Island House resident Phil Clendenin picked up a Grammy nomination for his song, Didn’t Cha Know, written with lyricist-performer Erykah Badu.  Nominated for the best R&B tune of the year, the recording was released late in 2000 and enjoyed a ride on the charts in 2001.

Clendenin’s music, much written in the ’60’s and 70’s in the R&B/Jazz Fusion form, is getting renewed attention abroad, with good airplay in London and across Europe, as the genre is rediscovered by a new audience.

The music of those days “had a certain urgency,“ Clendenin says, because it was performed rather than “manufactured in a studio,” as much recorded music is today, using techniques of overdubbing, editing, and electronic manipulation.

Clendenin has played with another Island resident, Tex Allen, and with Diana Ross and the Rolling Stones as a studio musician.

Didn’t Cha Know lost in the Grammy races to a song by Alicia Keyes.  “This was her year,” Clendenin says, happy to have his music honored with the Grammy nomination.