He was born in Newport, Wales, and studied at the Royal Academy of Music and worked as music teacher at Robert Richardson Grammar School, Ryhope, near Sunderland In the late 1950s early 1960s before working as a songwriter with music publishers Carlin Music.
He is most associated with songs written for Dusty Springfield, including "Losing You" (co-written with Tom Springfield) and "All I See Is You" (co-written with Ben Wiseman) — both of which peaked at northern 9 on the United Kingdom singles chart, in 1964 and 1966 respectively — and "I Close My Eyes and Count To Ten", which reached northern 4 in the United Kingdom in 1968. He also co-wrote "Here I Go Again" with Mort Shuman for The Hollies —a United Kingdom northern
4 in 1964 — and wrote songs recorded by Shirley Bassey, Vera Lynn, Elvis Presley, Petula Clark, Cilla Black, Tom Jones, Roger Whittaker, Crystal Gayle and others
He moved to Nashville in 1980. He died at his home in Pegram, Tennessee, at the age of 67.
