21 Facts About Philip Selway

Philip James Selway was born on 23 May 1967 and is an English musician and the drummer of the rock band Radiohead.

Philip Selway composed the soundtrack for the 2017 film Let Me Go.

In 2023, Philip Selway played drums with Lanterns on the Lake.

Philip Selway was born on 23 May, 1967, in Abingdon, Berkshire.

Philip Selway started learning to play drums and guitar at the age of 15 for "the social cachet and love of music".

Philip Selway was in the year above the guitarist Ed O'Brien, two years above the singer, Thom Yorke, and the bassist, Colin Greenwood, and five years above Colin's brother, the multi-instrumentalist Jonny Greenwood.

Philip Selway worked as a TEFL teacher, a copyeditor, and as a drummer in pit bands for touring musicals.

Philip Selway said this widened his options and pushed him to create new dynamics, enabling him to express himself more creatively.

In 2019, Philip Selway testified at an inquest into the 2012 stage collapse that killed Radiohead's drum technician, Scott Johnson.

Philip Selway wrote songs as a teenager, but concentrated on drumming after forming Radiohead.

Philip Selway began writing again later in life, but decided the songs had a distinct character that did not fit Radiohead.

In 2017, Philip Selway composed the score for the feature film Let Me Go, directed by Polly Steele.

Philip Selway chose not to drum on the album, finding he was out of practice and "not in the right mindset", and enlisted the Italian drummer Valentina Magaletti.

Philip Selway is a supporter of the emotional support charity Samaritans, with which he became involved while a university student.

Philip Selway volunteered as a telephone listener for years, including at the height of Radiohead's success, and said this "probably kept my sanity in that period".

Philip Selway is an ambassador for Independent Venue Week, an initiative that promotes small music venues.

Philip Selway performed with the band Dive Dive at the Oxford Zodiac in February 2005.

Philip Selway contributed to their 2009 studio album The Sun Came Out, for which he wrote and sang "Ties That Bind" and "Witching Hour".

Philip Selway appears on "Rest on the Rock" and "Out of Light" on the album Before the Ruin by Roddy Woomble, Kris Drever, and John McCusker.

Philip Selway played drums and percussion on the fifth album by Lanterns on the Lake, Versions of Us, after the departure of their previous drummer.

In May 2006, Radiohead cancelled a concert in Amsterdam after Philip Selway's mother died suddenly.