About Julian
This is a brief history of myself, check out the naughty boy from school!
Julian as a 7 months old baby in his gran’s house in Fishguard
Julian Thomas Murphy was born on 7th April 1968 in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, South West Wales in United Kingdom. His mum Diane Griffiths (remarried to Alan Griffiths) comes from a strong Welsh background originating in Lower Fishguard, Pembrokeshire. His late father Michael John Murphy was born in Goodwick, Pembrokeshire, though had strong family connections to Ireland from which the Murphy name originates.
Julian attended Goodwick School which he enjoyed on the first day, but was horrified to find out he had to go every day!!! He did not get on well in school as he was very naughty and was always in trouble. When he was 6 years old his parents moved to Fishguard where he attended Fishguard Infants School where being naughty and getting into trouble seemed normal for him. From there he moved on to Fishguard County Primary School, where his naughtiness only worsened. It worsened to such an extent that the school wanted to take him out and put him into a Borstal School. But his mother refused it and so he stayed to cause more havoc. However it was whilst being in Fishguard County Primary School that he started to take notice of music.
In 1979 he moved to Fishguard Secondary School, where more of the same continued until he was about 14 years old. One day after being expelled from the class yet again, the Deputy Headmaster Eric Thomas (Deputy Dog!!!) came along and said “Mr Murphy you have been sent out again! You are capable of getting some very good grades if you put your mind to it”. It was after that he settled down and got on with school work and did get some good grades.
In 1984 he left school and went to work at Royal Aircraft Establishment in Aberporth on a Mechanical and Engineering Training Scheme which he hated. He says “I went only because my mum wanted me to go”!!! He was living away from home and could come home only for the weekend and back again to the jailhouse (as he calls it) on Sunday evening. In the meantime he started a band called Twelfth Night which met up only during the weekends when he was home.
He also formed various other bands called True colours, Delta X, Wild Fire, Scint and Stuck (and they were!) and worked with many musicians and did quite a bit of live gigs around Wales, but he always wanted to record and have something to show for the hard work that goes into making music, and was becoming increasingly frustrated working with other people who were not as committed as himself to achieving something. Being frustrated is not something Julian does very well as his patience is very limited on the best of days!!!
1990's
Julian in 1999
In the 90’s when his last band split up, he decided he couldn’t be bothered with relying on other people anymore and decided to invest and get his own recording gear and do some demos of his own music as he was gifted with the ability to sing as well as to play most of the instruments such as drums, guitars and keyboards.
Sometime in early 2005 he was lucky enough to have some tracks played by BB Scone on Radio Pembrokeshire and even went down for a recorded interview as well as having plays by Tommo on Radio Ceredigion and a live phone interview which was fun!!!
By the end of 2005 he moved to London and worked there for 5 years which was hard work but glad he did it as he met his wife Shirley there.
In Nov 2010 Julian and Shirley returned to Rural Wales, where he met up with his childhood friend John Clarke with whom he decided to write and produce some songs. The result being collaboration between Julian and John of a 10 track album called “What’s Going On” under the band name Phoenix Rising which is also available through Julian’s website.
Following on from the success of his solo album "UP ONE DAY DOWN THE NEXT" Julian is now in the process of recording his second solo album, "LETS ROCK BABY " which promises to be an exciting hard rockin back to basics album. Also with the excitment of Julian recording his first ever video to be released with his next single released from the album "LETS ROCK BABY" later this year, it promises to be a very exciting time.
