Interview 06/10/10

Q1: Your biography on your webpage, says you began your life as a Steelworker, before moving into the music industry. So, what got you interested in composing, and how did you make your transition from steelworker into the music industry, what was your big break?

I always wanted to be in music but everyone in my area just naturally went into the steelworks. I was never fully committed although I learned a lot from the adult world of work. I was serving an apprenticeship in the Steelworks during the day and a second apprenticeship during the nights playing in my band Bullfrog. We got a record deal with Cube records and I just quit the steelworks. Now 34 years later the record we made for Cube records is finally selling – http://stmedia.org/power-glam/ a while back I helped our old drummer make a website about this. You can find it here www.thebullfrogstory.co.uk click on  “intro” for my story about the early years. During the band years I was always interested in writing as well as performing and I was a big fan of the Beach Boys and the Beatles in my younger days. When rock stardom didn’t quite happen I concentrated on songwriting and built a career in that. Our first producer was Roger Bain of Black Sabbath fame who was in cahoots with Gus Dudgeon doing things with Cube/Essex music (our label/publisher) Gus who was to play a part in the Eurovision story always claimed to have first met me at the Cube studios but I was only 21 and could never recall this.

Q2: How did you come to collaborate/meet with John Verity? (Can you give me a bit of background info about him?) As songwriters who writes the music, who does the lyrics? Or is it a joint effort on both?

John is a recording artist/producer. He replaced Russ Ballard in Argent. I can’t recall exactly how I came to be working with him, as a bunch of things were all happening at that time. Pete Waterman had signed me to MCA Music and he was managing a producer called Peter Collins who among other recordings produced one of my MCA songs with the Searchers. John also produced another of my MCA songs with the Searchers. I can’t recall if it was my publisher or Johns record company who introduced us. Anyway I did a couple of albums with John (or was it more) co-writing, playing bass and/or keyboards and some drum programming. All the other stuff was additional, I was there as a professional songwriter for the commercialism it was hoped I could inject. As a writer I work on both music and lyrics. When I co-write I may do one or the other but in this instance with John we both worked on music and lyrics
Q3: Was the Song For Europe competition something you had tried for before 1987? (If so any details….?) What was the motivation for entering?

I’ll have entered several times before. Most songwriters did back then when it was ran that way. The motivation is the huge careers that have been created out of it for a small number of people. I did actually have a stake in the 1983 contest in Germany as I wrote the English lyric for the Italian entry “Per Lucia”. Riccardo Fogli had actually recorded my version and it was poised for release should he win the contest. The English version would have come out in many territories so I cheered him on throughout the contest. Unfortunately Per Lucia did not do well enough to warrant an international release and my version is languishing in some studio vault in Italy.

Q4: For the song you entered in 1987, you kindly mentioned it started as Show Us Your T*its, so how did it evolve from that into I Want You At what stage was it decided to enter it into A Song For Europe?

John and I were working on his album and during a break in the pub we were discussing Muzak. He said once he’d heard Argent’s “Hold Your Head Up” played by brass band as background muzak in a pub. I think he may have been there with the actual band and mentioned watching their faces as it dawned upon them. “Is that …? – no …! it can’t be …..- you know I really think it is”. So we thought we record something really improbable ad give it to the Landlord. So we recorded a track with really smooth jazz chords and sang “Show Us Yer T*ts all the way through it but disguising our voices using a vocoder (sparkies magic piano). That evening we gave it to the pub landlord who unwittingly put it on the audio system. We then watched people with great mirth as the declared “are they singing …? – no …! it can’t be …..- you know I really think it is”. Crazily somehow the track became Bob Bartons Hit Pick in Kerang and my publishers were obliged to issue a song assignment in the name of “show us your t*ts”

Q5: Can you give me some more information about Mike Stacey? How you met, and did Mike do the demo version of I Want You ?

Mike was doing session vocals on the stuff I was recording with John Verity. We originally had Trevor Walters on the track and Mike Stacey (and Karen Sambrook) were on backing vocals. When we put the song up for Eurovision it was obligatory that year that you had to have a record ready for release etc and there was some issue about Trevor doing it so we put Mike on Lead Vocals.

