Phil Knapper was a close friend and accomplished guitarist (rock and classical) and a Coventry singer songwriter in the 70's. He travelled with a musical troupe to Finland in 1970 which included Neil O'Connor (Hazel's brother), John Gravenor (of Wandering John) and Alex Murphy. I met him in 1974 when he came to Hobo Workshop (Holyhead Youth Centre) for one of the gigs. He lived nearby so we became good friends, often jamming - sometimes playing in very informal one off band gigs. We have no recordings of him except the few I recorded on mono cassette while jamming at my house. This video is one of his songs from that time but doesn't reflect the range of his guitar work (that he taught me how to play Bert Jansch's Anji at that session gives you an idea of the range.). Phil was born in Spennymore in Co Durham but his family moved to Coventry and his father worked in the coal mine at Kersley (although they lived in the Binley area of Coventry (hence the pictures). Phil's younger brother Stu Knapper is well known on the Cov scene as the leader of the late 70's punk band Riot Act. Sadly Phil suffered from schizophrenia which hampered his development as a musician and passed away in the 1990's. It was Phil who arranged for Neil O' Connor' s band Midnight Circus (later The Flys) to play for us at the Hobo Workshop in 1974.
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