Phil Swern

Phil "The Collector" Swern (born Anthony Philip Swern, 30 June 1948, Ealing, London, England) is an English radio producer and music collector. He was formerly a record producer[1] and songwriter,[2] and has also written for television.[3] He produced Pick of the Pops for Radio 1 in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and has produced the show for Radio 2 since 1997. He also produces Sounds of the 60s for Radio 2 and formerly produced the Saturday night Bob Harris Show for the same station, also producing Harris's Radio 1 shows in the early 1990s.[4] He also devises the questions for the PopMaster quiz on Radio 2's Ken Bruce Show.[5] He co-wrote the quiz show Pop The Question with Jeremy Beadle and co-created fellow quiz show That's Showbusiness with screenwriter Jeremy Pascall.

His first record production work was Horace Faith's recording of "Black Pearl" for Trojan Records in 1970.[6] He went on to produce many other musicians including The Pearls,[7] Polly Brown[8] and R&J Stone[9] whose "We Do It", released in 1976, reached number 5 in the UK Singles Chart.[10]

Swern has the world's only complete collection of every single UK Top 40 chart hit since records began in 1952.[11] His extensive work within the music industry led to him being awarded with a BASCA Gold Badge Award in October, 2010.[12]