Q6: What was your reaction to the song making it into the final ten songs? Had you been kept informed as to the progress it was making through the selection process? (ie It’s in the last 50, Its now in the last 20 etc?)

Obviously I was really pleased. I can’t completely recall the process and I don’t think there was much of a build-up – perhaps notification of last 20 and then a week later in the final10. Others may have a better recollection than me.

Q7: How much were you involved in the way the song would be presented, ie image, costumes etc?.

I charted out on manuscript most of the parts on the recording for the orchestrator. It was amazing to walk in on day one and hear your song played by a whole orchestra. The whole thing became a big expense and the outfits were purchased by taking an additional advance from my publisher. I was with Dick James Music at the time on a sub-publishing deal set up with Gus Dudgeon (of Elton John fame). I’d worked with Gus many times over the years and as a special favour he did the live mix in the control room the night it went out. By the time it came to choreography the money had run out so I worked out some moves for the guys in a London hotel room. You’ve got to know me to know how crazy this was – I have two left feet.

Q8: What were your expectations once you heard the other songs? Any favourites, songs you thought were better for example?

All I can remember is I liked some and not others. I cannot now recall one single one, even the one that won.

Q9: Memories of the occasion? reaction to voting and result? (Reactions of John Verity, Mike Stacey?) – Do you know what else Mike Stacey has done since A Song For Europe?

We were disappointed not to win but 5th out of ten isn’t bad. I think the week spent doing this was quite stressful. Mike is now the singer in Smokie.

Q10: Did you try and enter the contest again? (If so any details – ie any songs that didn’t get selected but went onto become hits elsewhere?)

Once and I came quite close but no big stories to tell here.

Q11: I note from your website that amongst the many artists you have written songs for is Celine Dion. Can you give me more details on which song? As Celine Dion herself won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1988, that is the sort of information that readers would be interested in?

In 1982 Sheena Easton released my song “Please Don’t Sympathise”. In 1983 Celine released her version of this song under the title Ne Me Plaignez Pas both as a single and an album track. This was in the days before she started to sing in English and it was a hit in Canada and France. For anyone charmed by the story of how Renea Angelil re-mortgaged his house to launch Celines career, well hid did so armed with one of my songs !

Q12: Did you find that entering a song in the contest either helped or hinder your career

It was a hectic period but it didn’t have much effect one way or the other

“Creating a hit song, or several can be a rewarding experience, however the song will be published, performed, recorded and sold globally. Keeping up with where the song goes, and making sure copyright is intact proves a very interesting journey for song writer Steve Thompson.

Not just in the field of writing and publishing, but as a producer and arranger for other bands and singers. Years of experience in the music industry provides a fascinating web of interwoven stories within the music industry. He takes the journey with his long established lawyer, Simon Long of Collins Long (London) with fascinating insights into the music industry, publishing and what happens once the song is internationally renowned and played, plus his own personal journey of defending his copyright with the help of Simon Long from vinyl to social media and downloading. This will be a highly entertainingevent with some very interesting stories”.

Hello,

I am the composer of “Ne Me Plaignez Pas” recorded by Celine Dion in 1983. It was originally released by Sheena Easton in 1982 under the title “Please Don’t Sympathise”

I added the Celine Dion recording of Ne Me Plaignez Pas as a non downloadable example of my work as a songwriter. Whilst I accept that I do not own the copyright of the recording or Celines performance I DO own the copyright of the song (I am it’s publisher) The recording is 26 years old and I am not misrepresenting myself, nor am I making money from having it on MySpace and I don’t think I am negatively affecting your rights or financial situation. Given all this I wonder if you would write to MySpace (their suggestion) and ask that they unblock the content. (or allow me to upload it again)

My MySpace URL is http://www.myspace.com/stmedia2

As an artist myself I can assure you that I take copyright very seriously. In this instance I think there is a little scope for leeway.

