Philip Earl Bynoe is an American musician best known for his work with

Steve Vai Steven Siro Vai (; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, composer, songwriter, and producer. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of eighteen as a transcriptionist for ...

. He has been the bass player of Vai's touring band since 2012, a role he previously held from 1996 to 2000. He has also played on four of Vai's studio albums. Other artists Bynoe has worked with include

Kevin Eubanks Kevin Tyrone Eubanks (born November 15, 1957) is an American jazz and fusion guitarist and composer. He was the leader of The Tonight Show Band with host Jay Leno from 1995 to 2010. He also led the Primetime Band on the short lived ''The Jay Le ...

and The Tonight Show Band,

Dorian Holley Dorian Jose Holley is an American musician, backing singer and a vocal coach. He began his professional career as an on-stage backing vocalist for American entertainer Michael Jackson during his Bad World Tour in 1987. He staged a series of live c ...

Slash Slash may refer to: * Slash (punctuation), the "/" character Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Slash (Marvel Comics) * Slash (''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'') Music * Harry Slash & The Slashtones, an American rock band * Nash ...

, and

Charlie Farren Charlie Farren is an American musician, composer and guitarist best known as the lead singer of the rock bands The Joe Perry Project and Farrenheit. Farren recently launched his 16th release, most recently on his own FMan Media label, which was ...

. He has been a member of the heavy metal band

Warlord A warlord is a person who exercises military, economic, and political control over a region in a country without a strong national government; largely because of coercive control over the armed forces. Warlords have existed throughout much of h ...

since 2013, and was formerly a member of

Ring of Fire The Ring of Fire (also known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Rim of Fire, the Girdle of Fire or the Circum-Pacific belt) is a region around much of the rim of the Pacific Ocean where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur. The Ring o ...

. Bynoe attended the

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...

in Boston. He studied with Wit Brown. He changed bands several times in the ensuing years, until

Nuno Bettencourt Nuno Duarte Gil Mendes Bettencourt (born September 20, 1966) is a Portuguese-American guitarist, singer-songwriter, record producer, and businessman. He became known as the lead guitarist of the Boston rock band Extreme. He has also recorded ...

of Extreme introduced Bynoe to drummer

Mike Mangini Michael Anthony Mangini (born April 18, 1963) is an American musician and current drummer of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. He has also played for bands and artists such as Annihilator, Extreme, James LaBrie, and Steve Vai. Befor ...

. Bynoe and Mangini played together in the Rick Berlin Band. They entered and won a rhythm section competition in Massachusetts. Mangini later got Bynoe an audition with Steve Vai. Bynoe has received three Grammy Award nominations for his work. In 2005, he received an Emmy Award for his work on the soundtrack for a remake of ''

Reefer Madness ''Reefer Madness'' (originally made as ''Tell Your Children'' and sometimes titled ''The Burning Question'', ''Dope Addict'', ''Doped Youth'', and ''Love Madness'') is a 1936 American propaganda film about drugs, revolving around the melodramat ...

''. Bynoe continues recording, touring and playing. He also teaches bass and ensemble work at the L.A. Music Academy in Pasadena. Bynoe appears on the soundtrack of the 2008 film ''

Repo! The Genetic Opera ''Repo! The Genetic Opera'' is a 2008 American rock opera horror film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman. Based on the 2002 musical of the same name, written and composed by Darren Smith and Terrance Zdunich, the film stars Alexa Vega, Paul Sorvin ...

''.

External links

Philip Bynoe Interview
NAMM Oral History Library (2020)

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American rock bass guitarists Warlord (band) members African-American rock musicians African-American guitarists 21st-century African-American people {{US-bass-guitarist-stub