Louis Philippe (musician)
Encyclopedia
Louis Philippe is a London-based French singer, songwriter, arranger and producer who has been active from the mid-1980s onwards. His name is associated with the short-lived, but very influential él record label
; since this label's demise (1989), he has grown into one of the 'elder statesmen' of indiepop.
, who'd worked with The Ramones and the Modern Lovers previously), and 'The Arcadians' (one single and one album, It's a Mad, Mad World, 1986, later re-released on a variety of labels as Let's Pretend). On the advice of A&R man Mike Alway, Louis Philippe moved to London in late 1986, and soon became one of the major figures of cult indie label él Records
(1986–1989), a subsidiary of Cherry Red Records for which he recorded five singles and three albums (Appointment With Venus, 1987; Ivory Tower, 1988; Yuri Gagarin, 1989). He also appeared in one guise or another – as songwriter, arranger, backing vocalist or instrumentalist – on more than half of all the label's releases. él, now considered to be one of the most influential labels of its time, was, however, not a commercial success in the UK; but it scored a string of independent hits in Japan, where Louis Philippe (whose 'You Mary You' was éls best-selling single) became an iconic figure for the so-called Shibuya-kei
, or 'Shibuya Sound'.
Following the demise of él in 1989, he turned to Japan to pursue his career, with the support of celebrity fans such as Cornelius
. A number of albums followed, all of them released on the Trattoria label: Rainfall, 1991; Jean Renoir, 1992, both of them recorded with multi-instrumentalist Dean Brodrick; 'Delta Kiss', 1993; Sunshine, produced by Bertrand Burgalat
, 1994; Jackie Girl, 1996, the first of his records to feature XTC guitarist Dave Gregory; 'Azure', recorded with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, and Nusch, a collection of Francis Poulenc
mélodies, 1999. All these albums were conceived and realised with the help of long-time collaborator, pianist and double-bassist Danny Manners. Trattoria's help enabled him to find licenses for these records, first in France, Britain and Spain, then in the USA, where he'd assembled a limited but devoted fanbase. These critically well-received records consolidated his 'cult' status in the indiepop world; a couple of them charted: 'L'Hiver te va bien' reached the Top 30 in France in 1994, while 'She Means Everything To Me' reached the no.1 spot on the Campus Radio Charts in the USA in 1998, following an appearance at New York's CMJ Music Marathon. However, crossover success still proves elusive, despite the accessibility of his music and the regard he's held in among pop connoisseurs.
, April March
, P.J. Proby, Martin Newell
, Sean O'Hagan
of The High Llamas
, Mathilde Santing
, Towa Tei
, Nina Morato
, Cinnamon, Laïla Amezian, La Buena Vida
, The Clientele
, Big Big Train
(new album release, planned in 2012) and many others. A collaboration of note was the album 9th & 13th (Tricatel, 2001), in which he teamed up with Danny Manners and novelist Jonathan Coe
, to produce musical settings for the latter's writings. Jonathan Coe
, who had contributed the sleevenotes to Azure, and had used a verse of his song 'Yuri Gagarin' as an epigraph for his best-seller What a Carve Up!, has also written a number of lyrics for him since My Favourite Part of You (2002).
leader Stuart Moxham; the duo have played a number of live dates and released a CD, The Huddle House, in 2007. That CD was released on Auclair's own record label, Wonder Records, in London. Louis arranged and co-produced Louise Le May's debut CD tell me something that is new (Folkwit Records) in 2010 and was working on the same singer's debut album in mid-2011. His latest releases include My Favourite Part of You (2002) and The Wonder of it All (2004). A live double-album was released in February 2007, followed by a new studio album, entitled An Unknown Spring, in May of the same year. More recently, The Ocean Tango, conceived and recorded with Swedish band Testbild!, was released in the autumn of 2010.
magazine since 1999 and fulfils a similar role for news and sports radio RMC Info
. He appeared as French football analyst on Setanta
Sports News channel in England, and can be heard regularly on TalkSPORT
radio in England, Newstalk radio in Ireland, the BBC World Service
, BBC Five Live, BBC London
, BBC Scotland
and Football Weekly, a podcast
hosted by The Guardian
newspaper. His biography of Eric Cantona
, Cantona – The Rebel Who Would Be King (Macmillan
publishing) was long-listed for the William Hill
Sports Book of the Year award in September 2009, and was the joint winner of the National Sporting Club's 'Football Book of the Year' award in March 2010. He also wrote a political essay, Le Royaume enchante de Tony Blair (Fayard, 2006), and was one of the main contributors to the best-selling 'Dictionnaire du Rock' which was published by Robert Laffont in 2001.
