Phil Swern (born Anthony Philip Swern, 30 June 1948, Ealing) is an English radio producer and music collector. He was formerly a record producer[1] and songwriter, plus he has also written for television.[2] He currently produces Pick of the Pops and Sounds of the 60s and formerly produced the Bob Harris Show (Saturday nights) for BBC Radio 2.[3] He also devises the questions for the PopMaster quiz on Radio 2's Ken Bruce show.
His first job was as an apprentice hairdresser working for Vidal Sassoon. He left this job to be a record plugger, and began collecting records. His first record production work was Horace Faith's recording of "Black Pearl" for Trojan Records in 1970.[4] He went on to produce many other musicians including The Pearls,[5] Polly Brown[6] and R&J Stone; whose "We Do It", released in 1976, reached number 5 in the UK Singles Chart.[7]