Bernoldus Niemand
| James Phillips | |
|---|---|
James Phillips playing at the 1987 Free People's Concert. Johannesburg, South Africa.
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| Background information | |
| Born |
January 22, 1959 South Africa |
| Died | July 31, 1995 (aged 36) |
| Genres | Rock |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter |
| Years active | 1970s–1995 |
| Associated acts |
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James Phillips (22 January 1959 – 31 July 1995) was a South African rock singer, songwriter, and performer.
Phillips grew up in the conservative East Rand mining town of Springs, the son of a Presbyterian minister. He finished high school at Witbank High in 1976. Phillips discovered Rock n Roll and perhaps significantly the protest music of Bob Dylan; the course of his life changed dramatically, in the late 1970s he formed his first band, Corporal Punishment with friends Carl Raubenheimer and Mark Bennet. Corporal Punishment was defiantly South African from the start. Instead of doing the usual thing, playing rock covers in the local bar, they chose to sing about their own universe and all its strange and brutal ironies. Using the lyrical brashness of the punk rock movement, without adopting the fashion, their songs were often menacingly sarcastic political statements. Lyrically they often touched on South African topics, notably the milieu in which young, white, South African men found themselves at that time. This milieu was dominated by conscription, Calvinism, suppression of political debate and intolerance of non-conformism.
He's a supervisor, it takes a lot of skill to be in charge of 40 kaffirs – that's responsible!
The Corporals gained a small but fiercely loyal following, but lack of venues, airplay and their raw aggressive music meant they were either anonymous to or completely ignored by the mainstream. Despite this Phillips never questioned whether he was doing the right thing or not, as he himself said, "It was just something that had to be done, someone had to sing about what was happening in South Africa".
After doing his initial two years in the army Phillips became a conscientious objector, making any chance of having any kind of musical career even more remote. Speaking in later years he said "You try and have a career as a musician when you're trying to keep your face out of the newspapers because the army is looking for you".
Also at this time South African government were wielding ever-tightening control over the media, especially radio and television. In particular songs by local musicians were often subject to heavy scrutiny before being added to radio station play lists. The expectation of censorship made record companies nervous about spending money on local artists who might make any kind of social or political comment. Some companies went as far as running their own censorship departments that would vet songs and artists before a recording budget was assigned. By 1980 the security forces were starting to keep an eye on any performers considered "subversive" and would spy on such performers and sometimes disrupt performances or impede careers.
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Wikipedia