Philip Vella

Philip Vella is a Maltese musical composer. He has won the main national festivals of Malta several times such as the Malta Song for Europe, International Festival of Maltese Song (Malta Song Festival) as well as L-Għanja tal-Poplu festival. He has successfully competed in International festivals in the Netherlands (song by 'Ebonique' finishing third in the Eurofestival in 2003), finalist in the Belgian Song for Eurovision competition in 2006, Bulgaria (Best song in the 2003 edition of the Discovery song festival), Czech Republic, Slovenia, Kazakhstan (Best song in 2003 Voice of Asia), Romania (3rd placing in the 2005 edition of the Golden Stag festival) as well as six times representing Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest, placing 2nd in 2002 in Estonia with the song "7th Wonder", in 2000 in Sweden with the song "Desire", in 2004 in Turkey with the song ‘On Again... Off Again’ and in 2007 in Finland with the song "Vertigo" that received over 31,000 televotes in Malta. For 2008 he composed the song "Vodka" sung by Morena.

He has composed jingles and signature tunes for television and radio, and computer games music. He is responsible for the soundtrack of many popular teleseriels and documentaries shown on the Maltese TV. He is also the current composer of computer game company Black Pencil responsible for popular games in Germany such as Harry Buster and Smoke Attack 2. Many of his compositions have been used in various special occasions in Malta such as the anthem used in the official celebrations to mark Malta's entry in the European Union 'Worker of the Year' manifestations, the anthem of the Games of the Small States of Europe held in Malta in 2003, the song to celebrate  'Year of languages' in 2002 and also composed the music for the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth heads of Government meeting, held in Malta under the patronage of Queen Elizabeth II. Other compositions include the music used for the opening ceremony of St. George's square in Valletta, and also the song ‘Dinja Gdida, which is the official song of the Community Chest Fund.

Vella has been nominated several times as Best Composer in the Malta Music Awards, and won the Best Author and Best Recording Engineer Awards.

Vella plays the guitar and has been the musical director/arranger for concerts involving Malta's leading artists.

Vella and his son Sean, a pianist/arranger, form part of a production team working on various genres and music production requirements.

Along with Gerard James Borg, Philip Vella has written six Maltese entries for the annual Eurovision Song Contest.

Eurovision Song Contest entries

 * Desire by Claudette Pace (Stockholm 2000)
 * 7th Wonder by Ira Losco (Tallinn 2002)
 * On Again... Off Again by Julie & Ludwig (Istanbul 2004)
 * Vertigo by Olivia Lewis  (Helsinki 2007)
 * Vodka by Morena  (Belgrade 2008)
 * ''"Breathlessly" by Claudia Faniello  (Kyiv 2017)

Malta Song For Europe finalists

 * 1	1994	Good-Bye	The Starbrights
 * 2	1995	Remember The Beginning	Georgina
 * 3	1995	Shelter Me	Incorvaja Sisters
 * 4	1997	Love Can Do Miracles	Claudette Pace
 * 5	1997	Walk With Me	Mark Tonna
 * 6	1998	Listen to our Voices	Claudette Pace & The Sixth Above – 3rd Place
 * 7	1998	Listen	Fate
 * 8	1999	Breathless	Claudette Pace
 * 9	1999	The Right Time	Lawrence Gray – 2nd Place
 * 10	2000	Desire	Claudette Pace - WINNER
 * 11	2000	Home Grown Tenderness	Tarcisio Barbara
 * 12	2000	Let's Try Love Once More	Alwynn Borg Myatt
 * 13	2000	Shine	Ira Losco
 * 14	2001	Count On Me	Lawrence Gray – 3rd Place
 * 15	2001	He's My Romeo	Nadine Axisa
 * 16	2001	Spellbound	Ira Losco – 2nd Place
 * 17	2002	7th Wonder	Ira Losco - WINNER
 * 18	2002	Dazzle Me	Paula
 * 19	2002	One Step Away	Ira Losco – 3rd Place
 * 20	2003	My Number One	Julie & Ludwig
 * 21	2003	One Touch	Karen Polidano
 * 22	2003	Superstitious	Charlene & Natasha
 * 23	2004	On Again... Off Again	Julie & Ludwig - WINNER
 * 24	2004	Tango 4 Two	Keith Camilleri
 * 25	2004	You're On My Mind	Lawrence Gray
 * 26	2005	Dèjà Vu	Olivia Lewis – 2nd Place
 * 27	2006	Amazing	Annabelle Debono
 * 28	2007	Look At Me	Julie Pomorski
 * 29	2007	My Love	Isabelle
 * 30	2007	Night-Wish	Annabelle Debono
 * 31	2007	Vertigo	Olivia Lewis - WINNER
 * 32	2008	Casanova	Morena
 * 33	2008	Superhero	Klinsmann
 * 34	2008	Tangled	Jessica Muscat
 * 35	2008	Throw Your Stones	Daniela Vella
 * 36	2008	Vodka	Morena - WINNER
 * 37	2009	Another Side of Me	Corazon
 * 38	2009	Castaway	Marija Galdes
 * 39	2009	Crossroads	Raquela
 * 40	2009	Earth & Sky	Talitha Dimech
 * 41	2009	Fjamma Tas-Sliem	Dario & Grecia Bezzina
 * 42	2009	For a Moment	Derrick Schembri & Yanika Fava
 * 43	2009	Inferno	Ludwig Galea
 * 44	2009	Kamikaze Lover	Baklava
 * 45	2009	Lament	Ludwig Galea ft. Fidela tal-Bambinu
 * 46	2009	Midas Touch	Claudia Faniello
 * 47	2009	Rock & Rise	Klinsmann
 * 48	2009	Sexy Girls	Evita Magri
 * 49	2009	Smoke-Screen	Jessica Muscat
 * 50	2009	Something About You	Laura Bruno
 * 51	2009	Typical Me	Alison Ellul
 * 52	2009	Visions of You	Christine Barbara
 * 53	2010	Euphoria	Baklava
 * 54	2010	Fake	Jessica Muscat
 * 55	2010	Fired Up	Foxy Federation
 * 56	2010	Here I Am	Raquela
 * 57	2010	Pizzicato	Aldo Busuttil
 * 58	2010	Samsara	Claudia Faniello
 * 59	2010	Three Little Words	Ruth Portelli
 * 60	2011	Down Down Down	Jessica Muscat
 * 61	2011	Heart of Glass	Cherise Grixti
 * 62	2011	Moondance	Baklava
 * 63	2011	Movie In My Mind Claudia Faniello

Malta Eurovision Song Contest finalists

 * 64	2012	7 Days	Danica Muscat
 * 65	2012	Can't Get Away	Nadine Bartolo
 * 66	2012	In Your Eyes	Lawrence Gray
 * 67	2012	Pure	Claudia Faniello – 2nd Place
 * 68	2012	Dance Romance Jessica Muscat
 * 69 2013 Fall like Rome Richard Edwards
 * 70 2013 Ultraviolet Jessika
 * 71 2014 Oblivion Chris Grech
 * 72 2014 Hypnotica Jessika
 * 73 2015 Fandango Jessika
 * 74 2015 Could Have Been Me Iona Dalli
 * 75 2015 Love and let go Ekklesia Sisters
 * 76 2016 The Flame Jessika
 * 77 2016 Frontline Danica Muscat
 * 78	2017	Breathlessly Claudia Faniello - WINNER