Phil Harris (born Wonga Philip Harris) was an American singer, songwriter, jazz musician, actor and comedian. Though successful as an orchestra leader, Harris is remembered today for his recordings as a vocalist, his voice work in animation and the radio situation comedy in which he co-starred with his second wife, singer-actress Alice Faye, for eight years.

Although he was born in Linton, Indiana, Harris actually grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, and identified himself as a Southerner (his hallmark song was "That's What I Like About the South"). His upbringing accounted for both his trace of a Southern accent and, in later years, the self-deprecating Southern jokes of his radio character.

The son of two circus performers, Harris' first work as a drummer came when his father, as tent bandleader, hired him to play with the circus band. Harris began his music career in earnest as a drummer in San Francisco, forming an orchestra with Carol Lofner in the latter 1920s and starting a long engagement at the St. Francis Hotel. The partnership ended by 1932, and Harris led and sang with his own band, now based in Los Angeles.

From December, 1936, through March, 1937, he recorded 16 sides for Vocalion. Most were hot swing tunes that used a very interesting gimmick; they faded up and faded out with a piano solo (probably these were arranged by pianist Skippy Anderson). This was a novel approach and quite unusual for the time.

On September 2, 1927, he was married to actress Marcia Ralston in Sydney, Australia, having met her while playing a concert date in that country. The couple adopted a son, Phil Harris, Jr. (b. 1935). They were divorced in September, 1940. Phil Harris played drums in Henry Halstead Big Band Orchestra in the 1920s.

In 1933, he made a short film for RKO called So This Is Harris!, which won an Academy Award for best live action short subject. He followed it up with a feature-length film called Melody Cruise. Both films were created by the same team that next produced Flying Down to Rio, which started the successful careers of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Additionally, he appeared in The High and the Mighty with John Wayne in 1954.