Abigail Louise Phillips (born 14 January 1994) is an English actress and singer. She is best known for playing Liberty Savage in

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

soap opera ''

Hollyoaks ''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which originally began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera ''Brookside (TV series), Brookside''. From 2005 to 2023, episodes h ...

'' and for her debut single "Summer Sunshine".

Career

Acting

Phillips got her big break after writing a song for soap opera ''

'' titled "Missing You", which proved popular with viewers when it was featured in the character

Steph Cunningham Steph Roach (also Dean and Cunningham) is a fictional character from the Television in the United Kingdom, British Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks'', played by Carley Stenson. She debuted on-screen during the episode airing on 29 March 2000. S ...

's death scene. Phillips penned the song after being inspired by Steph's cervical cancer storyline and later submitted it to be used on the show. Following the strong response to the track, ''Hollyoaks'' bosses arranged a meeting with Phillips and subsequently invited her to audition for the part of Liberty – a musical character they had been developing for some time. She debuted as Liberty at the age of 16 in December 2010. In April 2011, Phillips showcased her vocals as Liberty when the character took part in a karaoke competition giving a show-stopping rendition of Adele's version of Bob Dylan's "

Make You Feel My Love "Make You Feel My Love", also known as "To Make You Feel My Love", is a song written by Bob Dylan for his album '' Time Out of Mind'', released in September 1997. It was first released commercially in August 1997 by Billy Joel for his compilation ...

Music

In 2011 Abi released her debut single "Summer Sunshine" featuring popular

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...

Fugative Harry James Byart (born 11 March 1994), better known by his former stage name Fugative, is an English rapper. He worked with Kirk Burrowes in April 2009 in Atlanta the former manager of Mary J. Blige and co-founder of Bad Boy Records after Bur ...

. The song's music video was uploaded onto YouTube and to date has received almost 400,000 views. As a gesture of goodwill Phillips offered a free sample of a song she recorded called "Somebody Without You". Abi has climbed Mt Snowdon for the checkemlads.com charity which helps young men going through testicular cancer. Phillips performed her debut single at T4 on the Beach 2011 in which she performed on the sessions stage. The scenes of Phillips' performance aired on ''Hollyoaks'' shortly afterwards. At the time Abi also announced to fans on her Twitter account that herself,

Jorgie Porter Jorgina Alexandra Porter (born 25 December 1987) is an English actress and model. She is known for portraying the role of Theresa McQueen in the Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks'' from 2008 until 2016 and again from 2020. Early life Jorgina Ale ...

(

Theresa McQueen Theresa McQueen is a fictional character from the Television in the United Kingdom, British Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks'', played by Jorgie Porter. She made her first appearance on 24 November 2008. The character was introduced as an extensio ...

) and

Craig Vye Craig Vye (born 19 July 1983) is an English actor, best known for his role as Ethan Scott in teen soap opera ''Hollyoaks''. Early life Craig was born in Hertfordshire, England. Vye trained at RADA, graduating in 2005. He was a member of the ...

(

Ethan Scott ''Hollyoaks'' is a long-running Channel 4 soap opera in the United Kingdom. This is a list of characters who first appeared on the programme during 2010, listed in order of their first appearance. In January 2010, it was announced that Paul Marq ...

) also recorded scenes for ''Hollyoaks'' at the event. From the age of 12, Phillips has been a member of the Birmingham pub band Shampoo, which is fronted by hairdresser dad Richard and mum Linda at wedding receptions and clubs. More recently Phillips has toured and fronted premier function band Capital Groove at large corporate events and parties. In September 2014, Phillips sang a show stopping rendition of Sia's 'Titanium' and one of her own songs 'On My Way' at The Pride of Birmingham Awards to over 2,000 people including rock legend

Tony Iommi Anthony Frank Iommi Jr. (born 19 February 1948) is an English musician. He co-founded the pioneering Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and was the band's guitarist, leader, primary composer, and sole continuous member for over ...

