Guy Fletcher OBE
Encyclopedia
Guy Fletcher OBE is an English
songwriter
who, in partnership with Doug Flett, wrote several hits for other artists. As a singer he had a small hit in the Netherlands
and other European countries with the song "Mary in the Morning".
, and as a jazz trumpet player. After deciding to turn to songwriting, he met lyricist Doug Flett in 1966 and their long partnership resulted in writing songs for several international artists. They were the first British writers to have a song recorded by Elvis Presley
, when "The Fair's Movin' On" appeared on the B-side of his 1969 single "Clean Up Your Own Back Yard". Other Presley recordings followed, including "Wonderful World", the opening song in the film
, Live a Little Love a Little and "Just Pretend", featured in That's The Way It Is.
Fletcher and Flett's first UK Top 10 success was with The Hollies
' "I Can't Tell the Bottom from the Top" (1970), and they also had hits with songs performed by Cliff Richard
, "With the Eyes of a Child", "Sing a Song of Freedom", "Baby You're Dynamite" and "Power to All Our Friends
", which was the UK entry for the Eurovision Song Contest
in 1973, achieving third place.
Their greatest international success was with "Save Me
", a Billboard #1 country song by Louise Mandrell
. "Save Me" was also a Billboard entry for three other American stars: Helen Reddy
, Donna McDaniel and Merrilee Rush
. Fletcher and Flett also wrote hits for Ray Charles
, Tom Jones
, Joe Cocker
and the Bay City Rollers
. Their song "Fallen Angel", a minor single for Frankie Valli
in the 1970s, was featured in the Broadway show Jersey Boys
. Fletcher and Flett also discovered and nurtured the talent of singer-songwriter Chris de Burgh
.
In 1975 Fletcher, former Onyx
guitarist Al Hodge
and John Hodkinson formed the soft-rock trio, Rogue, who released several singles, including "Cool Clear Air", "Lay Me Down", "Lady Put The Light Out", "Too Much Too Soon", "One to One", and "Borderline", and three albums, before disbanding in 1979.
Fletcher is Chairman of the Performing Right Society
where he has been a director since 1998, and is Chairman and Managing Director of the rights management company, Commercial Arts Ltd. He was for twelve years chairman of The British Academy of Songwriters Composers and Authors where he led several campaigns against the erosion of composers’ rights. He has won many awards including an ASCAP award in the USA and an Ivor Novello Award in the UK, and has also written TV music, songs, commercials and music for the stage.
In 2005 he was honoured in HM the Queen's birthday honours list with an OBE
for services to British music.
, who is a longtime co-worker with Mark Knopfler
and Dire Straits
.
His children are Justin Fletcher
, the children's TV presenter, Amity Fletcher, the music promoter, Juliette Fletcher, ITV South News presenter and Liberty Fletcher, now in her final year at Oxford Brookes University where she is studying for a nursing degree.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
who, in partnership with Doug Flett, wrote several hits for other artists. As a singer he had a small hit in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and other European countries with the song "Mary in the Morning".
History
Guy Fletcher worked as a session singer for record producer Joe MeekJoe Meek
Robert George "Joe" Meek was a pioneering English record producer and songwriter....
, and as a jazz trumpet player. After deciding to turn to songwriting, he met lyricist Doug Flett in 1966 and their long partnership resulted in writing songs for several international artists. They were the first British writers to have a song recorded by Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
, when "The Fair's Movin' On" appeared on the B-side of his 1969 single "Clean Up Your Own Back Yard". Other Presley recordings followed, including "Wonderful World", the opening song in the film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, Live a Little Love a Little and "Just Pretend", featured in That's The Way It Is.
Fletcher and Flett's first UK Top 10 success was with The Hollies
The Hollies
The Hollies are an English pop and rock group, formed in Manchester in the early 1960s, though most of the band members are from throughout East Lancashire. Known for their distinctive vocal harmony style, they became one of the leading British groups of the 1960s and 1970s...
' "I Can't Tell the Bottom from the Top" (1970), and they also had hits with songs performed by Cliff Richard
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....
, "With the Eyes of a Child", "Sing a Song of Freedom", "Baby You're Dynamite" and "Power to All Our Friends
Power to All Our Friends
"Power to All Our Friends" is a song by Cliff Richard. He entered it as the British entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 1973. It came third....
", which was the UK entry for the Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...
in 1973, achieving third place.
Their greatest international success was with "Save Me
Save Me (Louise Mandrell song)
"Save Me" is a single by American country music artist Louise Mandrell. Released in 1983, it was the second single from the album Close Up. The song reached #6 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart.-Chart performance:...
", a Billboard #1 country song by Louise Mandrell
Louise Mandrell
Thelma Louise Mandrell, also known as Louise Mandrell, was born July 13, 1954 and is an American country music singer. She is the younger sister of country singer Barbara Mandrell, and older sister of actress Irlene Mandrell. Louise had a successful singing career in country music with a string of...
. "Save Me" was also a Billboard entry for three other American stars: Helen Reddy
Helen Reddy
Helen Reddy , often referred to as "The Queen of 70s Pop", is an Australian-American singer and actress. In the 1970s, she enjoyed international success, especially in the United States, where she placed fifteen singles in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100. Six of those 15 songs made the Top 10...
