Phil Swern

Last updated

Phil Swern
Born
Anthony Philip Swern

(1948-06-30) 30 June 1948 (age 75)
Ealing, London, England
Occupations
  • Radio producer
  • music collector
  • record producer
  • songwriter

Anthony Philip Swern (born 30 June 1948), known as Phil "The Collector" Swern, is an English radio producer and music collector, who earned the nickname "The Collector" from working on Sounds of the 60s with Brian Matthew. Born in Ealing, London, he was formerly a record producer [1] and songwriter, [2] and has also written for television. [3] He produced Pick of the Pops for Radio 1 in the late 1980s and early 1990s and had produced the show for BBC Radio 2 from 1997 to 2023. He has also produced Sounds of the 60s for Radio 2 from 2007 to 2022 and formerly produced the Saturday night Bob Harris Show for the same station, also producing Harris's Radio 1 shows in the early 1990s. [4] He also devised the questions for the PopMaster quiz on Radio 2's Ken Bruce Show until this role was assumed by Neil Myners and Simon Bray. Swern co-wrote the quiz show Pop the Question with Jeremy Beadle and co-created fellow quiz show That's Showbusiness with screenwriter Jeremy Pascall.

His first record production work was Horace Faith's recording of "Black Pearl" for Trojan Records in 1970. [5] He went on to produce for many other musicians, including the Pearls, [6] Polly Brown [7] and R&J Stone, [8] whose "We Do It", released in 1976, reached number 5 on the UK Singles Chart. [9]

Swern has the world's only complete collection of every UK Top 40 chart hit since records began in 1952. [10] His extensive work within the music industry led to him being awarded a BASCA Gold Badge Award in October 2010. [11] [12]

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"Tip of My Tongue" is a song written by Lynsey de Paul and Barry Blue. It was first released as the fifth single by Brotherly Love with the song "I Love Everything About You" as the flip side on CBS Records on 27 April 1973. and was produced by Phil Wainman. According to music journalist James Craig, de Paul was in the audience for a Brotherly Love performance at Gulliver's and was so impressed with them that she co-penned "Tip of My Tongue" for them. The trio performed the song on the Granada TV programme Lift Off With Ayshea on 22 June 1973. The song received positive reviews from the British music press, and the brothers were interviewed about the single It made the UK chart breakers on 23 May 1973 but did not manage to enter the UK Singles Chart. Barry Blue was credited as "Barry Green" on this release.

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References

  1. ↑ "Tony Blackburn - Chop-Chop (Vinyl) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  2. ↑ "Savoy - Broken-Down Transistor Radio". 45cat.com. Retrieved 30 June 2012.
  3. ↑ "Phil Swern". IMDb.com. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  4. ↑ "Bob Harris". Bob Harris. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  5. ↑ "Horace Faith - Black Pearl (Vinyl) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  6. ↑ "Pearls, The - Guilty (Vinyl) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  7. ↑ "Polly Brown - Up In A Puff Of Smoke / I'm Saving All My Love (Vinyl) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  8. ↑ "R and J Stone We Do It". 45cat.com. Retrieved 30 June 2012.
  9. ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 533. ISBN   1-904994-10-5.
  10. ↑ "Phil (The Collector) Swern Interview: The Six Million Record Man". Long Live Vinyl. 3 August 2017. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
  11. ↑ "Gold Badge Awards 2010". Goldbadgeawards.com. Archived from the original on 22 March 2012. Retrieved 30 June 2012.
  12. ↑ "Gold Badges For Heather Small, John Paul Jones". Billboard.com. 20 October 2010. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
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