Phil Stack is the bassist and one of the founding members of the Australian band, Thirsty Merc

Thirsty Merc

Thirsty Merc are an Australian pop rock band formed in 2002 in Sydney, Australia. The band consists of Rai Thistlethwayte , Phil Stack , Karl Robertson , and Matt Smith ....

. Born in 1977, Stack grew up with his three older sisters in the New South Wales city of Dubbo. Stack is an accomplished jazz and rock musician within Australia. He is also a regular performer, playing double bass

Double bass

The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...

 with Australian jazz music icon James Morrison

James Morrison (musician)

James Morrison AM is an Australian jazz musician who plays numerous instruments, but is best known for his trumpet playing...

. Stack studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music

Sydney Conservatorium of Music

The Sydney Conservatorium of Music is one of the oldest and most prestigious music schools in Australia...

 in his earlier years and is now a regular feature at major music festivals in the rock and jazz genre.

I In November 2008, Stack was awarded first place in the National Jazz Awards held at the Melbourne Jazz Festival

Melbourne Jazz Festival

The Melbourne International Jazz Festival is an annual jazz music festival held in Melbourne, Australia from 4 - 13 June 2011.-History:The Melbourne International Jazz Festival was first held in 1998....

. After the initial 10 finalists were reduced to 3, Phil beat Ben Waples (Sydney) and Sam Anning (Melbourne) in the final.