The musical legend is the subject of a new documentary that looks at his childhood in Derry, his career and his family life.
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And he opened up about losing his second eldest son with his first wife Angela.
He said of Paul, who had Down Syndrome: “The tough things are still tough. Passage of time kind of eases the immediate pain, these are wounds that never fully heal.
‘MOST REWARDING’ SONG
“We had four kids, Paul was the second. He was born with a congenital heart weakness.
“He died when he was four. I kind of bottled that up.
“I pretended it hadn’t happened for the first number of months. Angela was much stronger.”
He penned Scorn Not His Simplicity to get through the time, the song that was then made famous by Luke Kelly.
Phil said: “Of all the catalogue, in those human terms, that’d probably be the most rewarding of all the songs I’ve done. I’m very glad I did it.”
It was not the only tragedy in Coulter’s life. His sister Cyd and his brother Brian drowned in separate incidents on Lough Swilly in Co Donegal.
Brian had been windsurfing in 1984, while Cyd, a counsellor, died more than three decades ago when a suicidal patient drove them both off the pier.
‘PALETTE OF COLOURS’
He recalled: “When you revisit some of the sadder events of your life, the loss of loved ones, unnatural deaths and things, the only way to survive those is to find a place in your heart when you can lock them away.
“For me it’s all been part of a whole palette of colours. Some have been very dark and some have been very bright.”
A writer of international renown, he penned UK Eurovision-winning song Puppet on a String in 1967 and Congratulations for Cliff Richard, which came second the following year.
Phil explained: “Congratulations, it’s the song which has fed, clothed and educated several of my children.”
‘PAINFUL YEAR’
But the 77-year-old said he and writing partner Bill Martin had to prove themselves when people dismissed their talents.
He said: “There were some begrudgers who would say, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, Puppet on a String, Congratulations . . . but they’re not pop songs, they’re Eurovision songs.”
But he quickly proved them wrong with The Town I Loved So Well and My Boy, which was recorded by Elvis Presley.
Phil and Bill were also brought in to turn around the fate of the Bay City Rollers.
Around the same time, his marriage to Angela was ending — he would later marry Geraldine Brannigan — as did his partnership with Bill during a “painful year”.
He said: “We had grown apart as songwriters. My heart went out of it.
“I lost the enthusiasm and the energy to go back in and keep competing on that teenybopper level.
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“‘I don’t want to do it anymore.’ There was a cessation and I walked away from them. ‘I’m not making any more teenybopper records.’”
Now Phil writes music for himself and, earlier this year, released his autobiography, Bruised, Never Broken.
But despite looking back on a lengthy career, he insisted he still has a long way to go, saying: “I don’t obsess about the fact that I’m 77 years of age and I’m running out of steam, I don’t think that way at all.”
- DOCUMENTARY Phil Coulter — Mo Shaol airs on Christmas Day at 9.30pm on TG4.
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