Biography
-
Born
27 January 1960 (age 65)
-
Born In
Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
Phil Cunningham MBE (born Philip Martin Cunningham in Edinburgh on 27 January 1960) is a Scottish folk musician and composer. Considered by many to be Scotland's finest accordionist of his generation, he is best known for playing the accordion with Silly Wizard and for his long-term partnership with Scottish fiddler Aly Bain (recording as Aly Bain & Phil Cunningham). Cunningham has also played in other bands and in duets with his older brother, Johnny Cunningham (died 2003) (recording as John & Phil Cunningham).
Cunningham played accordion and violin from a young age. At the age of 16, he joined his older brother Johnny Cunningham in the group Silly Wizard, where he sang and played accordion, tin whistle, harmonium, guitar, and synthesizer. He also wrote many of the group's songs.
After the breakup of Silly Wizard, the Cunningham brothers recorded two albums and toured with Irish siblings Mícheál Ó Domhnaill and Triona Ni Domhnaill as the quartet Relativity.
Subsequently, Cunningham has had a successful solo career, releasing the solo albums "Airs & Graces" and "The Palomino Waltz" and producing albums with Aly Bain, Mark Knopfler, Connie Dover and Kris Drever.
Cunningham has collaborated with numerous other great Celtic musicians; one prominent example of this is his partnership with Scottish fiddler Aly Bain. Recording as Aly Bain & Phil Cunningham), the duo has released a series of albums, and, between 1989 and 2019, they had a yearly spot at the New Year's Hogmanay Live broadcast on BBC Scotland
Cunningham has composed classical music and music for theatre and television, with 1997 seeing the premiere of his Highlands and Islands Suite at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall.
In 2002, Cunningham was appointed MBE for services to Scottish music.
Artist descriptions on Last.fm are editable by everyone. Feel free to contribute!
All user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.