UB40 UB40 are an English reggae band, formed in December 1978 in Birmingham, England. The band has had more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart and has also achieved considerable international success. They have been nominated for the Grammy ...

Ali Campbell Alistair Ian Campbell (born 15 February 1959) is an English singer and songwriter who was lead singer and co-founder of the British reggae band UB40. UB40 sold more than 70 million records worldwide and toured for 30 years with the original l ...

, comedian

Jason Manford Jason John Manford (born 26 May 1981) is an English comedian, presenter, actor and singer. Manford was a team captain on the Channel 4 panel show ''8 Out of 10 Cats'' from 2007 until 2010 and has presented numerous television shows for the BBC an ...

and footballer

Dion Dublin Dion Dublin (born 22 April 1969) is an English former professional footballer, television presenter and pundit. He is a club director of Cambridge United. As a player he was a centre-forward, notably playing in the Premier League for Manches ...

. Phillips continues to perform and write her own material and plans to release her debut EP during 2015. She considers

Adele Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (; born 5 May 1988) is an English singer-songwriter. Regarded as a British cultural icon, icon, she is known for her mezzo-soprano vocals and sentimental songwriting. List of awards and nominations received by Adele, ...

as one of her musical idols. And also cites

Wynter Gordon Diana Gordon, formerly known as Wynter Gordon (born August 25, 1985), is an American singer and songwriter. She began her career writing music for other artists, later signing with Atlantic Records where she started to work on her own album. He ...

and

Ellie Goulding Elena Jane Goulding ( ; born 30 December 1986) is an English singer, songwriter, and activist. Born in Hereford and raised in Lyonshall, Goulding began writing songs at the age of 15. She released her debut single " Under the Sheets" through ...

as her musical influences. Phillips appeared on ''

The Voice UK ''The Voice UK'' is a British singing reality competition television series. Created by John de Mol and Roel van Velzen, it premiered on BBC One on 24 March 2012. Based on the original Dutch singing competition '' The Voice of Holland'', and ...

'' in 2017 as a contestant, although was unsuccessful in getting a place in the competition.

Personal life

Phillips was born in the Birmingham town of

Sutton Coldfield Sutton Coldfield or the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield ( ), is a town and civil parish in the city of Birmingham, West Midlands County, West Midlands, England. The town lies around 8 miles northeast of Birmingham city centre, 9 miles south of L ...

, to Richard and Linda Phillips. Phillips was a student at Birmingham's Stage Coach performing arts school. She is close friends with her co-stars Hollie Jay Bowes and Tamaryn Payne. In May 2022, Phillips announced that she had been diagnosed with

thyroid cancer Thyroid cancer is cancer that develops from the tissues of the thyroid gland. It is a disease in which cells grow abnormally and have the potential to spread to other parts of the body. Symptoms can include swelling or a lump in the neck, ...

. On 10 September 2023, Phillips was attacked and robbed after sustaining injuries in Ibiza which resulted in her phone being stolen.

Activism

In March 2012, Phillips along with some of the ''Hollyoaks'' cast and crew successfully completed a sponsored sleep-out in a bid to raise funds for youth homelessness charity Centrepoint. Later in the night, Phillips and

Hollie-Jay Bowes Hollie-Jay Bowes (''née'' Billie-Jean Bowes; born 17 January 1989) is an English actress and writer, known for her roles as Dawn O'Malley in the BBC drama ''Grange Hill'' and Michaela McQueen in the Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks''. Since 202 ...

provided some musical entertainment. Lights went out in the village at 1am and the challenge was complete when the sun rose just after 6am. During 201314, Phillips completed a tour of primary schools in the West Midlands in relation to bullying and the effects it has on young people, drawing from past personal experience. Phillips' school campaign achieved national coverage on Television with the BBC, ITV and on radio.

References

External links

*
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Abi 1994 births Living people English women singer-songwriters English singer-songwriters English soap opera actresses Musicians from the West Midlands (county) English child actresses Child musicians English contemporary R&B singers English pop singers English dance musicians 21st-century English women singers 21st-century English singers Actresses from Sutton Coldfield