El records
él Records is an independent record label from the UK founded by Mike Alway. Alway, who cut his teeth in the late seventies working with The Soft Boys and promoting clubs and concerts in Richmond, south-west London, joined Cherry Red Records in 1980 to work alongside the company's founder, Iain...
; since this label's demise (1989), he has grown into one of the 'elder statesmen' of indiepop.
Solo career
Born in 1959, he first recorded for Belgian label Les Disques du Crépuscle, under the names 'The Border Boys' (the 'Tribute' 12" EP, produced by Andy PaleyAndy Paley
Andy Paley is a noted record producer and musician who has been active since the late 1960s. His work includes stints as a producer for such noted musicians as Madonna, the Ramones, Jonathan Richman, Debbie Harry, Brian Wilson and Jerry Lee Lewis....
, who'd worked with The Ramones and the Modern Lovers previously), and 'The Arcadians' (one single and one album, It's a Mad, Mad World, 1986, later re-released on a variety of labels as Let's Pretend). On the advice of A&R man Mike Alway, Louis Philippe moved to London in late 1986, and soon became one of the major figures of cult indie label él Records
El records
él Records is an independent record label from the UK founded by Mike Alway. Alway, who cut his teeth in the late seventies working with The Soft Boys and promoting clubs and concerts in Richmond, south-west London, joined Cherry Red Records in 1980 to work alongside the company's founder, Iain...
(1986–1989), a subsidiary of Cherry Red Records for which he recorded five singles and three albums (Appointment With Venus, 1987; Ivory Tower, 1988; Yuri Gagarin, 1989). He also appeared in one guise or another – as songwriter, arranger, backing vocalist or instrumentalist – on more than half of all the label's releases. él, now considered to be one of the most influential labels of its time, was, however, not a commercial success in the UK; but it scored a string of independent hits in Japan, where Louis Philippe (whose 'You Mary You' was éls best-selling single) became an iconic figure for the so-called Shibuya-kei
Shibuya-kei
is a sub-genre of Japanese pop music which originated in the Shibuya district of Tokyo. It is best described as a mix between jazz, pop, and electropop.- Overview :...
, or 'Shibuya Sound'.
Following the demise of él in 1989, he turned to Japan to pursue his career, with the support of celebrity fans such as Cornelius
Cornelius (musician)
Cornelius is a Japanese recording artist and producer.-Career:Oyamada's first claim to fame was as a member of the pop duo Flipper's Guitar, one of the key groups of the Tokyo Shibuya-kei scene...
. A number of albums followed, all of them released on the Trattoria label: Rainfall, 1991; Jean Renoir, 1992, both of them recorded with multi-instrumentalist Dean Brodrick; 'Delta Kiss', 1993; Sunshine, produced by Bertrand Burgalat
Bertrand Burgalat
Bertrand Burgalat is a French musician, composer and producer.- Background :Bertrand Burgalat was born in the Corsican town of Bastia in 1963...
, 1994; Jackie Girl, 1996, the first of his records to feature XTC guitarist Dave Gregory; 'Azure', recorded with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, and Nusch, a collection of Francis Poulenc
Francis Poulenc
Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc was a French composer and a member of the French group Les six. He composed solo piano music, chamber music, oratorio, choral music, opera, ballet music, and orchestral music...
mélodies, 1999. All these albums were conceived and realised with the help of long-time collaborator, pianist and double-bassist Danny Manners. Trattoria's help enabled him to find licenses for these records, first in France, Britain and Spain, then in the USA, where he'd assembled a limited but devoted fanbase. These critically well-received records consolidated his 'cult' status in the indiepop world; a couple of them charted: 'L'Hiver te va bien' reached the Top 30 in France in 1994, while 'She Means Everything To Me' reached the no.1 spot on the Campus Radio Charts in the USA in 1998, following an appearance at New York's CMJ Music Marathon. However, crossover success still proves elusive, despite the accessibility of his music and the regard he's held in among pop connoisseurs.
