Tony Hatch is 71 today. I'm sure we all (even those poor unfortunates who were on the receiving end of a shoeing on New Faces) wish him Many Happy Returns.
Hatch's Menorca retirement is obviously funded by his throwaway Neighbours jingle jangle, but he has a huge loungecore following who fondly remember Soul Coaxing, Man Alive, Sportsnight (with and without Coleman) and many more easy listening staples.
And that's before you even touch his Pet Clark anthems, Don't Sleep In The Subway and Downtown:
Or the perennial Crossroads - forget the shaky sets, Amy Turtle and daft Benny - you can even forget the lamentable Macca cover version. Just remember this:
71 - well really, I always got him confused with Tony Bastable as a tot. I've got a properly funky version of Crossroads by The Graham Walker Sound, shout, and I'll upload if you fancy a copy.
ReplyDeletePS there's a great Benny Hill take on New Faces if you can track it down
ReplyDeleteHe was really mean on New Faces, the Simon Cowell of the Seventies, but no one but just a handful of us remember that.
ReplyDeleteA true talent indeed.
Ooh, Tony Hatch was a right little snipey rodent-face, but he was hugely entertaining.
ReplyDeleteWatching that Crossorads montage was a bit of a shock. Adam Chance used to live in a seafront flat up the road from me. He used to walk his Jack Russell around Brighton Marina, in a Kevin Spacey sort of way.
M- Tony Bastable had a much cooler haircut, do you not think?
ReplyDeleteFC- At least Hatch didn't have a trouser waistband tucked under his chin.
ISBW- Do you remember Adam Chance on General Hospital? I think it occupied that post lunch Crown Court slot if memory serves.
And he was a big noise at Pye. Home of The Kinks. God Bless 'im.
God yes, I remember General Hospital from when I was off sick from school. Wasn't he called Dr Neville Bywater (I swear I didn't Google first) and was the A & E heart throb?
ReplyDeleteDing Dong!
ReplyDeleteTony Hatch... now there is a name I'd long forgotten. Didn't he write the Neighbours theme as well?
ReplyDeleteGreat post title.
ReplyDeleteClearly, one of the benefits of not being English is that I have absolutely no negative associations at all with Tony Hatch. He is just the genius behind Don't Sleep in the Subway - one of the most popular tunes on my ipod.
ReplyDeleteNo... is he really 71? Well that makes me feel very old!
ReplyDeleteLove 'Don't sleep in the subway' - it will be going round my head all day.. thanks for dropping by and the comment on my blog - glad you like my hat!
S