PHIL NIX (Guitar) was born and raised in New York City. He gives the credit for his musical talent to his mother who was a trained opera singer in her younger years. She had Broadway show tunes on the record player constantly and sang along all day to the likes of Richard Burton and Judy Garland. Once his older brother Frank played the first Beatle records, he was hooked and wanted nothing more than to be a famous musician. Phil trained himself by ear at first, trying to play every song that came on the radio by picking out melodies on 1 string at a time. His 1st guitar was from Sears. "It had 3 bad sounding pickups, a cheesy flowery pick-guard and terrible action but it made for very strong fingers." He hasn't stopped playing since but luckily his guitars and amps have gotten quite a bit better.

Phil originally cut his teeth on artists like the aforementioned Beatles and then into fusion and Jazz Rock. Guitarists such as Steve Morse, David Gilmour, Peter Frampton, Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton have provided great influence on his playing. But when it comes down to good old pop songwriting, Phil would argue (and does quite often) that Paul McCartney is hard to beat. Phil studied privately for 2 years under the guidance of Irwin Stahl who was the Dean of the Westchester Conservatory of Music for many years. Phil credits Irwin for showing him the true meaning of discipline when it comes to studying music on a serious level.

Phil is no novice when it comes to recording and performing. He toured for 4 years with a number of internationally traveling show bands. He has live performance and recording experience with numerous New York based singer songwriters such as, Matt Kurzban and the Immoral Fibres, Vivian Prince and Pointe Blanque, Jennifer Levy Project, and Eddie Denise. Up until 1998, Phil spent 2 years on the road as he traveled and performed in the lead guitarist role for the legendary Ronnie Spector.

Phil's network of New York musicians led him to the Eric Stuart Band. As fate would have it, he originally played with Bryan Gardenour in a band called Svengali back in 1998 and the rest is history. "I'm so happy to have the opportunity to play with Eric. The songs are so well crafted and the band is amazing. It's been a while since I've had the opportunity to travel with a great band and I can't wait to hit the road with this one."

Phil's pop/rock background, his melodic sense, and his ability to add flavors and textures to the songs has made him a perfect addition to the Eric Stuart Band.

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