Roy Godfrey Phillips (born 5 May 1941, in

Parkstone Parkstone is an area of Poole, Dorset. It is divided into 'Lower' and 'Upper' Parkstone. Upper Parkstone - "Up-on-'ill" as it used to be known in local parlance - is so-called because it is largely on higher ground slightly to the north of th ...

Poole Poole () is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of ...

) is a British musician. He was a member of The Soundtracks (a backing group of The Dowlands), The Saints and

The Peddlers The Peddlers were a British jazz/soul music, soul trio (music), trio of the 1960s and 1970s. Led by organist Roy Phillips, they had hits with "Birth (1969 song), Birth" and "Girlie (song), Girlie". They were very popular in New Zealand during ...

Background

Phillips is known as the voice and keyboard sound of well-known popular trio,

which was formed in Manchester in 1964 . In later years, Phillips was so taken with

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

, he decided to settle there. He has lived there since 1981. he spent some time in Auckland but didn't want to settle there so he moved up north to

Paihia Paihia is the main tourist town in the Bay of Islands in the Northland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is 60 kilometres north of Whangārei, located close to the historic towns of Russell and Kerikeri. Missionary Henry Williams ...

and ran a café there for eight years. After that he moved to Queenstown. In 2002, he moved to

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

and married to his wife, Robyn. He is still performing and writing music.

Career

1960s

During the 1960s, Phillips was a member of

The Song Peddlers ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...

which with addition of

Trevor Morais Trevor Morais (born 10 October 1944) is an English drummer who has been a member of several notable groups such as Faron's Flamingos, Rory Storm and The Hurricanes, The Peddlers, Quantum Jump and the Elkie Brooks backing band. He is also a ses ...

became a trio. The lineup also included

Tab Martin Tab Martin (born Alan Raymond Brearley, December 24, 1944) is an English bass guitarist. He has been a member of well-known English bands from the 1960s. He was a member of the Tornados and played on their hit "Globetrotter". He was also a membe ...

. The group were managed by Alan Lewis. A single "Rose Marie" bw "I'm Not Afraid" was released on the

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters is ...

label in 1964. The group then became

. Also in 1964, and now known as The Peddlers they had some minor success with their debut single, "Let The Sun Shine In" which was written by

Teddy Randazzo Alessandro Carmelo "Teddy" Randazzo (May 13, 1935 – November 21, 2003) was an American pop songwriter, singer, arranger and producer, who composed hit songs such as " Goin' Out of My Head", "It's Gonna Take a Miracle", "Pretty Blue Eyes", a ...

. They would go on to have hits with "

Birth Birth is the act or process of bearing or bringing forth offspring, also referred to in technical contexts as parturition. In mammals, the process is initiated by hormones which cause the muscular walls of the uterus to contract, expelling the ...

" and " Girlie".

1970s

In 1976, his group, Peddlers which he had led since 1964 broke up. In the same year, Phillips's solo album ''Mr Peddler'' was released on

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

It also had a limited release as a private pressing on the Wild Cherry label as ''Heavy on the Light Side''. The Wild Cherry release differed slightly from the Warner Bros. one. Also that year he had a single " Spanish Sun" bw "The Office Party" out on the Sol-Doon label.

1980s to 1990s

In 1983, Phillips had a single released on the Warrior label which included releases by artists the Mike McGregor Band, Mantra and

Herbs In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicina ...

. The single was "New Zealand, New Zealand" bw "Takapuna". In 1987, his single "Step by step" bw "All girl planet" was released on Zulu Z006. Also in the late 1980s, Phillips headed the Sunday bill at the 6th Southern Comfort Jazz and Blues Festival that was held in New Zealand over the Queen's Birthday weekend.

2000s

In 2006, he appeared on the television show '' Close Up'', interviewed by John Sellwood. In 2007, a song by Phillips, "Closer" was featured on a

Lord Large Lord Large is a 60s-influenced Acid Jazz band formed by Stephen Large, a British keyboard-player currently in Squeeze (and previously in the Electric Soft Parade, a band who won a Q Award and a Mercury Music Prize nomination in 2002) and drumme ...

album, ''The Lord's First XI''. The album also featured recordings by

Glenn Tilbrook Glenn Martin Tilbrook (born 31 August 1957) is the lead singer and guitarist of the English band Squeeze, a band formed in the mid-1970s who broke through in the new wave era at the decade's end. He generally wrote the music for Squeeze's son ...

Clem Curtis Clem Curtis (born Curtis Clements; 28 November 1940 – 27 March 2017) was a Trinidadian British singer, who was the original lead vocalist of sixties soul group The Foundations. Background Family He was the father of seven children, six sons ...

Dean Parrish Dean Parrish (born Philip Anastasi, or Anastasia; December 30, 1942 – June 8, 2021) was an American singer from New York City, best known for the song, " I'm on My Way", which became noted for being the penultimate record that was played at th ...

and

Linda Lewis Linda Ann Fredericks (born 27 September 1950), better known as Linda Lewis, is an English vocalist, songwriter and guitarist. She is the eldest of six children, three of whom also had singing careers. She is best known for the singles "Rock-a- ...

. Phillip's involvement in the project came about as a result of Large's friend, producer/drummer Jones who was honeymooning in New Zealand and had found a new drinking buddy who happened to be Phillips. His album called "Blue Groove" (2014) was produced and recorded at Roy's "Groove Room" Studios in

. In August, 2017, he appeared at Peppers Beachfront restaurant in Gisborne, New Zealand.''The Gisborne Herald'', 24 August 2017
Smooth grooves with Peddler Roy Phillips by Mark Peters
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Discography (selective)

Citations

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Roy 1941 births English keyboardists English pop guitarists English male guitarists English multi-instrumentalists English songwriters Parlophone artists People from Poole Living people The Peddlers members The Saints (British band) members