Songwriter, musician. He graduated from the Royal Academy of Music but despite his classical training, became chief songwriter for British record producer Joe Meek, appeared on countless records - usually uncredited - as keyboard player, and was also one of Meek's musical translators, wrestling workable melodies out of Meek's tuneless songwriting demos. He made demos for the artists to learn their songs from, and often ghosted as vocalist for less talented artists; usually just as a guide for them to follow during recording sessions, but sometimes ending up on the actual records with his voice blended in to strengthen poor vocal performances. Among his biggest hits were "Johnny Remember Me" by John Leyton, "A Tribute To Buddy Holly" by Mike Berry and "Just Like Eddie by Heinz. He also recorded several records in his own right, which are now extremely collectible. In 1964, he broke with Meek and sued for plagiarism over The Honeycombs' international hit "Have I The Right", which he claimed was taken from a demo he had made for Meek called "Give Me The Chance". He lost the case, and returned, disillusioned with the music business, to his home town of Reading, where he worked at the University for the rest of his life. In the 1980's he unexpectedly received a platinum disc for "Johnny Remember Me", which had been reworked into a medley with Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" by Bronski Beat to great success. This inspired him to start writing again, and he met with his old friend John Leyton to discuss making an album together, although the project never surfaced. He was found dead of a heart attack at home in Reading by colleagues from the University, who had called round after becoming alarmed that he had not turned up at work for some days.