis StarTribune.com

TUESDAY
Bernard Fowler with Trick 9, the Bob Young Band and Half Brewed at Pike Rom, rock, 7 p.m. Tues. $10 in advance, $12 day of. 1 S. Saginaw St., Pontiac. (248) 858-9333.


http://detnews.com/article/20091022/ENT04/910220342/1424/ENT04/What-s-goin--on-in-Metro-Detroit - Our Picks

STORIES

Bernard Fowler
By Dave Good | Published Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2009

The Rolling Stones, who have not recorded anything of consequence for 20 years, have become a road show with their best songs behind them. No matter how large an arena spectacle, musically the Stones are loved for the band they used to be. What if Brian Jones had lived and Mick Jagger had died? It’s almost heretical even to ponder, such is Mick’s stature, but consider the question. Would they have been a better band? There was a lot of grand music put forth by the Rolling Stones during their earliest days, considered by most to be essential listening of the ’60s and ’70s. Today, one is hard pressed to recall a single Stones title from the ’90s on. The most interesting news in years surrounding the world’s greatest rock and roll band would be the recent media announcement that police may be opening a new investigation into Jones’s untimely death. Yawn.

As for that Stones road show, the band has always surrounded themselves with the best sidemen that money can buy. One of them is singer Bernard Fowler, who has been a backing Stone since 1989’s Steel Wheels. He’s got a rich powerhouse of a voice that never breaks down. Raspy and wide open, Fowler can let loose with a force that fits everything from dub reggae to metal. I caught Fowler in the early ’90s in support of Ronnie Wood’s Slide on This. They tore up a version of the Stones’ “Black Limousine” and made it all Faces, with none of the faux blues camp of the original. I suspect that Wood may have been, mmm, liquored up at the time, but no matter. Fowler’s gravitas, and not the presence of his famous elder, anchored the band.

So, could Bernard Fowler replace Mick Jagger? Will never happen. Could he front the Stones for a night? Not a problem.

BERNARD FOWLER: Brick by Brick, Saturday, October 3, 8 p.m. 619-275-5483. $12 advance; $14 day of show.

MORE DAVE GOODSEND LETTER TO THE EDITORSEND TO A FRIENDPRINTER FRIENDLY

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2009/sep/30/of-note-bernard-fowler/
- San DIego Reader

Saturday 3
Sometime Stones side vocalist Bernard Fowler headlines Brick by Brick Saturday night. Bernie’s been belting behind Mick for about 20 years, so who better to sing his praises: “[Bernard] can sing for ages.... He can easily keep up with me.” This hella triple bill includes San Diego supergroup Midnight Rivals (ex-Lucy’s, -Louies, and -Rocket) and funk-n-soul junkies the Styletones....

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2009/sep/30/club-crawler-happy-birthday-srv/ - San Diego Reader

Keith Richards gives musician Bernard Fowler a standing ovation at The Knitting Factory.

- May 21, 2009 - NY Daily News

Keith Richards gives musician Bernard Fowler a standing ovation at the Knitting Factory.

- May 21, 2009 - New York Magazine Online

Bernard Fowler + Tackhead
"A stylish journeyman rock vocalist, Bernard Fowler also fronts Tackhead, whose other three members served as Sugarhill Records' house band in the early '80s. After supplying the timeless grooves that accompanied Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel's "The Message" and "White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)" among other early rap hits, guitarist Skip "Little Axe" McDonald. bassist Doug Wimbish, and drummer Keith LeBlanc went on to create the noise-funk juggernaut Tackhead for British dub entrepreneur Adrian Sherwood's On-U Sound System."

- March 22, 2009 - The Village Voice