Phil Cunningham

Philip Martin Cunningham, MBE (born 27 January 1960 in Edinburgh, Scotland) is a Scottish folk musician and composer. He is best known for playing the accordion with Silly Wizard, as well as in other bands and in duets with his brother, Johnny. When they played together, they would egg each other on to play faster and faster, and try, light-heartedly, to trip each other up.

Phil has also collaborated with numerous other great Celtic musicians; one prominent example of this is his partnership with Aly Bain. The duo have (as of 2020) released nine albums, and between 1989 and 2019 they had a yearly spot at the New Year's Hogmanay Live broadcast on BBC Scotland.

Biography Cunningham played accordion and violin from a young age. He attended school in Portobello, and was raised a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, attending church regularly and playing organ. However, by age fifteen he had issues towards the Church and chose to leave. He now describes himself as a spiritualist. where he sang and played accordion, tin whistle, harmonium, guitar, and synthesizer. He also wrote many of the group's songs. After the breakup of Silly Wizard, Phil and Johnny recorded two albums and toured with Irish siblings Mícheál Ó Domhnaill and Triona Ni Domhnaill as the quartet Relativity. Phil has since had a successful solo career, releasing the solo albums Airs & Graces and The Palomino Waltz and producing albums with Aly Bain, Mark Knopfler, Dolores Keane, Altan, Connie Dover and Kris Drever. He has also produced two albums for the quartet GiveWay.

In more recent years, Phil has also composed classical music and music for theatre and television,

Discography Solo albums Airs & Graces (1983) Palomino Waltz (1989)

Silly Wizard Caledonia's Hardy Sons (1978) So Many Partings (1980) Wild and Beautiful (1981) Kiss the Tears Away (1983) A Glint of Silver (1986) Live Wizardry (1988)

Relativity Relativity (1986) Gathering Pace (1987)

With Johnny Cunningham Against the Storm (1980)

With Aly Bain The Pearl (1995) The Ruby (1997) Another Gem (2000) Spring The Summer Long (2003) Best of Aly and Phil (2004) Roads Not Travelled (2006) Portrait (2010) Five and Twenty (2012) No Rush (2020)

With Connie Dover Somebody (1991) The Wishing Well (1994) If Ever I Return (1997) The Border of Heaven (2000)

With Kris Drever Mark the Hard Earth (2010)

With Mark Knopfler Privateering (2012)