A short Biography
Steve Phillips describes himself as a "Blues Singer / Guitarist,
Landscape Painter, Keen Woodworker, and a bit of a Dandy".
Acclaimed as "one of the finest blues guitarists anywhere
in the world", STEVE PHILLIPS is a guitar guru of legendary
status. Inspired by artists such as Snooks Eaglin, Robert
Johnson, and Blind Blake, he began his musical career in his early
teens, forming a duo with guitar ace, MARK KNOPFLER. During
this partnership, Phillips introduced Knopfler to the lead guitar
playing of Lonnie Johnson, and to the finger picking country blues
guitar, which Mark evolved into his own unique style. Phillips
later found another soul mate in singer/guitarist BRENDAN CROKER,
and began a long musical partnership, that continues on and off
to this day.
Phillips dropped out of the music scene for a short time, until
the "roots music" movement began to gain momentum in
the mid 1980s, at the same time introducing a new audience to
the blues styles that Steve had been interpreting for twenty years.
This gave him a renewed interest in live performance and eventually
led to the formation of THE NOTTING HILLBILLIES, which featured
Steve, Mark and Brendan, and was chronicled by an extensive tour
and the release of the multi-platinum selling album "Missing...
Presumed Having A Good Time. "
Since the revival of interest in his music, Phillips has featured
on TV and radio, performed at prestigious venues, including Ronnie
Scott's and The Shepherds Bush Empire, and has recorded
extensively. His albums include: The Best of Steve Phillips
(1987), Steel-Rail Blues (1990), "Missing... Presumed Having
A Good Time. " (1990), Been A Long Time Gone (1995), "Just
Picking", (1996) and "Every One a Gem" (2000).
He now lives in North Yorkshire, and continues to perform throughout
Europe as a solo artist, and with his band STEVE PHILLIPS &
THE ROUGH DIAMONDS. If it's real blues music you want, Phillips
is it!
What the critics say...
"The godfather of the Leeds blues mafia, Phillips is a great
technician and his style is as close to the real thing as you're
going to get"
Q Magazine
"Steve Phillips from Leeds is often rated as the finest pre-war
style country blues guitarist in the world"
Andy Kershaw
" he deserves his cult reputation as one of the great white
spirits of acoustic blues. Hand him his steel National guitar,
grant him a few seconds of hush and pretty soon the spirits of
Snooks Eaglin and Blind Blake will be summoned up"
Time Out Magazine
"Steve Phillips is, without doubt, one of the greatest blues
guitarists Europe has ever produced, and is currently one of the
finest anywhere in the world"
Trevor Hodgett - Blueprint Magazine.