Collaborations
Louis Philippe has enjoyed a parallel career as an arranger, producer and instrumentalist since the late 80's. The artists he's worked with, or for, include Valerie LemercierValérie Lemercier
Valérie Lemercier is a French actress, scriptwriter, director and singer.-Biography:Born in Dieppe, Seine-Maritime as the daughter of farmers, she grew up in Gonzeville and then studied at the Rouen Conservatoire - a dance, music and drama school. Lemercier made her screen debut in 1988, in the...
, April March
April March
April March is an American indie pop singer/songwriter who sings in English and French...
, P.J. Proby, Martin Newell
Martin Newell
Martin Newell may refer to:*Martin Newell , British computer scientist, creator of the Utah teapot*Martin Newell , British rock musician, poet and author, known as "the Wild Man of Wivenhoe"...
, Sean O'Hagan
Sean O'Hagan
Sean O'Hagan is a founding member of Irish indie band Microdisney. In the 1990s he formed The High Llamas and released a number of highly acclaimed albums showing influences as diverse as The Beach Boys, Ennio Morricone, Antonio Carlos Jobim and avant-garde electronica...
of The High Llamas
The High Llamas
The High Llamas are a London-based musical group, formed by the Irish guitarist and songwriter Sean O'Hagan after the demise of his group Microdisney. O'Hagan writes and arranges the music and the rest of the group consists of drummer Rob Allum, keyboardist/cellist Marcus Holdaway, and...
, Mathilde Santing
Mathilde Santing
Mathilde Santing is a Dutch singer .Santing was born in Amstelveen, The Netherlands. She started receiving national attention in 1981 after she appeared with Sonja Barend in a Dutch television programme called Sonja Op Maandag.Over the last 25 years she has released a steady stream of albums,...
, Towa Tei
Towa Tei
is a DJ, artist and record producer in Yokahoma, Japan.Tōwa debuted as a member of Deee-Lite, from the U.S. label Elektra Records in 1990, and shot to fame via their international hit single, "Groove Is In the Heart"...
, Nina Morato
Nina Morato
Nina Morato is a French singer-songwriter, best known for her participation in the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest.- Early career :...
, Cinnamon, Laïla Amezian, La Buena Vida
La Buena Vida
La Buena Vida is an indie pop group from San Sebastián, Spain. The band was formed in 1988 and continues to make music as of today. They have recorded 7 albums and 14 EPs. Their music is a form of pop also known as the Donosti Sound, a 1990s indie pop movement in San Sebastián.-Biography:The...
, The Clientele
The Clientele
The Clientele are a London-based British band with Alasdair MacLean on vocals and guitar, Mark Keen on drums, James Hornsey on bass and Mel Draisey on violin, keyboards, backing vocals and percussion....
, Big Big Train
Big Big Train
Big Big Train is an English progressive rock band that was founded in 1990. Based in Bournemouth, England, the band members are Nick D'Virgilio, Dave Gregory, David Longdon, Andy Poole and Gregory Spawton....
(new album release, planned in 2012) and many others. A collaboration of note was the album 9th & 13th (Tricatel, 2001), in which he teamed up with Danny Manners and novelist Jonathan Coe
Jonathan Coe
Jonathan Coe is an English novelist and writer. His work has an underlying preoccupation with political issues, although this serious engagement is often expressed comically in the form of satire. For example, What a Carve Up! reworks the plot of an old 1960s spoof horror film of the same name...
, to produce musical settings for the latter's writings. Jonathan Coe
Jonathan Coe
Jonathan Coe is an English novelist and writer. His work has an underlying preoccupation with political issues, although this serious engagement is often expressed comically in the form of satire. For example, What a Carve Up! reworks the plot of an old 1960s spoof horror film of the same name...
, who had contributed the sleevenotes to Azure, and had used a verse of his song 'Yuri Gagarin' as an epigraph for his best-seller What a Carve Up!, has also written a number of lyrics for him since My Favourite Part of You (2002).
