 Josh
Phillips has been Procol Harum's Hammond organ player for live dates in 1993
and 2004 / 2005
onwards.Procol albums: One Eye to the Future, Live in Ledreborg (CD, DVD, download), Spirit of Nøkken, MMX, ... Some Long Road ..., Novum Josh began his career at sixteen playing organ on the soundtrack to (and subsequently appearing in) the cult 1979 movie Quadrophenia. Since then he has written for and/or performed with an amazing array of musical talent including Big Country, Leo Sayer, Pete Townshend, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Kenney Jones, Ronan Keating, Alisha’s Attic, Heatwave, Midge Ure (TotP clip here), Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney and many others. Josh wrote and produced the recent album for The Crazy World of Arthur Brown (The Vampire Suite) released on Track Records, October 2003. 'Lots of Hammond,' he tells us. He also plays with Mark Brzezicki in Damon Hill's ConRods, and guested with The (Kenney) Jones Gang in January 2004 at Guildford He is the same person as Josh Phillips-Gorse, and had many album credits under that name from the 1980s. |
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Outside mainstream rock, Josh works with Dan McGrath, and the pair have been involved in many diverse aspects of the music and media industries for over a decade. Together they have composed the themes to hit TV shows such as Strictly Come Dancing (BBC), How do you solve a problem like Maria? (BBC), Holidays Undercover (ITV), Building the Dream (ITV), Car Hunt (ITV), Celebrity Dog School (BBC), Star Sale (BBC), Men in Frocks (Sky), Britain's Wildest (Sky), The Craig Doyle Show (UTV), The Sack Race (BBC), Friends like these with Ant & Dec/Ian Wright and Tonight with Jonathan Ross. Strictly Come Dancing as a format has sold globally, attracting 10 million viewers in the UK and 22 million in the US as ABC's Dancing with the Stars. Download it from iTunes! Josh and Dan's music has been used in many other successful shows such as Shooting Stars, TFI Friday, Millionaire Manor (BBC1 National Lottery Game Show), Package Holiday Undercover (ITV1), Perseverance (ITV1 Game Show), Virgin Global Flyer (Discovery), Trans World Sport and Oprah Winfrey. Their music for commercials includes Pepsi (Dare for More), Nokia, National Lottery, Esso, Heineken, Freeserve, Perrier, Nissan and P&O Ferries. |
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| Josh writes (16 March 2007): thought you may like to know that I (along with Dan McGrath) have just been honoured at the USA ASCAP AWARDS 22nd annual film and TV awards for our music on one of the top TV shows, Dancing with the Stars – the UK show is Strictly Come Dancing. We will get something to put on the mantelpiece! (see here). Here's a link to a good short film in which Dan and Josh (note the badge on his jacket) reflects on the orchestration of this theme ten years on, and another to a longer film about the playing, recording and arranging of it ... here | |
Josh in his home studio, not far from the Thames [picture by Roland, 22 February 2007]
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A good discography for Josh may be found here Read how Josh became involved in Procol Harum Josh's keyboard scrapbook; his wedding pictures; his 1978 band, Cross Section Josh and the
Red Nose Day 2009 Played live with Procol Harum, 1993, 2004, 2005 onwards Charity single, December 2019: Gimme Some Truth ... The Full Story feat. KT Tunstall. Click link to read interview Special The Christmas Camel track for Christmas 2022 Josh Phillips's Blue Water Giants reviewed in concert, 2024 Main instrument: Organ |
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Above: portrait of Josh, by Mark Brzezicki, sent to BtP by Matt Pegg |
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Josh had just taken delivery of this tube RotoSphere unit ... for Leslie simulation ... when BtP paid him a visit
Josh is wearing a Whiter Shade of Pale tee-shirt (available
in two colours from the BtP shop while stocks last). Note also
the Big Country gold album, the Procol poster, the Yamaha synth, the Mac G5
running Logic Audio ... and the wine-glass
Advert from June 2008: 'As keyboard-player with rock
legends Procol Harum, Josh Phillips chose Motif XS for
it's [sic] stunning sounds and advanced controls
that allow him to effortlessly recreate some of
the most identifiable keyboard sounds in rock. But it doesn't stop there, Josh
also puts
MOTIF's huge high-quality sounds to use in his 'other job' – as a TV theme
composer.
'Sonically and in performance Josh demands excellence. Take the day off and find
out
how XS delivers. To find out more visit
www.yamahasynth.com' (thanks, Josh)
More Procol personnel | Josh in The Jones Gang | Josh's Gimme Some Truth (2019)
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