Philip Kang was born in Korea in 1948. He studied voice at Seoul National University and continued his study at the Graduate School of the Berlin University of the Arts. He trained with Mario del Monaco and Tito Gobbi.

In 1975, still as a student, he sang at Deutschland Opera Berlin and became the first Asian singer to become an official member at the Berlin Opera house. After winning first prizes at the Mario del Monaco Voice Competition and the Toti dal Monte Opera Competition singing the role of Philip II in Don Carlos in 1979 and 1981, he made his debut singing the same role at the Treviso Theater under Maestro Armando Gatto. 

Consequently, he was invited to the festivals of Bilbao in Spain and performed the Verdi roles of Philip II, Zaccaria, Fiesco, Silva, Guardiano, of Ramfis, the Wagner roles of Fafner, Hunding, Daland, Hagen, King Marke, King Heinrich, Pogner, Landgraf, and Gurnemanz, as well as the great bass roles of Sarastro, Rocco, Osmin or Gremin, alongside world-class opera singers such as Renato Bruson, Jose Carreras, Ghena Dimitrova, Pierro Cappuccilli, Maria Chiara, Montserrat Caballe, and Mara Zampieri.

His career has continued expanding throughout Europe and the United States since then. He has sung with world-renowned orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, and the London Philharmonic, under the batons of Daniel Barenboim, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Bernard Haitink, Wolfgang Sawallisch, and Riccardo Chailly. He has appeared at prestigious venues such as the Covent Garden, the Vienna State Opera, and the Paris Opera House in Europe, as well as the Carnegie Hall in New York.

Between 1988 and 1992, he was the first Asian singer to appear regularly at the Bayreuth Festival. His performances of the roles of Hagen, Fafner, and Hunding, under Daniel Barenboim, were recorded on video and CDs. In 1988, he was named as the best opera singer of the year by one of the leading European opera magazines, Operawelt. He was invited to Bayreuth again between 2000 and 2004 to perform Hunding and Fafner under Giuseppe Sinopoli.

Since 1995, he taught at Seoul National University as a professor in the Department of Music. As he retired from his teaching position in 2013, he once again took on the role of Philip II, from which he adopted his English name, with the Korean National Opera. The success of that production spawned a number of repeat performances.