Editing Sam Phillips (musician) (section)

== Career ==

Phillips began her musical career in the early 1980s in the [[Christian music industry|contemporary Christian music industry]], where she sang background vocals for [[Contemporary Christian music|Christian]] artists [[Mark Heard]] and [[Randy Stonehill]].

Phillips was signed as a solo artist with [[Myrrh Records]] under her given name and recorded four Christian pop albums: ''[[Beyond Saturday Night]]'', ''[[Dancing with Danger]]'', ''[[Black and White in a Grey World]]'', and ''[[The Turning (album)|The Turning]]''. ''The Turning'' teamed her with producer [[T Bone Burnett]], who had worked with artists [[Bob Dylan]], [[Elvis Costello]], and [[Roy Orbison]].<ref name=":0" /> The two would later get married.

Several of Phillips' songs became Top 10 singles on Christian radio<ref name="Billboard guide to ccm bio">{{cite book |last=Alfonso |first=Barry |title=The Billboard guide to contemporary Christian music |year=2002 |publisher=[[Random House]] Digital, Inc |isbn=0-8230-7718-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VzFZZ4yi3DMC&q=%22leslie+phillips%22+%22christian+radio%22&pg=PA226 |access-date=November 9, 2011 |page=226}}</ref> and Myrrh Records promoted her as "the Christian [[Cyndi Lauper]]". Phillips was never comfortable with this image, and it was a bone of contention between her and her label. She began using the name "Sam" professionally in 1988 when she left Myrrh Records and signed with [[Virgin Records]] in order to distance herself from her prior persona.<ref name="allmusic bio">{{cite web |last=Ankeny |first=Jason |title=Sam Phillips Biography |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/sam-phillips-p114183/biography |publisher=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=November 9, 2011}}</ref>

With ''[[The Indescribable Wow]]'', Philips moved into mainstream music. The album featured the orchestrations of [[Van Dyke Parks]] and took influence from 1960's pop.<ref name=":0" /> ''[[Cruel Inventions]]'' was released in 1991, and included a guest performance by Elvis Costello. 1994's ''[[Martinis and Bikinis]]'' was widely praised by music critics and was nominated for a [[Grammy Award]],<ref name="telegraph story">{{cite news |last=Brown |first=Helen |title=Spotlight on a broken heart |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandjazzmusic/3620714/Spotlight-on-a-broken-heart.html |access-date=November 9, 2011 |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=July 15, 2004}}</ref> her second nomination (the first was as Leslie Phillips).

In 1995, Phillips made her film acting debut as the mute terrorist Katya in the [[Bruce Willis]] blockbuster ''[[Die Hard with a Vengeance]]''. In 1996, Phillips released ''[[Omnipop (It's Only a Flesh Wound Lambchop)]]'', which featured a song co-written by [[R.E.M.]] Phillips made a cameo appearance in the 1997 [[Wim Wenders]] film ''[[The End of Violence]]'', singing part of the song "Animals on Wheels" from ''Omnipop''. After releasing a contractually obligated "best of" album in 1999, Virgin Records dropped Phillips from its roster.<ref name=":0">Zinn, M. R., & Vaughn, V. E. (2014). [https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=GVRL&u=lom_ferrissu&id=GALE%7CCX2500800046&v=2.1&it=r Sam Phillips]. In T. Ratiner (Ed.), [https://go.gale.com/ps/eToc.do?contentModuleId=GVRL&resultClickType=AboutThisPublication&searchType=&docId=GALE%7C4ZJA&userGroupName=lom_ferrissu&inPS=true&rcDocId=GALE%7CCX2500800046&prodId=GVRL ''Contemporary Musicians''] (Vol. 78, pp. 132-135). Gale. Retrieved September 23, 2022.</ref>

In 2001, Phillips signed with [[Nonesuch Records]], evolving her musical style to a stripped-down, acoustically based sound on her album called ''[[Fan Dance (album)|Fan Dance]]'', as well as guest appearances from musical partners [[Gillian Welch]] on vocals and [[David Rawlings]] on piano, for whom T Bone Burnett had produced several years earlier. Phillips also began writing music for and scoring the television series ''[[Gilmore Girls]]'', and appeared in the final episode of season six, performing "Taking Pictures" from her ''Fan Dance'' album. In 2004, she released ''[[A Boot and a Shoe]]'', another collection of acoustically based songs, similar in style to ''Fan Dance''. In 2006 she was ranked at No. 94 on ''[[Paste (magazine)|Paste]]'' magazine's list of the top 100 living songwriters.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.stereogum.com/2670/pastes_100_best_living_songwriters/lists/|title=Paste's 100 Best Living Songwriters|date=June 2, 2006|accessdate=December 25, 2021}}</ref>

