For this episode, number 78, I spoke to composer Stu Phillips.

Stu was born in 1929, is an American composer of film scores and television series theme music, He’s also a conductor and record producer. Though he is probably best known for composing the theme tunes to the television series Battlestar Galactica and Knight Rider.

After a career spanning decades, in 2002, he published his autobiography Stu Who?: Forty Years of Navigating the Minefields of the Music Business. It's well worth checking out.

Stu and I had tried to arrange a chat for months. I was unwell at one point, then I had some internet problems, then his phone line went down. But we finally managed to do it in May this year (2023).
I have to say it was a genuine pleasure chatting to Stu. And as you’ll hear, he is as sharp as a tack at 93 years old.

At one point in the conversation Stu and I talk about how artists borrow from each other all the time. Hang around at the end of this episode to hear what I found out after a deep dive into one particular track of Stu’s.

As with my conversation with Peter Kuran (episode 75), I was having internet problems at the time, so there are a couple of drop outs. Some I’ve managed to edit around, others I haven’t so if you hear any little jumps in the conversation, that’s why.

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