Philip Chambon is a London-based composer for film and TV, contemporary dance and ballet, visual art installations, and marketing campaigns and events. His work has been broadcast, released and performed worldwide.

Philip is also a songwriter and music producer, and has extensive performing and touring experience as a guitarist, vocalist and MIDI keyboard player.

He is a true and versatile collaborative composer. His experience of working with technology and in the popular music industries, together with his classical training, is reflected in his highly individual compositions and his ability to create work in a variety of genres that can successfully support and interpret a given brief. He has created his own bespoke library of sounds and instruments that he uses in many of his compositions.

Philip’s studio is equipped with the latest digital composing and recording technology, a collection of vintage hardware keyboards and sound modules, a wide range of guitars and stringed instruments, and industry standard dynamic and condenser microphones.

See credit list for full details.

Please contact Philip to discuss your project and to find out more about how he can help.

If you want to know more read on!

Musical Background

Philip started playing guitar at the age of nine, initially working out songs by ear from his favourite pop records. Then taking up his parents’ offer of guitar lessons, he studied classical guitar and later at secondary school, the violin. His interest in recording was sparked off when his grandfather loaned him a reel-to-reel Phillips tape recorder. Philip spent many a happy teenage hour recording (at 1 7/8 inches per sec!) his own guitar, violin, and song compositions on this machine.

Philip went on to study music and recording on the Bachelor of Music Tonmeister course at the University of Surrey. The course was one of the first Music Technology degree courses in the UK. It was there that he explored his love of pop and classical music and of composing, recording and production. His first collaboration with other art forms was composing music for the University drama society’s production of Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage, which was later performed at St. Martin’s School of Art in London.

Composing for Media and Events

As a result of working as a free-lance studio sound engineer on soundtracks for Film and TV, the contact with directors and producers led him to start composing for media in 1990. Since then he has composed many Film and TV scores, commercials, idents, as well as music for visual art installations, marketing campaigns and production (library) music labels. Commissions include music for BBC TV, Discovery Channel, ITV, Channel 4, A & E Channel and Swiss TV, and for brands such as Nissan, British Airways and HSBC.

See credit list for full details.

Bands, Songwriting & Performing

While at University he joined fellow student Andy Arthur’s band A Raincoat as guitarist, songwriter and vocalist. A Raincoat’s album Digalongamacs was released on EMI Records in 1975. Philip’s song on the album “Making Me Nervous” was later, in 2014, licensed for use in the film Listen Up Philip directed by Alex Ross Perry.

After graduating Philip joined the band Tonight. Tonight were one of the first UK bands to be labeled Power Pop. They achieved a Top 20 UK hit in 1978 with Drummer Man, which Philip co-wrote with producer Andy Arthurs. During that year, in between hectic touring schedules and TV appearances, Tonight recorded tracks for the album Drummer Man at the legendary Air, Wessex, Olympic and Morgan studios in London. Due to record company politics this wasn’t released until 2010.

In 1984, inspired by working with dance on the International Dance Course for Professional Choreographers and Composers, and the developing digital music technologies and pop videos, Philip co-formed with Andy Arthurs and DV8 choreographer Lloyd Newson the multi-media group La Bouche.

La Bouche integrated vocal sampling and digital technology, contemporary dance, and video. Their work was known as ‘Electric Voice Dances’ or EVDs. Between 1984 and 1990 La Bouche toured extensively throughout the UK and Europe, made TV appearances and recorded videos working with director Peter Lydon. La Bouche obtained record deals with Safari Records and Sony Records.

See credit list for full details.

Contemporary Dance & Ballet

In 1987 Philip composed the music for choreographer Christopher Bruce’s contemporary ballet Swansong, commissioned by English National Ballet. Swansong is now generally recognised by many as a dance classic and has been widely performed around the world. In the UK it is one of the key works studied by GCSE and A Level Dance students.

He has collaborated with many other choreographers including Sonia Rafferty, Amanda Gough, Cathy Marston, Robert Cohan, and a created a further two scores for Christopher Bruce.

See credit list for full details.

Music Education

In 2004 Philip delivered special lectures in composing for media at the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford, UK and at The University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield, UK. His interest in music education having been ignited, between 2004 and 2020 he was a part-time Senior Lecturer at Kingston University, London, teaching composition for film and TV, music production, and songwriting.