Early Life
Phillips was born in 1943 and grew up in Prestwich, Lancashire, England. She is Jewish and has a brother, Ian and a sister, Karen. She attended Broughton Preparatory School, Cheetham Hill, Manchester, Beaver Road Primary School, Didsbury and Manchester Central High School for Girls after passing the Eleven plus exam. When Phillips was 15, her mother, who had been suffering from leukaemia, died aged 43. Her father who had been barber with his own shop died of Alzheimer's at age 89.
Phillips originally wanted to be a ballet dancer and began dance classes at the age of three, studying ballet and tap dance at the Muriel Tweedy School in Manchester after leaving school at 16. Her mother had always expressed a desire to dance, which inspired Phillips into pursuing dance professionally.
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