Past Shows
Jul
5
th
2014
7th St Entry
Jul
5
th
2014
7th St Entry
May
6
th
2010
7th St Entry
May
6
th
2010
7th St Entry
As one half of The Rembrandts, Phil Solem is best known for the hit songs "Just The Way It Is, Baby" and "I'll Be There For You" [the theme from Friends]. But Phil's career in rock & roll is represented by far more than a couple of Top 20 smashes. Originally from Duluth, Minnesota, Phil Solem moved to Los Angeles in the late 1970s, looking for a place in the emerging rock & roll scene. Phil was in and out of bands like 'Android' and 'Loose Change' and eventually ended up in the band Great Buildings, who released the album Apart From The Crowd in 1981 on Columbia Records. Although Great Buildings broke up shortly thereafter, Solem would remaine pals with felow bandmate Danny Wilde.
Over the years, Phil & Danny would get together and write songs. But in 1990, Phil and Danny got together to record some demos in Danny's Southern California garage/studio. The demo was released 'as is', as The Rembrandts. The album landed in the Billboard hot 100, thanks in part to the Top 20 hit "Just The Way It Is, Baby." The follow up single "Someone," with Phil on lead vocals, also ended up on the Billboard Top 100. In 1992, The Rembrandts received more critical accliam for their follow up album, Untitled. In 1995, The Rembrandts became most famous for a song that was never intended to be on an album. Although the duo had recorded the 42 second theme "I'll Be There For You" for the show Friends, it was never intended to be a full length song. But the label insisted the duo record a full length version and include it at the end of the already finished album, LP. The rest is history....
Phil also has a rock band, called THRUSH, with John Fields and Michael Bland. They released one album in 2000. In 2001, he reformed with Danny Wilde as The Rembrandts to release the album Lost Together, perhaps the duo's best album. In 2006, Rhino released a Greatest Hits collection, which included material from all four Rembrandts albums and two tracks from the Great Buildings album Apart From The Crowd. In 2011, Phil released his solo album, HODGEPODGE.
