Music has lost another great guitarist with the news that the legendary Phil Upchurch has died.
He was 84.
Variety reported that Upchurch actually died back on Nov. 23.
He was best known for his work with the likes of Michael Jackson and Curtis Mayfield.
“One of the all-time guitar greats, Phil Upchurch has passed away,” Brandon Ousely wrote on X. “His funky, in-pocket chording and riffs touched in blues, soul, and jazz settings, spanning his extensive work as an in-demand sideman for Curtis Mayfield, Ramsey Lewis, Jerry Butler, Rotary Connection, Donny Hathaway, and countless others to his own soul-jazz oriented solo recordings (1972’s Darkness, Darkness is essential listening.) The man was Chicago music royalty.”
“Only just heard the sad news that the great Phil Upchurch has gone,” Neil Norman wrote on X. “I bought this album years ago without knowing who he was or anything about him. I loved it from the first time I played it. His quiet, unshowy mastery has never failed to soothe and inspire. #RIPPhilUpchurch.”
Upchurch recorded nearly 30 albums during his career and had “more than 1,000 recordings with some of the biggest artists in Hollywood,” according to Variety.
The outlet said Chaka Khan’s “I’m Every Woman,” and Jackson’s “Workin’ Day and Night,” are among the most well-known songs that Upchurch played on.
Upchurch spent two years as a radio reporter for the U.S. Army in the mid-1960s, per Variety. When he returned home he began working with jazz and blues artists in Chicago and his career took off.
