Legendary musician and songwriter Phil Coulter is celebrating 50 years in the music business next year so Sinead Brennan met up with him to find out what moments he is proudest of, and what the future holds.
Sinead Brennan: Fifty years in the music industry, does it feel like it's been that long?
Phil Coulter: Fifty years next year, I hadn't actually realised that myself until someone pointed it out to me, and true enough, you start counting back and 50 years. It certainly doesn't feel like 50 years.
Did you ever think when you started learning the piano that it would lead to this amazing career?
I had a kind of a strange love affair with the piano. I was sent to learn the piano like a lot of other kids when I was maybe 6 or 7 and I'd love to be able to tell you it was an instant love affair, I fell in love with the piano and the piano fell in love with me, but it wasn't that way at all, I hated the piano, and I hated practising, I hated scales and arpeggios, I hated my piano teacher and it was going nowhere, my father took me away from the piano after maybe one term because I wasn't going anywhere... It was very smart on his part because if he's insisted it probably would've turned me against music.
But when I started secondary school in St. Columb's College in Derry, by that stage I'd been listening to pop songs and listening to the radio and trying to play them on the piano... I've said many, many times, the best motivation for doing anything is when you want to do it and I wanted to learn, I wanted to know how this all works. So that was really when it all gelled, by that stage I was kind of 11 and then studying music at the same time and learning about you know, harmony, the construction of melody, and then I went to University and was learning about the orchestrations and stuff, it all just fuelled into one big, journey that has taken me around the world.
Looking back on that journey, which moments make you the most proud?
They vary, you know, sometimes, looking back some memories are more vivid than others, and they would vary from obviously winning the Eurovision Song Contests for the United Kingdom with Puppet On A String when I was 25, as a songwriter, and doing it for the United Kingdom felt a bit odd but I wasn't about to query it, so that was a great thrill, to win the Eurovision on my first attempt. And then to nearly win it the second year with Congratulations, we missed out by one point.
One of the biggest songs in the world...
That's true; I keep consoling myself with that... But can I complain about Congratulations? It's fed, clothed and educated several of my children so I can't complain about that.
What other memories stand-out?
The first time as a performer at Carnegie Hall was a great thrill, the first time standing backstage at the Royal Albert Hall hearing Luke Kelly singing The Town I Loved So Well, live, and hearing the reaction, even speaking about it now I get a tingle. Those are great moments.
Having a song in the top 3 in the United States recorded by Elvis Presley, who would have been one of my heroes growing up. I'm old enough to remember when Elvis Presley burst on the scene and completely transformed pop music. Pop music was all kind of safe, there were hit songs like How Much Is That Doggy In The Window or She Wears Feathers And A Hooley Hooley Skirt, I mean, they're kind of cute but they're not exactly sexy. So Presley changed the face of pop music and little did I think so many years ago in my bedroom in a little terraced house in Derry listening to Elvis Presley, singing Hound Dog and Don't Be Cruel that he'd ever sing one of my songs.
That must have felt amazing. You've worked with some of the biggest names in the music industry, is there anyone around now that you haven't worked with before, that you'd love to work with?
A lot. And they tend to be people who are survivors, a lot like myself. You show me someone who has been in the music business for 50 years; I'll show you a hard worker and someone who has talent to begin with. So the James Taylors of this world, the Mark Knopflers of this world, the Bruce Springsteens of this world, they're the guys I take my hat off to, without a doubt. The Willie Nelsons of this world, those legendary survivors, I have great respect for those guys because I know how hard it is.
Tell me about the new album; it's your first solo piano album in 25 years.
My last series of albums, I've noticed, they were getting more and more lush. The orchestras were getting bigger and bigger, the arrangements were getting more and more involved. So I thought, the mantra of these days is 'keep it simple' and 'get back to basics' so I figured, the people that bought into Classic Tranquillity, the people that bought into Phil Coulter records, they liked the piano, and the sound of great tunes primarily, so for the new album I just stripped it all away, there's no orchestra, it's just me and the piano, because for me I've never lost my fascination with the piano, my love affair with the piano.
But what made this project very special, and I couldn't have done it earlier in my career, was bringing along some of my pals to duet instrumentally on the album. So the likes of Moya Brennan dueting on harp, Paul Brady dueting on tin-whistle, Finbar Furey on pipes, John Shiels of the Dubliners on fiddle, and Billy Connolly on auto-harp. They didn't all come in together, they came individually on different days, in different studios, but that was great fun. And I've a lot of shared history with those people, and their contribution was invaluable, and what flattered me greatly was that as soon as I put out the invitation, they all picked up 'Yeah I'd love to Phil, I'll do that' Billy flew in especially to do it.
With such a back catalogue, at your shows what song is requested the most?
Without a shadow of a doubt it's The Town I Loved So Well. I would normally finish my gigs with The Town I Loved So Well because that's the song that transcends the charts, a song of its time and to be honest Sinead, if the next question were to be 'what's the one song I want to be remembered by', it's The Town I Loved So Well.
There's lots of other songs I have a soft spot for, Puppet On A String and Congratulations because they were my first hits and they got the bank manager off my back for the first time ever, I'd have a soft spot for those kinda songs. Then the Bay City Rollers, lot of hits for them, international number one in America and stuff, so I'd have a soft spot for those songs. Scorn Not, of course I'd have a soft spot for that, and many others. Ireland's Call gives me a buzz.
Do you get chills when you hear that being sung at rugby matches?
At a game I do, yeah, and I make a point of, when it's on TV, no matter who they're playing, I gotta take a look at the front to see what they're doing with Ireland's Call. And I remember being at a game a few years back, with my two sons in Lansdowne Road and the whole place was singing Ireland's Call and I got a nice kind of warm glow, it's kind of bittersweet thinking like when I've fallen off the perch and my sons are still coming here, they'll still be singing Ireland's Call.
It must be amazing for them to know that their dad wrote it?
Yeah, you know, they don't, they grew up surrounded by my music and songs, I mean I'd like to think they're proud but they certainly don't think I can walk on water, or do anything exceptional because it's my job, and I wouldn't encourage them to think anything else, you know.
Phil Coulter will embark on a nationwide tour this October and November and will play three Christmas shows in December to celebrate the release of his new album Echoes Of Home. For more information visit www.philcoulter.com.
