Biography

Sam Phillips

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Sam Phillips began her entertainment career as a Contemporary Christian Music singer, where she made a number of albums under the name "Leslie Phillips." She began to be disillusioned with the Christian music business due (mostly) to its intolerance of her brutally honest approach to her faith, and around the same time she met and married T-Bone Burnett (who became her producer as well as her husband) and switched from the Christian record label Word Records to Virgin Records. Since then, she has released the albums "The Undescribable Wow," "Cruel Inventions," and "Martinis and Bikinis" (as well as a few songs that have appeared on movie soundtracks) all under the name Sam Phillips. Her role in Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995) movie is her first appearance as an actress; she was reportedly chosen for the part after someone in a position of influence was struck by her picture on the cover of "Martinis and Bikinis."

In 2000, Sam was asked by Amy Sherman-Palladino to compose for her new series _Gilmore Girls_. She accepted and would score the show throughout its entire run, ending in 2007. Marking a reunion for herself and Amy Sherman-Palladino, it was announced in 2012 that Sam would compose the music to the television series Bunheads (2012).
- IMDb mini biography by: Logan Shaw <logan@ptolemy.arc.nasa.gov>

Although in real life she is best-known as a singer with an acclaimed voice, her character Katya in Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995) is mute.
Nominated for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance at the 37th Annual Grammy Awards for the song "Circle of Fire" from her album _Martinis & Bikinis_ (1994). She lost to Melissa Etheridge.
Composed for the television series "Gilmore Girls" throughout its entire seven year run.
Mother, with ex-husband T Bone Burnett, of daughter Simone Burnett (b. December 30, 1997).
Was 2nd runner-up for Best Songwriter of 1994 in "Rolling Stone" magazine's annual critics' poll, for her album "Martinis & Bikinis". She was bested by Freedy Johnston and Kurt Cobain, who placed 1st and 2nd in the poll, respectively.

[on her experience scoring for Gilmore Girls] I had no idea I was going to love working on the show so much. Gilmore Girls was a wonderful creation. I only wish Amy could go back and do a few more episodes or a movie to tie up the loose ends. She left the show one season before it went off the air and though everyone did a great job carrying on, it was a devastating loss.
[on creating music] Usually when I'm trying to write songs, I work hard on the lyrics and I work hard on the melodies too. I know there's a sort of tendency especially these days for people to think "I'm just gonna pick up a guitar and whatever comes out is good enough." And I don't feel that way. I feel like what I grew up listening to and some of the incredible, the heavy musicians and the heavy songwriters, I think that the bar is really high. And I'd probably never get up to that bar, so I'm always trying to get up there.

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