Zara Phillips began her professional career working as a backing vocalist for Sir Bob Geldof when he recruited her for his first solo projects after he departed the chart-topping UK band The Boomtown Rats. Zara's musical career quickly blossomed from that point, as she continued her work on tour, in television and videos with UK artists such as Matt Bianco, Nick Kamen, David Essex, Bananarama and the solo project from Dire Straits' John Illsley.
Born and raised in London, Zara loved to sing and dance from a young age and enjoyed spending hours in her room writing all the lyrics to musicals and performing each part. Zara moved to Los Angeles in 1996 where she continued writing new songs and performing solo. In 2005 Zara finished work on a new CD entitled 'When the Rain Stops' produced by Grammy award winner Ted Perlman.
In 2008, Zara finisheddirecting and producing an adoption documentary entitled 'ROOTS: UNKNOWN', which focussed on the emotional influence adoption has on the adoptee and their families. The film won Best Homegrown Documentary at The Garden State Film festival in New Jersey. This led to her writing her first book, 'Mother Me' published by BAAF (British Association for Adoption and Fostering) in March 2008.
In 2009 Zara co-wrote a song and made a video with Darryl McDaniels from RUNDMC called 'I'm Legit' to raise awareness on the emotional impact of adoption and the importance of birth records (which are closed in many States in the USA.) The video has been used to help educate congressmen and the general public on theissue.
In 2013, Zara debuted her one woman show, 'Beneath My Father's Sky', centred around her relationship with her adoptive father, and it won the award for Best Direction in the United Solo Festival in New York. The show has since been performed in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New Jersey, and in 2016 it was performed at 'Upstairs at The Gatehouse' in London. Zara writes articles for various adoption magazines, regularly talks and facilitates workshops and events related to adoption issues, and still performs her music at clubs in NYC and New Jersey.
www.zaraphillips.net