Recent Projects
Louis Philippe has worked with ex-Young Marble GiantsYoung Marble Giants
Young Marble Giants were a post-punk band formed in Cardiff, Wales in 1978. A trio, their music was constructed around the powerful and minimal instrumentation of brothers Philip and Stuart Moxham along with the vocals of Alison Statton.-History:...
leader Stuart Moxham; the duo have played a number of live dates and released a CD, The Huddle House, in 2007. That CD was released on Auclair's own record label, Wonder Records, in London. Louis arranged and co-produced Louise Le May's debut CD tell me something that is new (Folkwit Records) in 2010 and was working on the same singer's debut album in mid-2011. His latest releases include My Favourite Part of You (2002) and The Wonder of it All (2004). A live double-album was released in February 2007, followed by a new studio album, entitled An Unknown Spring, in May of the same year. More recently, The Ocean Tango, conceived and recorded with Swedish band Testbild!, was released in the autumn of 2010.
Other activities
Louis Philippe is also well-known in his native country (under his real name Philippe Auclair) as a football journalist. He has held the position of England correspondent for France FootballFrance Football
France Football is a French bi-weekly magazine containing football news from all over the world. It's one of the most reputable sports publications in Europe, mostly because of their photographic reports and accurate statistics of the big European Cup matches, and extensive coverage of the European...
magazine since 1999 and fulfils a similar role for news and sports radio RMC Info
Radio Monte Carlo
Radio Monte Carlo is the name of six radio stations owned and managed by three different entities:*RMC Info is a French-speaking station, broadcasting in France and Monaco from Paris with some contributions from Monaco. Radio Monte-Carlo was one of 23 founding broadcasting organisations of the...
. He appeared as French football analyst on Setanta
Setanta
Setanta can mean:* The given name of the Irish mythological figure Cúchulainn* Setanta Sports, Ireland-based international television sports channel**Setanta Sports USA, defunct version of the above that broadcast in the US and Caribbean from 2005–2010...
Sports News channel in England, and can be heard regularly on TalkSPORT
TalkSPORT
Talksport , owned by UTV radio, is one of the United Kingdom's three terrestrial analogue Independent National Radio broadcasters, offering a sports and talk radio service broadcast from London to the United Kingdom....
radio in England, Newstalk radio in Ireland, the BBC World Service
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...
, BBC Five Live, BBC London
BBC London
BBC London is the BBC English Region producing local radio, television, teletext and online services in London and parts of the surrounding area. Its output includes the daily BBC London News and the weekly Politics Show on television, the BBC London 94.9 radio station and local coverage of the...
, BBC Scotland
BBC Scotland
BBC Scotland is a constituent part of the British Broadcasting Corporation, the publicly-funded broadcaster of the United Kingdom. It is, in effect, the national broadcaster for Scotland, having a considerable amount of autonomy from the BBC's London headquarters, and is run by the BBC Trust, who...
and Football Weekly, a podcast
Podcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
hosted by The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
newspaper. His biography of Eric Cantona
Eric Cantona
Eric Daniel Pierre Cantona is a French actor and former French international footballer. He played for Auxerre, Martigues, Marseille, Bordeaux, Montpellier, Nîmes and Leeds United before ending his professional footballing career at Manchester United, where he won four Premier League titles in...
, Cantona – The Rebel Who Would Be King (Macmillan
Macmillan Publishers
Macmillan Publishers Ltd, also known as The Macmillan Group, is a privately held international publishing company owned by Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. It has offices in 41 countries worldwide and operates in more than thirty others.-History:...
publishing) was long-listed for the William Hill
William Hill
-People:*William Hill *William Hill , British colonial Proprietary Governor of the Province of Avalon, Newfoundland*William Hill...
Sports Book of the Year award in September 2009, and was the joint winner of the National Sporting Club's 'Football Book of the Year' award in March 2010. He also wrote a political essay, Le Royaume enchante de Tony Blair (Fayard, 2006), and was one of the main contributors to the best-selling 'Dictionnaire du Rock' which was published by Robert Laffont in 2001.