Ph.D. were a British group best known for their UK top 10

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from ''Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization in ...

" I Won't Let You Down" in April 1982, which had been a hit the previous year throughout Europe. The band took its name from the initial letters of its three founding members' surnames: Phillips, Hymas and Diamond. The name was written as Ph.D. so as to be a visual pun on the letters denoting the degree of the same name.

Band history

Singer Jim Diamond formed the group with former

Jeff Beck Group The Jeff Beck Group was a British rock band formed in London in January 1967 by former Yardbirds guitarist Jeff Beck. Their innovative approach to heavy-sounding blues, rhythm and blues and rock was a major influence on popular music. First ...

members

Tony Hymas Anthony James Keith "Tony" Hymas (born 23 September 1943) is an English keyboard player, pianist, and composer. Career Hymas started as a chorister at Exeter Cathedral School, where his contemporaries included composer and cathedral organist Ba ...

and Simon Phillips in the early 1980s. Their self-titled debut

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

(1981), spawned a hit with their

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

"I Won't Let You Down", which peaked at number three on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in 1982, and number five in Australia. Following the single's success, the album was re-issued and finally entered the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

. Their

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for "Little Suzi's on the Up" was notable for being the fifth video shown on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

's first broadcasting day on 1 August 1981, despite the fact that the song did not chart in America (nor did any of Ph.D.'s singles or albums). Phillips left the group some time during the recording of their second album; he plays drums on four tracks. Ph.D., now officially a duo of Diamond and Hymas, released their second album ''

Is It Safe? ''Is It Safe?'' is the second album from Ph.D., released in 1983. It was their last album until their 2009 comeback ''Three''. ''Is It Safe?'' was reissued by Voiceprint Records in 2010. Drummer Simon Philips had quit the band, which now consist ...

'' in 1983. The first single, "I Didn't Know", failed to make the UK top 40, but did well in Europe. A short time later Diamond contracted

hepatitis Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver tissue. Some people or animals with hepatitis have no symptoms, whereas others develop yellow discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice), poor appetite, vomiting, tiredness, abdominal pa ...

. Prevented by his illness from touring, the group disbanded.

After Ph.D.

Diamond returned some time later as a solo artist and scored a UK No. 1 single in November 1984 with "

I Should Have Known Better "I Should Have Known Better" is a song by English rock band the Beatles composed by John Lennon (credited to Lennon–McCartney), and originally issued on '' A Hard Day's Night'', their soundtrack for the film of the same name released on 10 J ...

Hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

band Tesla's

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of "Little Suzi's on the Up" (as "Little Suzi") was an American radio hit in 1986. Hymas appeared on Diamond's self-titled 1988 album '' Jim Diamond''. Diamond and Hymas reformed the group as a duo in 2006. Diamond confirmed that the two studio albums could be added to

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. Reissues of the first two albums were released by Voiceprint Records. The label also released ''

Three 3 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 3, three, or III may also refer to: * AD 3, the third year of the AD era * 3 BC, the third year before the AD era * March, the third month Books * '' Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 ...

'' on 2 February 2009. Jim Diamond died on 8 October 2015, effectively dissolving the band.

Band members

* Jim Diamond – vocals (1981–1983, 2006–2015; died 2015) *

– keyboards (1981–1983, 2006–2015) * Simon Phillips – drums (1981–1983; sessions 2009)

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

References

External links

Jim Diamond official website

Tony Hymas official website

Little Suzi's on the Up Music Video
on YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:Ph.D. Atlantic Records artists English new wave musical groups English pop music groups British musical trios Musical groups established in 1981 Musical groups disestablished in 1983 Musical groups reestablished in 2006 Musical groups disestablished in 2015 Warner Records artists