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Sony BMG saw sense in my argument and sent me a long and eloquent response they said – “you should be able to upload it now”

I still had to take the MySpace “copyright education program” which was complete and utter bollocks. One page of trivial questions and answers (they provide all the answers) and you tick OK at the bottom. None of the questions related to me so I just ticked anyway.

You can see all the Myspace Stuff by clicking on the “read more” link.

Read more! »

They have summarily removed one of my tracks with no discussion and no right to appeal. I own the copyright in the song in question. The song is Ne Me Plaignes Pas recorded by Celine Dion.

They add insult to injury by lecturing me on copyright. They clearly have not read the contents of my site; I’m no stranger to copyright. And then they say I now have to go on MySpace’s “Copyright Education Program” before I can ever upload anything again – no thanks!

Copyright is a moral and ethical issue as well as a financial one. I have done nothing morally or ethically wrong. You may have spotted this disclaimer on my site “Sound clips on this site are either my own copyright or I have some connection with the track. I have mostly used only short clips of tracks to give a flavour of it. It is not my intention to abuse the copyrights of others.”

Financially it’s another story. The track was not downloadable and I was making no money from having it on MySpace. The recording is 26 years old and long past its big money earning period. I am making no impact on Celine’s bank balance whatever nor that of her record company, indeed I may have encouraged a few sales of compilation CD’s.

In 1982 I had my biggest hit with Hurry Home by Wavelength which went top 20. Soon after I had a hit in Canada which seemed less significant at the time, except how were we to know that the singer was to become one of the most successful recording artists in the world. You may have heard the story of how Rene Angelil mortgaged his house to fund Celine’s early career! Well Celine set out on her dream of international stardom armed with one of my songs? Ne me Plaignez Pas ! – I think I deserve better treatment. Celine recorded the song in 1983 having heard Sheena Eastons 1982 recording of my song “Please Don’t Sympathise” (the English version) Shena’s version is still on MySpace (for now)

Bizarrely you can still here the song on MySpace via the YouTube Videos I posted. Click here.

View Compilation CD’s Here

My Space www.myspace.com/stmedia2

Facebook

Click image to enlarge

Through the wonders of T’internet my very first publisher Brian Oliver made contact recently. I’d had songs published and recorded before this was the first time I’d had a relationship with a publisher that to my mind is how it should work. Brian was constanly enthusiastic but equal in his criticism and commendation of my work. He was forever making suggestions for new songs and calling for re-writes and re-workings of material.

We’re just starting out on a new partnership and after some 25 years I find his enthusiasm and his demands for re-writes and more, more, more material have not waned at all. This is proving to be a very exciting time.

Way back in those days Brian used to be always calling for re-writes. He called me up one day and said “you’ve just written a hit”. He then went on to say that it was the verse of one song and the chorus of another and could I sort of just “join them together”. Of course I did so and the resulting song was a minor hit single and went Gold on a compilation album. You will find that song HERE

Another time we were sat in a pub in London and he declared that I coudl take my titles for songs from absolutely anywhere. He pointed to a sign on the wall and said, “for instance you could write a song called The Prince of Wales“. My eyes aligted on the sign below this and I declared that I would write a song on that title instead. I described the story that the title evoked and I went home the next day and wrote it. This too became a hit. CLICK HERE

Another fruitful suggestion by Brian led to some most interesting situations. I had recoded a multitude of songs and many of them were sung by The Caffrey Brothers, three real brothers with a great harmony blend. Brian suggested I form a band around the brothers and told me I had to be in it (I had at that time retired from performing) He then trouped up a series of record companies and producers to the North East that finally resulted in THIS

Brians latest publishing venture is called “Heart2Heart Music”., Watch this space!

[edited to add] Met with Brian recently in a London pub. We discussed our strategy for our latest onslaught on the pop music world. Later we noticed to our horror that the pub wasn’t sporting a single discernable song title on it’s walls. Sign of the times? Shortly aftwards he’s at it again asking for the verse of one song to be added to the chorus of another. Some things never change.