Anthony Peter Hatch (born 30 June 1939) is an English composer for musical theatre and television. He is also a songwriter, pianist, arranger and producer.
Hatch was born in Pinner, Middlesex. Encouraged by his musical abilities, his mother—a pianist herself–enrolled him in the London Choir School in Wansunt Road, Bexley, Kent when he was 10. Instead of continuing at the Royal Academy of Music, he left school in 1955 and found a job with Robert Mellin Music in London's Tin Pan Alley.
Not long after working as a tea boy, Hatch was writing songs (under the name Mark Anthony) and entered the recording industry when he joined The Rank Organisation's new subsidiary Top Rank Records; there he worked for future Decca Records A&R man Dick Rowe. While he served his National Service, he became involved with the Band of the Coldstream Guards.
On his return in 1959, Hatch began producing Top Rank artists such as Bert Weedon, the then unknown Adam Faith ("Ah, Poor Little Baby"), Josh MacRae (together with MacRae's early recordings with Scottish folk trio the Reivers), Jackie Dennis, Carry On comedy actor Kenneth Connor, and the Knightsbridge Strings, and started his own recording career with a version of Russ Conway's piano instrumental "Side Saddle". Although he used his real name Tony Hatch as a performer and producer, until about 1964 virtually all his songs were credited to Mark Anthony.
In 1960, Garry Mills's recording of the Mark Anthony composition "Look for a Star", featured in the film Circus of Horrors, became a Top Ten hit in the UK for Top Rank. Four versions of the song charted simultaneously in the United States, including Mills's original and a version by "Garry Miles" (a recording alias of future member of the Crickets, Buzz Cason). Top Rank, despite some worldwide success with artists such as Jack Scott and the Fireballs, ultimately failed because of an unusual distribution arrangement with EMI.
A swift succession of events ensued through 1961 that Top Rank was sold to EMI, briefly operated as a subsidiary, with hits by John Leyton, and shuttered, with its artists transferred to other EMI labels. Hatch moved on to a part-time job with Pye Records, where he assisted his new mentor, Alan A. Freeman, with the recording of "Sailor", a number 1 hit for Petula Clark.
As Mark Anthony, Hatch continued to write songs for Pye artists, including "Messing About on the River" for Josh MacRae. In 1963, Philadelphia teen idol Bobby Rydell hit the charts with "Forget Him" written and produced by Hatch (still writing as Mark Anthony); Hatch produced, arranged and wrote for other American stars such as Chubby Checker, Connie Francis, Pat Boone, Big Dee Irwin and Keely Smith. In 1963 he wrote (under the pseudonym of Fred Nightingale) the Searchers' hit "Sugar and Spice". By mid-1964, Hatch finally began using his own name as a composer regularly, with Tony Hatch being the credited author of many of Petula Clark's biggest mid-1960s hits, including "Downtown", "I Know a Place", and "Sign of the Times", among others. In February 1964, Hatch's song "I Love the Little Things" won the BBC's A Song for Europe contest, beating out the other five songs performed by Matt Monro; thus becoming the UK's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1964, where it placed second. The single of the track failed to reach the UK singles chart.
In November 1965, Hatch performed with David Bowie (then known as Davy Jones) in the band the Lower Third, in an unsuccessful audition for the BBC's Talent Selection Group. The band were not picked up for broadcast, with one member of the judging panel commenting "I don't think they'll get better with more rehearsals."
Hatch produced many artists for Pye and other labels including the Searchers, David Bowie, Mark Wynter, the Settlers, the Viscounts, Julie Grant, Gary Miller, Benny Hill, the Overlanders, Roy Budd, the Brook Brothers, Jimmy Justice, the Montanas, Miki & Griff, Emile Ford, Craig Douglas, Bruce Forsyth, Norman Vaughan, Sue Nicholls, the Breakaways, Julie Budd, Buddy Greco, Sacha Distel, Anne Shelton, Sweet Sensation, David Parton, and Graduate among others.
Hatch's production of the Searchers' entire Pye catalogue was significant in that nearly every song was issued in true stereo. The only other UK chart acts with so much stereo were George Martin producing the Beatles and Ron Richards producing the Hollies (although a handful of early Hollies albums were initially issued only in mono).
Hatch also recorded various lounge style albums with his orchestra; he also made solo piano recordings and some tracks as a vocalist.
Collaboration with Petula Clark
After "Valentino", the first of Hatch's compositions to be recorded by Petula Clark, he became her regular producer. They collaborated on a series of French-language recordings for Vogue Records. (Clark, whose husband was French and who spoke the language fluently, had a successful career throughout Europe.) Hatch became one of her regular songwriting partners, in addition to supplying English lyrics for songs she had composed with French lyricists.
In 1964, Hatch made his first trip to New York City in search of new material for Clark. The visit inspired him to write "Downtown", originally with The Drifters in mind. When Clark heard the still unfinished tune, she told him that if he could write lyrics to match the quality of the music, she would record the song as her next single. Its release transformed her into a huge international star, topping charts globally early in 1965, and introducing her to the US market. "Downtown" peaked at number two in Britain, stuck behind the Beatles' "I Feel Fine". Clark then charted with three consecutive hits written by Hatch: "I Know a Place", "You'd Better Come Home", and "Round Every Corner", which all charted higher in the US than in the UK. She and Hatch co-wrote "You're The One", which peaked at 22 in Britain but which gave The Vogues a major debut hit in the States. Tony Hatch and Petula Clark became established as the British equivalent of Burt Bacharach and Dionne Warwick. In 1965 Hatch's first album under his own name was released. The Downtown Sound of Tony Hatch, features instrumental versions of some of his best known songs, along with new compositions.
The song "Call Me", written for and recorded by Petula Clark in 1965, was recorded by Chris Montez later in the year. Released in November 1965, Montez's version entered the US Easy Listening Top 40 in Billboard that December, and the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1966, peaking that March on the Easy Listening chart at #2 and on the Hot 100 at #22.
Petula Clark's run of 1966 and 1967 hits include many written by Hatch: "My Love" (a US number one), "A Sign of the Times", "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love", "Who Am I", "Don't Sleep in the Subway", "Colour My World", and "The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener". He wrote all of these (except "My Love") with his wife Jackie Trent. "A Sign of the Times", "Who Am I" and "Colour My World" were not hits in Britain.
Collaboration with Jackie Trent and later career
In 1964, Hatch was hired to write his first television theme, for the soap opera Crossroads. This became one of his best-known compositions and was re-worked by Wings. He continued to write television themes throughout the 1960s, including the themes to Man Alive, The Champions, and The Doctors. When asked to write a song to be featured in the Inspector Rose series, It's Dark Outside, he supplied "Where Are You Now?", with lyrics and vocals by a recently signed Pye artist, Jackie Trent. The song reached number one in the UK singles chart.