Episode 281 - Phil Roy

Phil Roy has written songs for some of the greats, including Ray Charles, Aaron Neville, and Joe Cocker, and Mavis Staples, and songs for two Academy Award-winning films: Leaving Las Vegas and As Good As It Gets. He co-wrote one of his songs, Melt, with his long-time friend, Nicolas Cage.

Phil was born and raised in Philadelphia, and attended Berklee College of Music as a guitar major. It was around then he first took an interest in songwriting. He moved to LA in 1981 and almost immediately got signed to Warner Brothers records with his band Carrera. In 1987 he became a staff songwriter.

In 2000 he self-released his album Grouchyfriendly - it won “Independent Album of the Year” from Musician’s Atlas Magazine. He has since released three more solo albums: Issues + Options in 2003, The Great Longing in 2005, and In The Weird Small Hours in 2009, which won a “Concept Album of the Year” by the Independent Music Awards.