Phil Cunningham (folk musician)
{{Other people||Phil Cunningham (disambiguation){{!}}Phil Cunningham}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2013}}
{{BLP sources|date=April 2011}}
{{Infobox musical artist
|name = Phil Cunningham
|image = PhilCunningham-CampbeltownAug2005.JPG
|caption = Cunningham in Campbeltown, Scotland, 2005
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1960|01|27}}
|background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
|instruments = Accordion, Violin, Piano, Guitar, Tin whistle, Harmonium, Synthesizer, Mandolin, Irish Bouzouki, Bass guitar
|genre = Folk, Traditional Scottish, Celtic
|occupations = Musician, Composer, Producer, Presenter
|years_active = 1976–present
}}
Philip Martin Cunningham, MBE (born 27 January 1960 in Edinburgh, Scotland){{cite news |last1=Cunningham |first1=Phil |title=Phil Cunningham: 10 Things That Changed My Life |url=https://www.thenational.scot/news/18137231.phil-cunningham-10-things-changed-life/ |access-date=2 April 2021 |work=The National |agency=Newsquest Media Group |publisher=Herald and Times Group}} is a Scottish folk musician and composer. He is best known for playing the accordion with Silly Wizard, as well as in other bands and in duets with his brother, Johnny. When they played together, they would egg each other on to play faster and faster, and try, light-heartedly, to trip each other up.{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1gRDQEIiSM |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211214/n1gRDQEIiSM |archive-date=2021-12-14 |url-status=live|title=Phil and Johnny Cunningham|date=17 January 2008 |via=YouTube|access-date=6 January 2012}}{{cbignore}} Johnny and Phil in concert with Silly Wizard, Oct. 1986.
Phil has also collaborated with numerous other great Celtic musicians; one prominent example of this is his partnership with Aly Bain. The duo have (as of 2020) released nine albums, and between 1989 and 2019 they had a yearly spot at the New Year's Hogmanay Live broadcast on BBC Scotland.{{Cite web|last=Scougall|first=Murray|title=Should auld acquaintance be forgot? Musician Phil Cunningham on no longer being a part of BBC Scotland's Hogmanay|url=https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/should-auld-acquaintance-be-forgot-musician-phil-cunningham-on-no-longer-being-a-part-of-bbc-scotlands-hogmanay/|access-date=2020-08-05|website=The Sunday Post|date=9 December 2019}}
Biography
Cunningham played accordion and violin from a young age. He attended school in Portobello, and was raised a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, attending church regularly and playing organ.{{Cite web|url=https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle|title=Lifestyle | The Scotsman|website=The Scotsman|access-date=29 July 2020}} However, by age fifteen he had issues towards the Church and chose to leave. He now describes himself as a spiritualist.
At the age of 16, he left school and joined his older brother Johnny in the group Silly Wizard,{{cite web |title=Phil Cunningham – Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame |url=https://projects.handsupfortrad.scot/hall-of-fame/phil-cunningham/ |website=projects.handsupfortrad.scot |date=November 2012 |access-date=2 April 2021}} where he sang and played accordion, tin whistle, harmonium, guitar, and synthesizer. He also wrote many of the group's songs. After the breakup of Silly Wizard, Phil and Johnny recorded two albums and toured with Irish siblings Mícheál Ó Domhnaill and Triona Ni Domhnaill as the quartet Relativity. Phil has since had a successful solo career, releasing the solo albums Airs & Graces and The Palomino Waltz and producing albums with Aly Bain, Mark Knopfler, Dolores Keane, Altan, Connie Dover and Kris Drever.{{Cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/artist/631941-Phil-Cunningham-2|title=Phil Cunningham (2)|publisher=Discogs|access-date=28 July 2022}} He has also produced two albums for the quartet GiveWay.
In more recent years, Phil has also composed classical music and music for theatre and television, with 1997 seeing the premiere of his Highlands and Islands Suite at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall.
In 2002, Phil was appointed MBE for services to Scottish music. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters, at Glasgow Caledonian University's graduation ceremony on 27 November 2007.{{Cite web|url=http://www.gcal.ac.uk/news/news/graduation/slide3.html|title=Graduation Honorary Awards : News Headlines : Glasgow Caledonian University|website=Gcal.ac.uk|access-date=29 July 2020}}{{Dead link|date=January 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
Discography
= Solo albums =
- Airs & Graces (1983)
- Palomino Waltz (1989)
= Silly Wizard =
- Caledonia's Hardy Sons (1978)
- So Many Partings (1980)
- Wild and Beautiful (1981)
- Kiss the Tears Away (1983)
- A Glint of Silver (1986)
- Live Wizardry (1988)
= Relativity =
- Relativity (1986)
- Gathering Pace (1987)
= With Johnny Cunningham =
- Against the Storm (1980)
= With Aly Bain =
- The Pearl (1995)
- The Ruby (1997)
- Another Gem (2000)
- Spring The Summer Long (2003)
- Best of Aly and Phil (2004)
- Roads Not Travelled (2006)
- Portrait (2010)
- Five and Twenty (2012)
- No Rush (2020)
= With Connie Dover =
- Somebody (1991)
- The Wishing Well (1994)
- If Ever I Return (1997)
- The Border of Heaven (2000)
= With Kris Drever =
- Mark the Hard Earth (2010)
= With Mark Knopfler =
References
External links
- [http://www.philcunningham.com Official web site]
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/music/tv/ BBC Scotland TV series website]
- {{MusicBrainz artist|id=d3f20658-d306-4fb0-9a80-7b455994f2c4|name=Phil Cunningham}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cunningham, Phil}}
Category:British accordionists
Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire
Category:Musicians from Edinburgh
Category:Scottish folk musicians
Category:Former Latter Day Saints
Category:People educated at Portobello High School
Category:Relativity (band) members
Category:21st-century British accordionists