Mike Batt 'A Songwriters Tale' album

‘A Songwriters Tale’ comprises 16 tracks representing some of the key songs of his life as a performer and writer. Batt sold hundreds of thousands of albums around the world in the 70s, 80s and 90s as a signed artist to Epic, for which label he made 6 solo albums. In addition to songs from his own albums ‘A Songwriter’s Tale’ also contains new recordings of songs written and produced by him for other artists including Art Garfunkel, The Hollies, Cliff Richard, David Essex and, most recently, Katie Melua.

Mike Batt steps back into his "artist" role with this new release of fresh recordings of his most well-known hit including ‘Bright Eyes’, ‘Soldier’s Song’, ‘A Winter’s Tale’ and ‘The Closest Thing To Crazy’.

‘A Songwriter’s Tale’ comprises 16 tracks representing some of the key songs of his life as a performer and writer. Batt sold hundreds of thousands of albums around the world in the 70s, 80s and 90s as a signed artist to Epic, for which label he made 6 solo albums. In addition to songs from his own albums ‘A Songwriter’s Tale’ also contains new recordings of songs written and produced by him for other artists including Art Garfunkel, The Hollies, Cliff Richard, David Essex and, most recently, Katie Melua.

This new album spearheads a subsequent re-release by Dramatico of the former Epic albums in six re-mastered two-album packs. The ‘Batt catalogue - (Mike Batt Archive Series)’, which will also include his scores for the film ‘Caravans’ and musical ‘The Hunting Of The Snark’ amongst others, will be released worldwide during March, April and May 2008.

Mike Batt said, "The new album has given me the chance to reinterpret some of my more well-known material. It's like a retrospective exhibition for a painter, but doing the paintings over again. I'm enjoying this return to performing and, after a short tour in Germany, shall be doing more concerts during the year in other territories including the UK."

biography
Mike Batt is one of Britain’s most successful songwriters and record producers, having composed and produced both pop and classical hits for many artists from Art Garfunkel to Vanessa Mae and Cliff Richard. He is also Deputy Chairman of the British Phonographic Industry, the body that represents UK’s record companies. His initial success was in creating the Wombles pop group, achieving eight top 30 hits in the UK in the early seventies. Wearing a Womble costume made by his mother, he appeared on television many times as Orinoco, the lead singer of the band. He wrote and produced "Bright Eyes", - Art Garfunkel’s international number one single, and collaborated with Andrew Lloyd Webber on the song "Phantom of The Opera". He has won five Ivor Novello Awards (the UK’s songwriting “Oscar”).

He made his concert debut as a conductor at the Barbican with the LSO in 1984, and has since conducted the LSO, LPO and RPO in various programmes and/or recordings of well-known repertoire pieces such as "The Planets Suite" (Holst), "Scheherazade" (Rimsky Korsakov) and "Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture" (Tchaikovsky).

In 1990 he was appointed by Margaret Thatcher as a member of the Government Working Group for music in the school curriculum. He was commissioned by Classic FM Radio to write the official Anthem for the inauguration of the Channel Tunnel by Her Majesty The Queen and President Mitterrand. He wrote a special piece, "Royal Gold" commissioned by the military for the Queen and The Duke Of Edinburgh’s 50th Wedding anniversary. This was performed for Her Majesty at the Royal Tournament, by the massed bands of the Guards, plus 100 pipers.

Much of his time recently has been devoted to guiding the career of Katie Melua, for whom he has written many songs including “The Closest Thing To Crazy”. Mike’s Dramatico record label has, during the last three years grown to become the leading UK based independent record label in Europe.

Mike is currently taking a step back into his "artist" role with this new release of fresh recordings of his most well-known hits including ‘Bright Eyes’, “Soldier’s Song”, “A Winter’s Tale” and “The Closest Thing To Crazy”.

“A Songwriter’s Tale” comprises 16 tracks representing some of the key songs of his life as a performer and writer. Batt sold hundreds of thousands of albums around the world in the 70s, 80s and 90s as a signed artist to Epic, for which label he made 6 solo albums. In addition to songs from his own albums “A Songwriter’s Tale” also contains new recordings of songs written and produced by him for other artists including Art Garfunkel, The Hollies, Cliff Richard, David Essex and, most recently, Katie Melua.

This new album spearheads a subsequent re-release by Dramatico of the former Epic albums in six re-mastered two-album packs. The “Batt catalogue - (Mike Batt Archive Series)”, which will also include his scores for the film “Caravans” and musical “The Hunting Of The Snark” amongst others, will be released worldwide during March, April and May 2008.

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Mike Batt - A Songwriters Tale