After the release of ''A Boot and a Shoe'', Phillips and T Bone Burnett, who had been her longtime producer, divorced, although they continued to work together to finish her album.<ref>{{cite news |last=Adams |first=Sam |title=Musicpicks: Sam Phillips |url=http://archives.citypaper.net/articles/2004-10-14/musicpicks.shtml |access-date=November 9, 2011 |newspaper=[[Philadelphia City Paper]] |date=October 14–20, 2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140226031050/http://archives.citypaper.net/articles/2004-10-14/musicpicks.shtml |archive-date=February 26, 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Sam Phillips – A Boot and a Shoe |url=http://artsandfaith.com/index.php?showtopic=1548&st=100 |work=Arts and Faith |access-date=November 9, 2011 |date=May 20, 2004}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Sam Phillips |url=http://www.overtherhine.com/orchard/lofiversion/index.php/t1329.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100607220652/http://www.overtherhine.com/orchard/lofiversion/index.php/t1329.html |archive-date=June 7, 2010 |work=overtherhine.com |access-date=November 9, 2011}}</ref> Her album ''[[Don't Do Anything]]'' was self-produced and released in 2008.

In October 2009, Phillips launched ''The Long Play'', a music subscription service offering digital releases without a record label.<ref>{{cite news |last=Lewis |first=Randy |title=For musicians, economy is the mother of invention |url=http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-0509-sam-phillips-20100509,0,5342881.story |access-date=November 9, 2011 |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=May 9, 2010}}</ref> The first subscription only EP, ''Hypnotists in Paris'', was recorded with the [[Section Quartet]] and a Christmas collection ''Cold Dark Night'', ''Magic for Everyone'', ''Old Tin Pan'', and ''Days of the One Night Stands'' followed, with the full-length album [[Cameras in the Sky]] being released in early 2010. In Spring of 2011 she issued ''[[Solid State (Sam Phillips album)|Solid State]]'', a public CD release comprising 13 of the best songs from her subscription service.

In 2012, it was announced that she would be reunited with ''Gilmore Girls'' creator Amy Sherman-Palladino by scoring music for the short-lived American TV show ''[[Bunheads]]''.<ref>{{cite news |last=Adams |first=Sam |title=Sam Phillips |url=http://samphillips.com/2012/06/10/sam-scores-bunheads-leap-toward-the-earth-single/ |access-date=June 13, 2012 |date=June 13, 2012}}</ref>

Phillips described her next album, ''Pretty Time Bomb'' (later renamed ''Push Any Button''), as being "a nostalgic sort of dream of being a pop star in the 60s and early 70s. It's a sweet kind of album and I don't know where it came from. I don't know what compelled me to make it. It's probably a bad idea, but every time I listen to what I've done, it makes me really happy. So I figure, that must mean something and I should go ahead and put it out there."<ref>{{cite news |last=Adams |first=Sam |title=Sam Phillips |url=http://www.americansongwriter.com/2011/11/art-and-commerce-a-qa-with-sam-phillips// |access-date=July 31, 2012 |work=[[American Songwriter]] |date=November 16, 2011}}</ref>

''[[Push Any Button]]'' was released on August 13, 2013.<ref>{{cite web |title=Release 'Push Any Button' by Sam Phillips – MusicBrainz |url=http://musicbrainz.org/release/5202fe88-d006-43e6-827d-f279103f8e6b |access-date=December 5, 2013}}</ref> Phillips has described ''Push Any Button'' as 'an impressionistic version of the AM pop radio playing inside her head'—a way of 'looking at the future through the past. For the vinyl release through her website, Phillips created a limited run of unique handmade collages on repurposed vintage LP sleeves sourced from flea markets. In 2015, a suite of these collage artworks were exhibited at [[Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces|Gertrude Contemporary]] in [[Melbourne]], [[Australia]] in an exhibition called ''Lost and Profound'' curated by Daniel Mudie Cunningham.

In 2013, Phillips' first live concert album, ''Sam Phillips: Live @ Largo at The Coronet'', was made available digitally through her website,<ref name=2013_SamPhillips_LiveAtLargo>{{cite news|title="Sam Phillips: Live @ Largo at the Coronet" Film and Album|url=https://samphillips.com/news_item&NewsID=3765647637393|work=Sam Phillips|year=2013}}</ref> and is also the title of a 2019 documentary directed by [[Dave Rygalski]], who filmed the 2013 performances.<ref name=2019_GrammyMuseum-LiveAtLargo>{{cite news|title=Reel To Reel: Sam Phillips: Live @ Largo At The Coronet|url=https://www.grammymuseum.org/events/detail/sam-phillips|work=Grammy Museum at L.A. Live|date=April 24, 2019}}</ref>

On November 21, 2016, Phillips released an eight-track downloadable EP ''Human Contact is Never Easy'', which included new tracks off her next album ''World on Sticks''.

Phillips reunited with [[Amy Sherman-Palladino]] as composer for ''[[Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life]]'', a revival of the television series, which was released on [[Netflix]] on November 25, 2016.

In September 2018, Phillips released ''World on Sticks''.<ref name=2018_ASCAP-WorldOnSticks />