Biography

Started singing in amateur bands in the late eighties (at age 30) of the past century. His first live appearances were at tennisclubs and local bars in the Maastricht area, with local musician friends, "where we drank more beer than songs on the setlist", Phil remembers.

In the mid nineties touring became more intense when joining the band D-Train. Phil auditioned for the band not knowing American singer/harp player Lynwood Slim was watching, who then told the band to pick Phil. First major festival at the Meervaart in Amsterdam 1994. The band later became Doctor Rhythm, playing in bars, clubs and the occasional festival. Also recording two albums.

2003 - Matters started to get real serious when starting his own band Phil Bee & the Buzztones. Appearances in Germany, Belgium, France, the UK and the North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands in the years that followed. 'The Buzztones' recorded three albums.

2003 - October. Phil appeared in the Hendrix Files Tour with Steve Lukather (Toto) and Jan Akkerman. 7 shows though the Netherlands and Germany.

As a sidestep one of his idols, Jimi Hendrix, was honored with the tribute band 'The Hendrix Files' (2005-2009). THF played amongst others at the reknown festival Marktrock in Leuven (B). A live album was made from that show.

2008-2013 - With new band members and new original material, King MO toured from Memphis to Warsaw, winning several Dutch Blues Awards. Recording three albums in various line ups.

2014 Forming the new band Phil Bee's Freedom.

2015-2016 Winning Dutch Blues Award (best vocalist) and winning Dutch Blues Challenge, later to represent the Netherlands at the International Blues Challenge (Memphis). Playing many clubs and festivals across Europe until mid 2019. Recording three albums along the way. Runner up at the European Blues Challenge in Torrita di Siena, March 2016.

2019 Phil decided to start a solo career. In that year Phil joined Johan Derksen' theater show until COVID stopped the tour. Award winning albums (Against the wind-2020 and Live at Tivoli Vredenburg-2022) along with participation at national TV show 'We want more' (2020) launched the new elan.

2021 Winning The Voice Senior and asked by Dutch guitar legend Jan Akkerman to join his band. Meanwhile Phil Bee's Band also toured in theaters across the Netherlands, through to 2023

2023 reaching the finals in the Dutch TV show "The Tribute" (SBS6), as a tribute to Joe Cocker, which was broadcasted early 2024. As a result the band was renamed Phil Bee Cocker Band.

Studio session with Jan Akkerman resulted in some great songs early 2024. 'Piece of my heart' and 'Am I losing you'. Phil is particularly proud of these studio recordings as Jan Akkerman worked with very few vocalists in the studio throughout his career.

In July 2024 Phil featured as the special guest in André Rieu's Maastricht concerts. These 12 concerts were attended by a total of 150.000 people with global views and streams to follow. The concerts were also shown in 3.000 cinemas across the globe. Clips on YouTube and social media with the Phil Bee concert part go around 10 million streams and counting. Check Phil Bee YouTube channel.

2024-2025 - touring with Phil Bee Cocker Band in theaters, clubs and festivals all around the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany

2026 - Phil joining the André Rieu Orchestra for 80 concerts on their world tour. In twelve months over a million people will attend this tour, seeing amongst others Phil Bee performing live.

2027 - Spring: Phil will be joining the Jan Akkerman Band for the 'Jan 80' tour.

2027 - as per spring (mixing it with Jan) on tour with the new Phil Bee Experience