Trivia

He was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2020 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to Music and charity in London, Greater London, England.

He is an English composer for musical theatre and television, and he is also a songwriter, pianist, arranger and producer.

As Mark Anthony, Hatch continued to write songs for Pye artists, including "Messing About on the River" for Josh MacRae.

Hatch also recorded various lounge style albums with his orchestra; he also made solo piano recordings and some tracks as a vocalist.

On 13 June 2013, Hatch was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, at a ceremony held at the New York Marriott Marquis.

Encouraged by his musical abilities, his mother - also a pianist - enrolled him in the London Choir School in Wansunt Road, Bexley, Kent when he was 10.

He lives in Menorca, Spain, with his third wife, Maggie.

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 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 weren't picked up for broadcast, with one member of the judging panel commenting "I don't think they'll get better with more rehearsals.

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.

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.

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 cover version of Russ Conway's piano instrumental "Side Saddle".

Not long after working as a tea boy, he 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.

He 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 performed in October 2016 at the inaugural Variety Hall of Fame Awards, with Petula Clark, and hosting "As Heard on TV" on BBC Radio 2 on 1 November 2016.

In 1963 he wrote (under the pseudonym of Fred Nightingale) the Searchers' hit "Sugar and Spice".

Though he used his real name Tony Hatch as a performer and producer, through about 1964 virtually all his compositions were credited to Mark Anthony.

His 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 performed at the Hackney Empire on 9 September 2012, for a Grand Order of Water Rats evening - 'The Golden Years of Variety'. At the piano he played the theme tunes of Emmerdale Farm, Neighbours, and Crossroads and encouraged a sing-along to "Downtown".

By mid-1964, Hatch finally began using his own name as a composer regularly, with Tony Hatch being the credited composer of many of Petula Clark's biggest mid-1960s hits, including "Downtown", "I Know a Place", and "Sign of the Times", among others.

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' 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.

In 1972, he composed the original theme to Emmerdale Farm, as well as the themes to Hadleigh and Sportsnight.

In 1964, Hatch was hired to write his first television theme, for the soap opera Crossroads. It would become one of his best-known compositions, and was re-worked by Paul McCartney and Wing.

He continued to write television themes throughout the 1960s, including the themes to Man Alive, The Champions, and The Doctors.

Tony has been associated with Variety the children's charity since 1982 and was chief barker (president) of Variety Australia between 1987 & 1989.

The couple Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent also wrote the song "Joanna", a hit for Scott Walker.

From 1985 - 1995 (whilst living in Sydney) Tony was producer and musical director of Australia's largest annual live televised festival of Christmas music, 'Carols in the Domain'.

In Australia the couple Hatch and Trent wrote one of their best known compositions, the theme for the TV soap opera Neighbours.

Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent married in 1967. Their duet "The Two Of Us" reached number three in the Australian charts in 1967 and created a demand for concert and cabaret performances earning the duo the nickname of "Mr & Mrs Music".

Though still married to his first wife, Hatch began an affair with Jackie Trent, who had become a frequent songwriting collaborator. This ongoing affair was the inspiration for the song "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love".

Hatch and Trent separated in 1995, and divorced in 2002.

One of the more unusual collaborations of Jackie Trent and Tony Hatch was the song "We'll Be With You" written for Stoke City Football Club in the club's successful run for the League Cup in 1972. The song featured the team and supporters and was recorded at the supporters club using Pye's mobile studio. The song is still sung by fans as the team runs out on match days.

He has been guest conductor in popular music concerts with the BBC Radio Orchestra, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and major Australian symphony orchestras.

During the 1970s Hatch was also a regular panellist on the talent show New Faces where his blunt style of assessing the contestants has proved to be a forerunner of approaches to come in later, similar series.

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 immediately clicked with the public and shot to number 1 in the charts.

Hatch continued to produce hit TV themes for series such as Seagull Island and Airline before moving to Australia in 1982.

After completing the music score to the movie Sweeney 2 (1978), Hatch and Trent moved to Dublin, where they remained for four years, hosting their own TV series, Words And Music and It's A Musical World.

The second Hatch/Trent musical was Rock Nativity, with book and lyrics by David Wood. Initiated and produced by Cameron Mackintosh, it first played in Newcastle. An updated version of the show toured nationally in 1976 and was broadcast nationally by Scottish TV. A full-length concert version was recorded at the Cork Opera House for the Irish television state broadcaster RTÉ.

Hatch was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to music and charity.

Hatch produced the Original Australian Cast Recording of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cats in 1985, whilst serving as the show's production musical director.

During the 1970s, Hatch and Trent diversified into musical theatre. Their first project, The Card, based on Arnold Bennett's novel, with book by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall, ran in London's West End with Jim Dale and Millicent Martin in the lead roles. An original cast album was released in 1975. A rewritten version of the show, starring Peter Duncan and Hayley Mills, played the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre in the 1990s and spawned a new cast album.

His songs have been performed or recorded by such luminaries as Paul McCartney, Frank Sinatra, George Shearing, Ella Fitzgerald, Petula Clark, Pearl Bailey, Sammy Davis Jnr, Jack Jones, Dolly Parton, Nancy Wilson and Shirley Bassey.

The songs of Tony Hatch have been featured in over 100 films, countless television productions.

Whilst still only 18, he wrote his first international hit song Look for a Star, featured in the film Circus of Horrors. It was Billy Vaughan's instrumental no. 1 in the USA.