James Phillips (musician)
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James Phillips (22 January 1959 - 31 July 1995) was a South African rock singer, songwriter and performer.
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[edit] Biography
Phillips grew up in the conservative East Rand mining town of Springs. In the late 1970s he formed his first band, Corporal Punishment with friends Carl Raubenheimer and Mark Bennet.
Corporal Punishment were usually described as a punk rock band. They certainly were inspired by the energy and attitude of punk but there music was not typical of that genre. Lyrically they often touched on South African topics, notably the milieu in which young, white, South African man found themselves at that time. This milieu was dominated by conscription, Calvinism, suppression of political debate and intolerance off non-conformism.
The South African government were wielding ever-tightening control over the media, especially radio and television. In particular songs by local musicians were often subject to heavy scrutiny before being added to radio station play lists. The expectation of censorship made record companies nervous about spending money on local artists who might make any kind of social or political comment. Some companies went as far as running their own censorship departments that would vet songs and artists before a recording budget was assigned.[1] By 1980 the security forces were starting to keep an eye on any performers considered “subversive” and would spy on such performers and sometimes disrupt performances or impede careers.
Thus Phillips, along with several of his contemporaries, found himself in a position in which the prospects of a recording contract or airplay were remote. However, Corporal Punishment caught the attention of the small, independent Shifty label. Shifty had a reputation for signing groups that no other South African label would touch, but that usually meant that airplay was unlikely (almost by definition acts signed to Shifty were considered “subversive”) and promotional budgets would be small.
In 1980 shifty released the EP “Fridays And Saturdays”. Corporal Punishment had a recording released, but sales and exposure were negligible and the band split soon afterwards.
By this time Phillips had started to write satirical songs in Afrikaans.
After the break-up of Corporal Punishment Phillips formed a new, short-lived band “Illegal Gathering” before embarking on studies towards a bachelor’s degree in music, initially at Rhodes and then at Wits University.
In 1984 Shifty released a collection of Phillips’s Afrikaans songs – under the pseudonym “Bernoldus Niemand”. Most notable amongs these songs was “Hou My Vas Korporaal” (“Hold Me Tight Corporal”) which dealt with the confusion of a young man inducted into the army straight out of school – the lot of most young, white South African men at that time. The song was banned by the state-controlled radio and television stations (in 1984 this meant most radio stations and all television stations in South Africa), but was adopted as an anthem by the burgeoning anti-conscription movement.
By 1985 Phillips was living in Johannesburg and had formed The Cherry Faced Lurchers with fellow-Rhodes student and bass guitarist Lee Edwards. “The Lurchers” built up a reputation as a tight and powerful live act – most notably at the famous Jamesons club in downtown Johannesburg. Although the band was not innovative musically, Phillips’s songs and his unabashedly South African voice resonated with an increasing, if still small, audience of disaffected white South African youths. However wider recognition remained as unattainable as it always had been for Phillips.
1989 saw the controversial Voelvry tour which featured musicians who sang in Afrikaans and had been inspired by the Bernoldus Niemand album. Phillips and an expanded Lurchers lineup were added to the Voelvry bill under the name “Bernoldus Niemand en die Swart Gevaar”. Phillips had always regarded the Niemand alter-ego as a side project and had abandoned the songs on the Niemand album. He was now performing to the biggest audience of his career, but under another name and singing songs that he no longer considered part of his repertoire.
Phillips and the Lurchers continued to evolve and maintained a reputation as a compelling live act. By the early 90s Phillips was concentrating on the piano rather than the guitar and his compositions became more sophisticated. His lyrics were sometimes more personal, but other songs showed that he continued to remain relevant and vital even as South Africa moved towards democracy – a transition which had left some of Phillips’s contemporaries with little to say. In 1994 he released the Sunny Skies album – recorded with an enlarged band that featured a horn section and several highly-regarded guest players. Once again the album was released by Shifty, but a deal was negotiated by which BMG Music would undertake promotion and distribution. Despite BMG's efforts (allegedly hamstrung by Phillips's own disinclination towards promotional work), sales remained poor.[1]
In the same year Phillips stood in South Africa's first democratic election as a candidate for the eccentric Soccer Party.
On July 11 1995 on the way to perform at the annual National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, Phillips was involved in a serious car accident. Three weeks later he died from pneumonia and meningitis.
Later that year Shifty Records released a career retrospective compilation “Made In South Africa”. In 1997 the same label released “Soul Ou”, a collection of demo tapes of mostly new songs that Phillips had planned to perform at Grahamstown in 1995. These stark, unaccompanied recordings show Phillips still evolving as a songwriter and player and are regarded as some of his best work.
[edit] Discography
All titles released on the Shifty label.
- Fridays and Saturdays (EP) - Corporal Punishment (1980)
- Hou My Vas Korporaal (single) - Bernoldus Niemand (1983)
- Wie Is Bernoldus Niemand? - Bernoldus Niemand (1984)
- Live At Jamesons - The Cherry Faced Lurchers (1985)
- The Voice Of Nooit - Corporal Punishment & Illegal Gathering (1986)
- The Otherwhite Album (Best of Cherry Faced Lurchers, 1985-1989) - The Cherry Faced Lurchers (1992)
- Sunny Skies - James Phillips & The Lurchers (1994)
- Made In South Africa (compilation 1978-1995) (1995)
- Soul Ou - James Phillips (1997)
- Voelvry: Die Toer - various arists, including Bernoldus Niemand en die Swart Gevaar (2006)
[edit] References
- ^ a b Hopkins, Pat, Voelvry - The Movement That Rocked South Africa, Zebra, 2006. ISBN 1-77007-120-2
