Ken Nicol and Phil Cool

A great partnership

Ken & Phil perform their own music and songs with a little bit of mirth for good measure.

A special evening of entertainment from two very distinctive artists..... 

Ken Nicol and Phil Cool have joined forces to present a unique evening of entertainment which will appeal to a wide range of audiences. Both are extremely experienced artists each with their own rich background of performing success.

                                                                                

 

  Ken Nicol and Phil Cool  

Ken Nicol

Ken Nicol is a guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer from Preston. His music covers the spectrum from blues to rock, and effortlessly takes in folk, jazz, ragtime, ballads and more along the way. Ken was a member of the legendary Albion Band until September 2001 when he left in order to spend more time on solo projects.

 In December 2002, he successfully joined forces with Steeleye Span, and has continued working with the band since; recording two albums: 'They Called Her Babylon' & 'Winter', and touring extensively through 2004 on their 35th Anniversary World Tour and already planning Steeleye Span's 40th anniversary celebrations.

 When he's not touring or writing, he can be found producing projects of his own and other artists at his MVS Studios in Preston.

"I first met Ken when we collaborated on an Ashley Hutchings song on his last album. I was amazed at Ken's beautiful ragtime guitar style. He has such a great way of delivering a story and gently laying down the punch line. Humour, great guitar skill and the right drop of humility, and a passion for right, proper good music."   Ralph McTell

 "Ken Nicol is a consummate musician. A guitarist of broad scope, a sensitive singer and an intelligent writer of songs with stirring melodies. A musical paragon."    Maddy Prior

 "It's difficult for me to imagine a more talented all rounder than Ken; both as singer and guitarist."     Ashley Hutchings

Phil Cool

Another Side of Phil Cool? There is of course another side of Phil Cool? A serious side?........ The singer/songwriter. At sixteen Phil was influenced by many of the great songwriters of the 60's and started to write songs himself, which has continued throughout his life.He bought a second hand guitar which he always took with him to friends houses. However, it is just one of those plain truths that comedy always steals the thunder, and so it was, the funny side took over and, the rest as they say is history. Recently Phil has had a yearning to return to his songs and perform them.

Working with Ken has been a great change for Phil from performing his usual comedy show and, not only does he enjoy it but the audience loves it too. He definitely will be doing more singing and playing guitar, as it is such a contrast to his usual stuff.

Phil Cool shot to prominence in the late eighties when, after many hard years on the cabaret circuit, a producer from the BBC spotted him working as an audience "warm up" for the satirical television programme Spitting Image.

This led to an appearance on daytime television's Pebble Mill, which was so successful that he was immediately snapped up to record a series for the BBC.

Such was the response from public and press that the series - 'Cool It' - was repeated on BBC1 within a matter of months, unheard of for a new television artist.

Since then all three series have been repeated to great acclaim and Phil has also starred in his own BBC Christmas Special as well as two series 'Cool Head' and 'Phil Cool' for Central TV.