It all started with a television advertising campaign for Timotei shampoo. Phil composed a track for the TV commercial; he combined rhythmical music with soft female voices. The words of the song he wrote were meant to describe the beauty of the world. He had them translated and sung in Swahili. The result was so successful that Warner Music decided to release the song as a single. “In The Beginning” stayed in the hit charts for a whole year.
The album “In Existence” was created swiftly and distributed in Europe (nearly 408,000 copies sold), America (nearly 47,000 copies sold) and Asia. Worldwide sales for the singles and albums went over a million copies released in 1994 and climbed out of nowhere up to number 9 on the music chart in only 6 weeks. The 2nd album “Forever” came out in 1996 and has more songs in English. It also has a track called Africa to which the Malcom Sargent Festival choir contributed.
In Existence (listen here)
(1994)
Phil Sawyer has been composing and producing music for a wide range of media for many years.
Phil started his musical career as lead guitarist and lead singer in various bands (Les Fleur de Lys and Shotgun Express which became Fleetwood Mac ). He joined the Spencer Davis Group at the age of 18 to replace Stevie Winwood, toured with them and wrote numerous songs such as ‘Don’t Want You No More’, ‘Feel Your Way’ and ‘Looking Back’.
In 1970, he left the band to concentrate on classical music. He studied composition, harmony and orchestration at the Guildhall with James Stobbard. During this time, he produced a number of works: Divertimento for Strings, Symphony for Brass, Piano and Percussion, Brass Octets, String Quarterts and the ballet George, the Dragon.
In 1977 , he returned to the keyboards and wrote funk and reggae style numbers. He also worked as a songwriter and producer with various artists (Florie Palmer, Sandie Shaw). He supported Sandie Shaw on her Australian tour for the album « Choose Life »as musical director.
In 1982, he went to Florida to compose the music for the film « The Enchanted ». A year later, he got commissioned by the BBC to write the music for the TV series « The Mad Death » . In 1984, he composed the music for a short film « The Sleepwalker », which has now become a cult movie.
Since then, he has been busy writing music for TV and Radio commercials, corporate films and documentaries (BBC, Channel 4, ITV, Pro7 TV, etc… ). He has also been involved in writing music and songs for a number of feature films (‘The Wooden Camera’, ‘Tarzan & Jane’, ‘Happily N’ever After’...).
In 1994, Phil created the band Beautiful World , signed by WEA Germany, following the success of two songs written for Timotei commercials. His albums ‘In Existence’ and ‘Forever’ were sold internationally.
Phil received many awards : amongst others, the Best Original Music Award at the British Television Advertising Craft Awards in 1995 and 1996. He was also nominated in 2003 and has been on the BTA craft awards jury for a few years.
Forever (listen here)
(1996)
Guam (listen here)
(2019)
On January 26th, 1975, the first international conference of Nichiren Buddhism was held on GUAM Island. Over 50 countries took part. The theme... "The expanding waves of peace, to create a warless world." Today it has grown into some 195 countries, all practicing and utilising the same vow under the leadership of Daisaku Ikeda.
"A great human revolution in just a single individual will help achieve a change in the destiny of a nation and, further, will enable a change in the destiny of all humankind..." - Daisaku Ikeda