Phil and John was a

contemporary Christian music Contemporary Christian music, also known as CCM, Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christian faith and s ...

duo from

Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area (followed by Sutton-in-Ashfield). It gained the Royal Charter of a market tow ...

who recorded and toured throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

History

Phil and John were Phil Baggaley and John Hartley, childhood friends who first started playing together at the age of 13. Their performances, which included an appearance at the

Greenbelt festival Greenbelt Festival is a festival of arts, faith and justice held annually in England since 1974. Greenbelt has grown out of an evangelical Christian music festival with an audience of 1,500 young people into its current form, a more inclusive f ...

in 1989, typically incorporated

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

and

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

. Although no longer performing and recording as a group, both remained within the music business: Baggaley went on to establish Christian record label Gold Records, while Hartley moved to

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

and became director of A&R for Worship Together Records.

The Wood Thieves

Whilst known for

contemporary worship music Contemporary worship music (CWM), also known as praise and worship music, is a defined genre of Christian music used in contemporary worship. It has developed over the past 60 years and is stylistically similar to pop music. The songs are fr ...

as Phil and John, the duo also recorded

secular music Non-religious secular music and sacred music were the two main genres of Western music during the Middle Ages and Renaissance era. The oldest written examples of secular music are songs with Latin lyrics.Grout, 1996, p. 60 However, many secular s ...

as "The Wood Thieves". Their most notable release in this capacity was a single with The

Grimethorpe Colliery Band The Grimethorpe Colliery Band is a brass band, based in Grimethorpe, South Yorkshire, England. It was formed in 1917, as a leisure activity for the workers at the colliery, by members of the disbanded Cudworth Colliery Band. Along with the Blac ...

and was a response to announcement of the closure of

Grimethorpe Grimethorpe is a large village in the metropolitan borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. Historically within the West Riding of Yorkshire, it had a population of 4,672 at the 2011 census. Grimethorpe is located to the east of Barnsl ...

Colliery.

Awards

* Special International

GMA Dove Award A Dove Award is an accolade by the Gospel Music Association (GMA) of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the Christian music industry. The awards are presented annually. Formerly held in Nashville, Tennessee, the Dove Awards ...

1990.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Count Me Out'',

Kingsway Music David C. Cook is an American nonprofit Christian publisher based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It was founded as a provider of Sunday school curriculum and remains a major publisher of such materials. It also publishes fiction and nonfiction bo ...

, 1983 * ''Waiting for Summer'', Kingsway Music, 1985 * ''Lonely Dancer'',

What? Records What? Records was a short-lived record label started by Word Records and A&M Records, intended to focus on creative and unusual rock and roll records with spiritual messages. In the short time that the label existed, it released albums by Mark ...

, 1987 * ''Don't Look Now...It's The Hallelujah Brothers'', What? Records, 1989 * ''Shine Like America'', What? Records, 1990 * ''Carnival of Clowns'', R Records, 1992 * ''Providence'', Phoenix Records, 1997

Live albums

* ''Phil and John Live'',

, 1990 * ''Breakfast at Ruby's'', Kingsway Music, 1994

Compilation albums

* ''Goodbye Yesterday: The Very Best of Phil And John'',

, 1992 * ''Simply Phil and John'',

, 1995

Singles

* ''You Wouldn't Let Me Go'',

, 1982 * ''The Day the North Left Town'' (performing as The Wood Thieves, with The

), Rumour Records, 1992

Live videos

* ''Live'',

, 1992

References

English musical duos English Christian musical groups People from Mansfield Musical groups from Nottinghamshire {{Christian-music-stub