Tony Hatch
| Tony Hatch | |
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Tony Hatch pictured at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane after a Petula Clark concert, 13 October 2013
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Anthony Peter Hatch |
| Also known as | Fred Nightingale, Mark Anthony |
| Born | 30 June 1939 |
| Origin | Pinner, Middlesex |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, songwriter, pianist, music arranger , producer |
| Instruments | Keyboards |
| Years active | 1960s–present |
| Website | www.tonyhatch.co.uk |
| Notable instruments | |
| Piano, Keyboard | |
Anthony Peter "Tony" Hatch (born 30 June 1939), also credited as Fred Nightingale and Mark Anthony, is an English composer for musical theatre and television. He is also a noted songwriter, pianist, arranger and producer.
Hatch was born in Pinner, Middlesex. 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. 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, he was writing songs and making a name for himself within the recording industry, joining 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 cover version of Russ Conway's piano instrumental "Side Saddle".
In 1960, Garry Mills' (trumpeter Nat Gonella's nephew) recording of Hatch's 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.
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