"phil Holland"

Successful close-harmony Belgian-English group that attacked the Belgian and Dutch charts in the seventies. Precursor to the group was the formation "The Bats" from Diest, with in it the brothers René & Robert Vlaeyen. These successful Flemish entrepreneurs (René Vlaeyen is nowadays known as a TV-producer with VTM-shows as de Kotmadam & Gaston+Leo at his conscience). had international plans and placed an ad in Melody Maker in search of vocal talent. Steve Davies (who had been a session-musician in England for a group named "Octopus" in England, and who had later come to Germany and Belgium) and Robert Vlaeyen founded the Belgian "Octopus"…

It was much to soul singer Spanky Wilson's surprise – she didn't realize she had had such an impact – when British multi-instrumentalist/producer Will Holland contacted her in her Los Angeles home in 2004, professing his love of her music and wondering if she'd collaborate with him. Still, she agreed to go the studio, and together they did two songs, "Don't Joke with a Hungry Man" and "When You're Through," for Holland's solo project, Quantic, on the album Mishaps Happening. That collaboration worked out so well that they decided to make an entire record together, this time with Holland's full band, the Quantic Soul Orchestra. Wilson's lovely voice is the centerpiece of I'm Thankful, and it does show a bit of its age, but only in the best of ways, deepening it and giving it an added measure of credibility and authenticity while still preserving its expressiveness and strength.