Scott English

Songwriter, producer BORN 1937

Brooklyn native Sheldon English’s first brush with fame came when he scored a regional hit with late doo-wop song High On A Hill in 1964. Four years later, he co-wrote Bend Me, Shape Me – a hit for The American Breed and, in the UK, Amen Corner – with Larry Weiss (who composed Glen Campbell’s 1975 hit Rhinestone Cowboy). With Weiss, English also wrote Help Me Girl, a success for The Animals in 1966, and Hi Ho Silver Lining, an atypical hit for Jeff Beck in 1967. He would produce Thin Lizzy’s debut in 1971, the same year he had a Number 12 UK hit with his co-write Brandy, released on the Trojan side-label Horse. In 1974 Barry Manilow would re-purpose the song as Mandy, scoring his first American Number 1; English was initially displeased but admitted later that the resulting royalties from Manilow’s and many other versions soothed his pain. He never stopped writing: one late composition was the UK Eurovision Song Contest entry in 1998. Clive Prior