Phil Coulter
(born 19 February 1942) is an Irish artist with an international reputation as a successful songwriter, pianist, music producer, arranger and director. His success has spanned over four decades and is one of the biggest record sellers in Ireland.
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PHIL COULTER TICKETS
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Early years
Coulter is from
Derry in
Northern Ireland where his father was a
policeman; one of few Catholic constables in the force. He grew up with his two brothers and two sisters.
Coulter's father, also called Phil, encouraged music in the house. He played the
fiddle whilst his wife played the upright
piano. The younger Coulter recalls this piano, made by Challen, as "the most important piece of furniture in the house".
One of Coulter's most popular songs, "The Town I Loved So Well", deals with the embattled city of his
youth, filled with "that damned barbed wire" during
the Troubles.
Education
Coulter spent his secondary school years at
St. Columb's College. He later studied music and French at the
Queen's University of Belfast (QUB).
Coulter has received honorary doctorates from the
University of Ulster and
Dublin Institute of Technology.
Beginnings of a career in music
He started his first band at Queen's University, playing early
rock and roll music despite studying classical music. Coulter was also founder of the Glee Club, which staged music events for the university.
By 1964, his final year at university, Coulter had already written a couple of hit songs in Ireland and he moved to
London, where his first job was as an
arranger/
songwriter with a music publisher in
Denmark Street. Frome here he was hired to work with name acts including
Billy Connolly,
Van Morrison,
Jerry Lee Lewis and
Tom Jones.
Songwriting partnership with Bill Martin
In the late 1960s Coulter formed a long-lasting writing partnership with
Bill Martin. They wrote
Sandie Shaw's 1967
Eurovision-winning entry, "
Puppet on a String", which would go on to become an international hit with more than 100
cover versions. They had a second hit the next year with a song for
Cliff Richard called "
Congratulations", which finished second at Eurovision. A Spanish documentary in 2008 however revealed that Cliff Richard had been robbed of victory after Gen Francisco Franco fixed the vote.
[1]
Seven years later Coulter found himself back on the Eurovision stage when he co wrote, together with
Pierre Cour, the song
Toi
for
Luxembourg: the song, which was performed by Coulter's future wife Geraldine, came fifth in
Stockholm. Coulter and Martin later wrote the song "Shine It On", which would finish third in the 1978 heat of
A Song for Europe
, performed by Glaswegian performer "Christian".
The Duo wrote numerous hit songs for a variety of popular singers in the 1960s and 1970s, including "My Boy" for
Elvis Presley and many of the
Bay City Rollers' hits: they also contributed incidental music to the 1967
Spider-Man
television series. They were awarded "Songwriters of the Year" in 1975
[by whom?].
Sidesman and producer
As well as writing hit singles, Coulter produced three ground-breaking albums with
Planxty, which would have an influence on modern Irish music.
Christy Moore wrote:
"With no competition he gave us a shite contract and we signed everything away. All that said, 30 years on this album sounds good. He produced it well and ... (he had) the foresight and wherewithal to record the band at a time when no one else was listening. [2]
In addition to writing hits for the Bay City Rollers, Coulter also wrote songs for several other
teenybop bands of the 1970s, including
Kenny and
Slik, and appeared as a production credit on "Automatic Lover" by
Dee D. Jackson.
Coulter produced, arranged and wrote most of the late
Joe Dolan 1983 album,
Here and Now
. The album featured several hit singles, including the Irish Top Ten hit "Deeper and Deeper" which remained a staple in Dolan's live sets and was also one of the last songs he performed before he became ill on stage during what turned out to be his last ever show in
Abbeyleix. The album was released in
South Africa as "Yours Faithfully" where it went to number one within one week of release.
In 2007, Coulter joined with Sharon Browne, one of the originators of the successful
Celtic Woman production, to collaborate on formation of a male version of that production called "
Celtic Thunder". A stage production at
The Helix in
Dublin was released on DVD as
Celtic Thunder: The Show
and went to the top of the
Amazon
and
Billboard
Top World Albums chart in 2008. Many of the tracks in the show, such as "That's a Woman" and "Heartbreaker", were written by Coulter.
Solo success
In 1984 Coulter launched himself as an artist in his own right and began by releasing a solo instrumental album called
Classic Tranquility
. His follow-up,
Sea of Tranquility
, became the second-best selling album of all time in Ireland.
He moved from London back to Ireland, where he established his music publishing company on the grounds of his house in
Bray, south of Dublin. Coulter's official website notes that he has some 23
platinum records, 39 gold and 52 silver albums. He also keeps one of the walls of his office blank, "to remind me that there’s still room for a lot more."
[3].
In 2001 he was nominated for a
Grammy Award in the "New Age" category for his album
Highland Cathedral
.
At the age of 67, he continues to be a popular performer in his native country and around the world in places such as
The White House and
Carnegie Hall.
Inspiration
Many of Coulter's compositions are derived from personal experiences. The memory of his father is deeply painful to him and inspired the song "The Old Man". Furthermore, "
Scorn Not His Simplicity", pleads for tolerance and understanding of his son, who was born with
Down's syndrome and died at the age of four.
The Shores of the Swilly is written in memory of Coulter's sister Cyd who died on that stretch of water in County Donegal, while
Star of The Sea is written in memory of his brother Brian who too died in tragic circumstances on the Lough just a year after loosing his sister in '83
In 2002, Phil was encouraged by the
Save the Swilly
organisation to run for
Dáil in order to protect
Lough Swilly from aquacultural destruction. After some deliberation, Phil concluded that work and family commitments wouldn't allow him the time necessary to fill the political position. Some
[who?] say that the passing of his priest brother Joseph at that time had a significant influence on his decision.
Sport
Coulter is a former president of
Derry City Football Club and is known to be a supporter of the club, having attempted to help the club with its financial problems in the early 2000s. He has also helped Derry City's local rivals,
Finn Harps, in their time of need. His son Ryan Coulter is goalkeeper for
Dundalk F.C.
In 1995, the
Irish Rugby Football Union commissioned Coulter to write a politically neutral anthem for the
Ireland national rugby union team, which represents both Northern Ireland and the
Republic of Ireland. The result was "
Ireland's Call", which is played alongside of, and in some cases instead of,
Amhrán na bhFiann. As well as being used by both the Ireland national rugby union team and the junior national teams, "Ireland's Call" has since also been adopted by the Ireland's national
hockey,
cricket and
rugby league teams.