Philip King (musician)

Philip King (born 1 May 1952 in Cork, Ireland) is a musician, film maker, and broadcaster. He is a vocalist and harmonica player, a founding member the band Scullion, and is noted for his knowledge of the roots of Irish music and culture and their cross-fertilisation with those of the United States. He is fluent in Irish and English.

Career
King has been closely involved in the arts in Ireland since the 1970s. His roles have included that of film producer and director, music producer, musician, songwriter and radio broadcaster.

As a musician, he has recorded seven albums as yet. His version of the song "I Am Stretched on Your Grave" has been covered by Sinéad O'Connor on her album I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got and by Dead Can Dance on their album Toward the Within.

In 1987, he set up television production company Hummingbird Productions with Nuala O'Connor and Kieran Corrigan. The landmark television series Bringing it all Back Home won an Emmy Award in the United States in 1991 and in 1993 he was nominated in the United States for a Grammy Award for his music documentary Rocky World about the Canadian musician Daniel Lanois. King produced and directed Keeping Time, a film celebrating the poet Seamus Heaney and uilleann piper Liam O'Flynn for BBC Television in 1998. He was appointed by the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism John O'Donoghue to the Special Committee on the Traditional Arts in December 2003.

King is the maker of acclaimed television programmes on Irish music including Other Voices which is a rock music television series for RTÉ. He was a member of the Arts Council of Ireland. He is also the series editor of the Tradition music series The Full Set. He produced a 90-minute television programme about violinist Nigel Kennedy and the Irish Chamber Orchestra, as well as a documentary on Kennedy. He executive produced the Irish Film & Television Award-winning film John McGahern – A Life, and produced Thomas Moore – One Faithful Harp for RTÉ television. He has directed five series of Sé Mo Laoch for the TG4 television channel, documenting and archiving the lives of Ireland's most celebrated traditional musicians. He presents South Wind Blows on RTÉ Radio 1.