Phil Solomon (music executive) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Phil Solomon
Background information
Birth name	Philip Raymond Solomon
Born	(1924-04-27)27 April 1924 Belfast, Northern Ireland
Died	10 April 2011(2011-04-10) (aged 86) Bournemouth, Dorset, England
Occupation(s)	Music promoter, pop manager, record producer
Years active	fl. c. 1950s–1970
Labels	Decca Records, Major Minor Records
Associated acts	The Bachelors Them The Dubliners David McWilliams Twinkle

Philip Raymond Solomon (born April 27, 1924 – died April 10, 2011) was a very important person in the music world from Northern Ireland. He was a music executive and a smart businessman. Phil helped many famous artists, like The Bachelors, Them, and The Dubliners, manage their careers. He also started his own record company, Major Minor Records, and helped run a famous pirate radio station called Radio Caroline.

Phil Solomon's Life and Music Career

Early Days in Belfast

Phil Solomon was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He was the oldest son in a Jewish family. Many of his family members were already involved in the music business. His father, Maurice, and his uncle, Harold Peres, started a company called Solomon and Peres in the 1920s. They even became big owners in Decca Records, a major record company. Phil's brother, Mervyn, later started his own record label, Emerald Music, which focused on Irish and Scottish music.

Starting in Music Publicity

In the 1950s, Phil Solomon began his own career in music. He worked as a publicity agent, helping to promote artists. One of his first big successes was with Northern Irish singer Ruby Murray. She had a number one hit song called "Softly, Softly" in 1955.

Phil and his wife, Dorothy, worked together. They handled publicity for many concert tours. They promoted artists like Jimmy Shand, Jim Reeves, Acker Bilk, and Chris Barber. They also worked with many jazz and dance orchestras.

Moving to London and Managing Bands

In 1958, Phil and Dorothy moved to London. There, they continued to promote many different performers. These included stars like Gene Pitney, Kenneth McKellar, Louis Armstrong, and Mantovani.

Phil also started managing a music group called The Bachelors. They were a trio from Dublin known for their close-harmony singing of classic songs. The Bachelors became very popular in the mid-1960s. They had seventeen songs reach the top fifty in Britain. Eight of these songs even made it into the top ten between 1963 and 1967.

Becoming a Music Manager

Because The Bachelors were so successful, Phil Solomon decided to manage more artists. At first, he mainly worked with Irish and Northern Irish musicians. These included Them (and their singer Van Morrison), The Dubliners, and David McWilliams.

Soon, he started managing other artists too. One of his biggest hits was with the English singer Twinkle. Her song "Terry" was about a young man who died in a motorcycle accident. The BBC (a big radio station in the UK) thought the song was in bad taste. They refused to play it on the radio. But even without radio play, the song still reached number 4 on the UK Singles Chart!

Other artists Phil managed included the musician Phil Coulter, comedian Freddie Davies, and poet Pam Ayres.

Major Minor Records and Radio Caroline

In 1966, Phil Solomon started his very own record label called Major Minor Records. Around the same time, a pirate radio station called Radio Caroline was having money problems. Pirate radio stations broadcast from ships at sea to avoid government rules. Phil helped them pay off their debts.

In return for his help, Phil joined Radio Caroline's board of directors. This meant he had a say in how the station was run. From then on, the DJs at Caroline had to play a certain number of Major Minor records every day. Phil also made other record companies pay Caroline to play their new songs. These rules meant the DJs had less freedom to choose their own music. Some of them, like Michael Pasternak (known as Emperor Rosko), didn't like this. He was fired a few times for refusing to play Major Minor records, but then hired back by Caroline's co-director, Ronan O'Rahilly.

Even Phil couldn't save Radio Caroline forever. In March 1968, the ships that broadcast Caroline's programs were taken by people they owed money to. This was the end of Phil's time with the pirate station.

Major Minor Records released music by many Irish and Northern Irish artists, including The Dubliners. Their song "Seven Drunken Nights" was also banned by the BBC in 1967. But just like Twinkle's song, it still became a top ten hit in Britain. The label also had the rights to British versions of songs by Johnny Nash. Major Minor even released some early songs by the Dutch band Golden Earring.

Major Minor's two biggest hits were "Mony Mony" by Tommy James and the Shondells (which was number 1 in the UK in 1968) and "Je t'aime... moi non plus" by Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin (1969). The BBC refused to play "Je t'aime... moi non plus" because it was considered unsuitable for broadcast. It was first released by another company, Fontana Records, but they pulled it from stores after it reached number 2 on the charts. Serge Gainsbourg then made a deal with Phil Solomon. Major Minor re-released the song, and it went all the way to number 1 in the UK!

Later Years and Legacy

In 1970, Phil Solomon sold Major Minor Records to a big company called EMI Group. After this, he mostly retired from the music business. His wife, Dorothy, continued to manage the Scottish singer Lena Zavaroni.

In their later years, Phil and Dorothy Solomon had other interests. They were involved in horse breeding and horse racing. They also ran art galleries in Dublin and London. In the early 1980s, Phil helped start a radio station in Dublin called Sunshine Radio.

Phil Solomon passed away from a heart attack on April 10, 2011, in Bournemouth, England. His wife Dorothy lived longer than him. They did not have any children.

Phil Solomon was a cousin to Maureen Black, who is married to businessman Roy Keith Black. He was also a cousin to film producer Keith D. Black.