At the age of 16 years Phil bought his first instrument, a 12 string EKO Guitar for the princely sum of £34 and 10 Shillings in 1969, and taught himself to play, thus following in the footsteps of his large musical family. Very quickly he demonstrated a rare gift for playing by ear and a talent for singing and writing songs, and has continued to do so for more than 40 years now. He has received much acclaim on the Acoustic/Festival scene, and as an Acoustic Club promoter for 7 years, but is still waiting to be discovered and signed!
Phil has written 9 albums worth of material, 7 solo and 2 with band. His early influences (too many to mention though all legends) can still be heard in some of his songs today, although Phil has always strived to remain truly original in his writing and playing style.
His band "Virtual Biscuit" has consisted of 6 different line-ups, encompassing many different styles of music. Over the years band members have included his daughter Emma Peacock on Vocals, Tracey Simmons on Electric and Acoustic Violins, Steve Harries on Bass, Madge Conacher on Keyboards, Flute, Whistles, Vocals and Bodhran, Steve Ball (Jazz percussionist extraordinaire) and Amy Barnes on Flutes, Saxophones and harmony Vocals, and many others besides.
Phil's songs are sung from the heart and inspired by Love, Life, Dreams, Legends, Spiritual, Supernatural, Social and Environmental Issues, Anti War and Protest songs. He always tries to tailor his vocals to suit the song. Always looking to push back the boundaries of music, he has experimented with many different genres and tuning styles and currently writes using 7 types of tunings on both six and twelve string guitars. In addition, he even plays a bit of keyboards, though only for orchestration these days.
The latest 2014 solo album entitled Rhapsody In Sea has been dedicated to the loving memory of Phil's partner Jean Cox, who passed away in December 2013. Jean was a constant source of inspiration to Phil and his soul-mate and producing this album was very difficult. However, it has helped deal with and express his deep felt loss and immortalise her memory. Jean was a talented artist and one of her oil paintings has been used as the album cover. All tracks are performed on six string Guitar in Phil’s unique finger pick style, bar one and once again some unusual tunings have been used.