[2] Born in Normandy and raised on a fruit farm,[3] Philippe first recorded for Belgian label Les Disques du Crépuscle, under the names "The Border Boys" (the Tribute 12-inch EP, produced by Andy Paley, who had worked with The Ramones and the Modern Lovers previously), and 'The Arcadians' (one single and one album, It's a Mad, Mad World, 1986, later re-released on a variety of labels as Let's Pretend).
The artists he has worked with or for include Valérie Lemercier, April March, P. J. Proby, Martin Newell, Sean O'Hagan of The High Llamas, Mathilde Santing, Towa Tei, Nina Morato, Cinnamon, Humbert Humbert, Laïla Amezian, La Buena Vida, The Clientele, Keiichi Suzuki and Hirokazu Tanaka (contributing to the arranged soundtrack for the Famicom video game Mother in 1989.
A collaboration of note was the album 9th & 13th (Tricatel, 2001), in which he teamed up with Danny Manners and novelist Jonathan Coe, to produce musical settings for the latter's writings.
Jonathan Coe, who had contributed the sleevenotes to Azure, and had used a verse of his song "Yuri Gagarin" as an epigraph for his best-seller What a Carve Up!, has also written a number of lyrics for him since My Favourite Part of You (2002).
Louis Philippe has worked with Young Marble Giants leader Stuart Moxham since the 1990s;[4] the duo have played a number of live dates and released a CD, The Huddle House, in 2007.
He has held the position of England correspondent for France Football magazine since 1999 and fulfilled a similar role for news and sports radio RMC Info until 2018.