Harry Kim is an American musician born and raised in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He is best known as a member of the

Phenix Horns , originally known as the EWF Horns, were the main horn section for the band Earth, Wind & Fire. The horn section were composed of Don Myrick on saxophone, Louis "Lui Lui" Satterfield on trombone, Rahmlee Michael Davis on trumpet, and Michael ...

, the celebrated horn section of

Earth, Wind and Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (EW&F or EWF) is an American band whose music spans the genres of jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, big band, Latin, and Afro pop. They are among the best-selling bands of all time, with sales of over 90 million ...

, as well as for his long association with

Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and lead singer of the rock band Genesis and also has a career as a solo performer. Between 1982 and ...

Biography

Kim was born and raised in

, where he attended the High School for the

Performing Arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perform ...

and prepared for a career as a classical trumpeter. After high school, Kim relocated to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, where he discovered an interest in the world of funk and jazz. He toured throughout the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

for a few years with various show groups, R&B revues, and big bands, including the

Harry James Harry Haag James (March 15, 1916 – July 5, 1983) was an American musician who is best known as a trumpet-playing band leader who led a big band from 1939 to 1946. He broke up his band for a short period in 1947 but shortly after he reorganized ...

Big Band, before returning to Los Angeles to further his career. Latin music took a front seat during the disco era, a time when live music was rarely featured in discothèques but was in strong demand by salsa audiences. It was at this time that Kim began working with artists such as

Tito Puente Ernest Anthony Puente Jr. (April 20, 1923 – June 1, 2000), commonly known as Tito Puente, was an American musician, songwriter, bandleader, and record producer of Puerto Rican descent. He is best known for dance-oriented mambo and Latin jazz c ...

and

Celia Cruz Úrsula Hilaria Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alfonso (21 October 1925 – 16 July 2003), known as Celia Cruz, was a naturalized Cuban-American singer and one of the most popular Latin artists of the 20th century. Cruz rose to fame in Cuba during t ...

, and also began honing his arranging skills by writing and performing on many disco productions. Soon, Kim joined

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...

's Wonder Love, which opened opportunities to perform and record with artists such as

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the " Queen of Soul", she has twice been placed ninth in ''Rolling Stone''s "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". With ...

The Four Tops ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

The Temptations The Temptations are an American vocal group from Detroit, Michigan, who released a series of successful singles and albums with Motown Records during the 1960s and 1970s. The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield, beginning with the Top ...

, and

Smokey Robinson William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. (born February 19, 1940) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive director. He was the founder and front man of the Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he was also chief ...

. He was on stage for the Emmy Award-winning 25th Anniversary of

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

, performing with many of Motown's greatest stars. It was an evening highlighted by

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

's introduction of his now legendary moonwalk. In 1985 Kim joined the

, the celebrated horn section of

. Together they performed with various artists throughout the U.S., Europe, and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

. Included were two tours in 1987 and 1988 with French icon

Michel Berger Michel Berger (born Michel Jean Hamburger; 28 November 1947 – 2 August 1992) was a French singer and songwriter. He was a leading figure of France's pop music scene for two decades as a singer; as a songwriter, he was active for such artists ...

and vocalist

France Gall Isabelle Geneviève Marie Anne Gall (9 October 1947 – 7 January 2018), known professionally as France Gall, was a French ''yé-yé'' singer. In 1965, aged 17, she won the Eurovision Song Contest for Luxembourg. Between 1973 and 1992, s ...

. In 1989 Kim participated in the making of

's multi-award-winning album '' ...But Seriously''. A world tour followed in 1990, marking the beginning of a long association with Collins. The multi-platinum live concert CD ''Serious Hits Live'' was released soon after. Realizing the many advantages of being part of a high-performance horn section, Kim founded The Vine Street Horns. He called together musicians with whom he had worked for many years. Numerous productions with various artists were to follow. In 1994 Phil Collins called on The Vine Street Horns to join him on his ''

Both Sides ''Both Sides'' is the fifth solo studio album by English singer-songwriter Phil Collins. Featuring an adult-oriented soft rock-based sound, the release came out in October 1993 by Atlantic in the US and in November by Virgin in the UK. Colli ...

'' Tour, an extensive 18-month world tour. In 1996 he was asked by Collins to organize a big band featuring adaptations of his music and the music of

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

in a jazz setting. The Phil Collins Big Band was born. As musical director and arranger, Kim and The Vine Street Horns took center stage performing at all the major European jazz festivals, with

Tony Bennett Anthony Dominick Benedetto (born August 3, 1926), known professionally as Tony Bennett, is an American retired singer of traditional pop standards, big band, show tunes, and jazz. Bennett is also a painter, having created works under his birth ...

as vocalist and

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...

as guest conductor. This was also the year they recorded Phil Collins' album ''

Dance into the Light ''Dance into the Light'' is the sixth solo studio album by English drummer and singer-songwriter Phil Collins, released on 8 October 1996 in the United States and on 21 October 1996 in the United Kingdom by Face Value Records. It features guest ...

'', which toured the world in 1997. The year 1998 saw another Phil Collins Big Band tour resulting in a live CD entitled '' A Hot Night in Paris''. Later that year an introduction to France's legendary singer

Johnny Hallyday Jean-Philippe Léo Smet (; 15 June 1943 – 5 December 2017), better known by his stage name Johnny Hallyday, was a French rock and roll and pop singer and actor, credited for having brought rock and roll to France. During a career spanning 57 ...

led to three sold-out performances at the

Stade de France The Stade de France (, ) is the national stadium of France, located just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis. Its seating capacity of 80,698 makes it the sixth-largest stadium in Europe. The stadium is used by the France national foot ...

(seating 81,338 people), five successful tours from 1998 to 2009 and numerous top-selling concert CDs and DVDs. Kim has continued to tour throughout the world with Johnny Hallyday and Phil Collins,''Windplayer''
2001 and has also acted as horn section leader and arranger for the 2005–2009 seasons of ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

'' as well as for ''

America's Got Talent ''America's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated as ''AGT'') is a televised American talent show competition, and is part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. The program is produced by Fremantle (as well as distribut ...

'' and ''

Celebrity Duets ''Celebrity Duets'' was an American reality television show, of the progressive game-show type, which combined celebrities of different backgrounds with professional singers in a weekly elimination competition. History The show was a take-off of ...

''.

References

External links

The official siteDiscography
on

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

Arrangements from Phil Collins' Big Band Album
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Harry Year of birth missing (living people) Afro-Cuban jazz trumpeters Latin jazz trumpeters Crossover jazz trumpeters Living people Phil Collins American session musicians American trumpeters American male trumpeters British male jazz musicians The Phil Collins Big Band members Earth, Wind & Fire members