John Philip Baptiste (March 14, 1926 – March 14, 2020), known as Phil Phillips, was an American singer and songwriter, best known for his 1959 song, " Sea of Love".

Biography

Baptiste was encouraged to pursue a career as a singer after a school performance of a song called "Sweet Slumber".Myspace.com
Phil Phillips MySpace page autobiography He performed with his brothers in a

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

group called the Gateway Quartet and worked as a bellhop before he recorded "Sea of Love" in 1959. The song was

arranged In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchest ...

and produced by Eddie Shuler for neighbor George Khoury's Khoury Records. After three months of work on the arrangement, building up the vocal group and trying out different musicians, the song was ready for release. Baptiste changed his name to Phil Phillips, and dubbed his backing vocalists the Twilights. After a Baton Rouge

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile ...

played the song repeatedly, the recording sold heavily and was leased to

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...

. "Sea of Love" went to No. 2 in the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 pop

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

and spent 14 weeks in the

top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...

, as well as reaching No. 1 on the R&B chart. In 1959 it sold over one million copies, and was awarded a

gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

. Nonetheless, Phillips was paid only $6800, and received no further

royalties A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset o ...

for the song or its recording. Phillips did not release an album to capitalize on his success, due to the unfavorable terms of his deal. "Because I decided to fight for what was rightfully and legally mine, a full album that I recorded was never released. I'm not being paid, nor have I ever been paid, as an artist for 'Sea of Love'. I never received justice and to this day have not received justice." The song remains a big seller with notable covers by

Del Shannon Charles Weedon Westover (December 30, 1934 – February 8, 1990), better known by his stage name Del Shannon, was an American musician, singer and songwriter, best known for his 1961 number-one '' Billboard'' hit " Runaway". In 1999, he was ind ...

(which reached No. 33 on the pop chart in 1982) and

the Honeydrippers The Honeydrippers were an English rock and roll band of the 1980s, deriving their name from Roosevelt Sykes, an American blues singer also known as "Honeydripper". Former Led Zeppelin lead singer Robert Plant formed the group in 1981 to sati ...

(which peaked at No. 3 spending 14 weeks in the top 40 in 1984). Phillips' original version was featured prominently in the 1989 film ''

Sea of Love Sea of Love may refer to * ''Sea of Love'' (film), a 1989 American thriller film * "Sea of Love" (Phil Phillips song), a 1959 song by Phil Phillips and The Twilights, covered by many performers * "Sea of Love" (The National song), 2013 * ''The S ...

'' starring

Al Pacino Alfredo James Pacino (; ; born April 25, 1940) is an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he has received numerous accolades: including an Academy Award, two Tony Awards, and two Primetime Emmy ...

which also presents a cover version by

Tom Waits Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He worked primarily in jazz during ...

that plays during the end credits. Cat Power's ''

The Covers Record ''The Covers Record'' is the fifth album by Cat Power, the stage name and eponymous band of American singer-songwriter Chan Marshall. It was released in 2000 on Matador Records. The album consists entirely of cover songs, with the exception of a ...

'' also achieved a moderate success. Among Phillips' other songs is "No One Needs My Love Today" (1966), which was recorded by

Samantha Juste Samantha Juste (born Sandra Slater; 31 May 1944 – 5 February 2014) was a British model and television presenter who appeared in the mid-1960s as the "disc girl" on the BBC television programme ''Top of the Pops''. In 1968, she married Micky D ...

, co-host of

BBC TV BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 19 ...

's ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

''. He also recorded an anti-

drug A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via insuffla ...

spoken word recording, "The Evil Dope", in the late 1960s; the single is considered a

cult classic A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...

. Phillips later worked as a radio DJ. He married and had seven children. In October 2007, Phillips was honored for his contributions to Louisiana music with induction into the

Louisiana Music Hall of Fame The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame (LMHOF) is a non-profit hall of fame based in Baton Rouge, the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana, that seeks to honor and preserve the state's music culture and heritage and to promote education about the state ...

. One of his last live performances was in April 2005 at the Jazz Fest in

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, a few months before

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

. He died on March 14, 2020, his 94th birthday.

References

External links

ReverbnationYouTubePonderosa Stomp Interview
(First official album)
Amazon.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Phil 1926 births 2020 deaths African-American male singer-songwriters Writers from Lake Charles, Louisiana Swamp pop music Musicians from Lake Charles, Louisiana Singer-songwriters from Louisiana 20th-century African-American male singers