Song:Sea Of Love
Album:Great Men of Rock & Roll: The 50s
Sea Of Love is one of the all time great one hit wonders. It reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1959 and Phil Phillips never charted again. He was born John Phillip Baptiste Mar. 14, 1928 in Lake Charles, LA. He started out in the gospel group The Gateway Quartet. he was working as a bellboy when he wrote Sea Of Love for a girl. He didn't get anywhere with her. But record store owner George Khoury liked the song and brought Baptiste into the studio. Pianist Ernest Jacobs of Cookie & The Cupcakes produced and arranged Sea Of Love and The Cupcakes sang backup. Khoury told Baptiste that his name was too French so he gave himself the name Phil Phillips and the record was released as Phil Phillips & The Twilights. When Sea Of Love became a regional hit, Mercury Records picked it up for national distribution. It topped the R & B chart and reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1959. Unfortunately, Phillips was never paid for the record and never released an album. You can get Sea Of Love on this Collactables various artists comp. Mercury didn't seem to know what to do with Phillips and he never charted again. Sea Of Love charted in the 80s first by Del Shannon in 1982 and then Robert Plant's group The Honeydrippers in 1985. But Khoury's estate still owns the song and Phillips has never been paid a dime of royalties. Phillips performs occasionally. But he has been a DJ for years in Louisiana. He was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2007. Here's a video for Sea Of Love by Phil Phillips.
Frank, thank-you for putting the spotlight on this man and how he got so badly screwed. It angers me when an artist gets screwed out money for their work. It happens all to often in the music business. I wish Phil Phillips nothing but the best in his life. I am glad he was inducted into the Louisiana Music hall of Fame. Somehow that seems to me to be a small measure of justice.
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