, Donna McDaniel and Merrilee Rush
Merrilee Rush
-Career:As a girl, Merrilee studied classical piano for 10 years. In 1960, Rush auditioned for a band, directed by her first husband, that played sock hops. Next, she was part of Merrilee and Her Men, doing covers of male pop hits. Then she joined a Seattle rhythm and blues group called Tiny Tony...
. Fletcher and Flett also wrote hits for Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
, Tom Jones
Tom Jones (singer)
Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records...
, Joe Cocker
Joe Cocker
John Robert "Joe" Cocker, OBE is an English rock and blues musician, composer and actor, who came to popularity in the 1960s, and is most known for his gritty voice, his idiosyncratic arm movements while performing, and his cover versions of popular songs, particularly those of The Beatles...
and the Bay City Rollers
Bay City Rollers
The Bay City Rollers were a Scottish pop band who were most popular in the 1970s. The British Hit Singles & Albums noted that they were "tartan teen sensations from Edinburgh", and were "the first of many acts heralded as the 'Biggest Group since The Beatles' and one of the most screamed-at...
. Their song "Fallen Angel", a minor single for Frankie Valli
Frankie Valli
Frankie Valli is an American musician, most famous as frontman of The Four Seasons. He is well-known for his unusually powerful falsetto singing voice...
in the 1970s, was featured in the Broadway show Jersey Boys
Jersey Boys
Jersey Boys is a jukebox musical with music by Bob Gaudio, lyrics by Bob Crewe and book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice. It is a documentary-style musical, based on one of the most successful 1960s rock 'n roll groups, the Four Seasons...
. Fletcher and Flett also discovered and nurtured the talent of singer-songwriter Chris de Burgh
Chris de Burgh
Chris de Burgh is a British/Irish singer-songwriter. He is most famous for his 1986 love song "The Lady in Red".-Early life:...
.
In 1975 Fletcher, former Onyx
The Onyx
The Onyx was formed in Wadebridge, Cornwall in 1965. Out of the ashes of Rick & The Hayseeds the band came to be known as The Onyx Set, named after an Onyx ring owned by original band member Mike Black-Borow. After various changes in the line-up they shortened their name to The Onyx and the classic...
guitarist Al Hodge
Al Hodge (rock musician)
For the actor Al Hodge of Captain Video and Green Hornet fame, see Al Hodge).Al Hodge was a guitarist and songwriter, who has had success with "Rock N Roll Mercenaries", a song that was recorded by Meat Loaf and John Parr in 1986...
and John Hodkinson formed the soft-rock trio, Rogue, who released several singles, including "Cool Clear Air", "Lay Me Down", "Lady Put The Light Out", "Too Much Too Soon", "One to One", and "Borderline", and three albums, before disbanding in 1979.
Fletcher is Chairman of the Performing Right Society
Performing Right Society
PRS for Music is a UK copyright collection society undertaking collective rights management for musical works. PRS for Music was formed in 1997 as the MCPS-PRS Alliance, bringing together two collection societies: the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society and Performing Right Society...
where he has been a director since 1998, and is Chairman and Managing Director of the rights management company, Commercial Arts Ltd. He was for twelve years chairman of The British Academy of Songwriters Composers and Authors where he led several campaigns against the erosion of composers’ rights. He has won many awards including an ASCAP award in the USA and an Ivor Novello Award in the UK, and has also written TV music, songs, commercials and music for the stage.
In 2005 he was honoured in HM the Queen's birthday honours list with an OBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
for services to British music.
Family
Fletcher has a nephew, also called Guy FletcherGuy Fletcher
Guy Wilson Fletcher is an English multi-instrumentalist, best known for his position as the keyboardist in the British rock band Dire Straits from 1984 until the group's dissolution, and his involvement in nearly every part of Mark Knopfler's solo work to date.-Biography:Fletcher was born into a...
, who is a longtime co-worker with Mark Knopfler
Mark Knopfler
Mark Freuder Knopfler, OBE is a Scottish-born British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and film score composer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for the British rock band Dire Straits, which he co-founded in 1977...
and Dire Straits
Dire Straits
Dire Straits were a British rock band active from 1977 to 1995, composed of Mark Knopfler , his younger brother David Knopfler , John Illsley , and Pick Withers .Dire Straits' sound drew from a variety of musical influences, including jazz, folk, blues, and came closest...
.
His children are Justin Fletcher
Justin Fletcher
Justin Fletcher, MBE is an English children's TV personality in the United Kingdom.Fletcher is most associated as a presenter and actor on the BBC pre-school television channel CBeebies, both speaking and performing in various often self-created roles.-Biography:Born in Reading, Berkshire, he is...
, the children's TV presenter, Amity Fletcher, the music promoter, Juliette Fletcher, ITV South News presenter and Liberty Fletcher, now in her final year at Oxford Brookes University where she is studying for a nursing degree.
Rogue album discography
- Fallen Angel (Epic 69235, 1975)
- Let It Go (Epic 81987, 1977)
- Would You Let Your Daughter (Ariola 5028, 1979)