Career
He wrote a long series of hit records, often in conjunction with other British songwriters including Tony Macaulay, John Carter, Roger Greenaway, Peter Callander, Barry Mason, Ken Howard, Alan Blaikley, Don Black, Mitch Murray, and Les Reed. He began this career during his amateur theatrical days when he wrote songs and sketches for musical revues presented by his own company, the Four Arts Society, while working as a school teacher, air traffic controller and silk screen printer. This led to British Broadcasting Corporation Radio accepting some of his satirical sketches for their Monday Night at Home programme.
Subsequently becoming involved with music, in 1964 he had his first hit "Tell Maine When", co-written with Les Reed, a Top 10 hit for The Applejacks.
That year he and Peter Eden discovered and managed Donovan, producing his first hit single and debut album, What"s Bin Did and What"s Bin Hid. In 1964, Stephens wrote "The Crying Game", a Top 5 hit for Dave Berry (and later the title song of the film and a hit for Boy George).
In 1966 he formed The New Vaudeville Band, writing and recording songs in a 1920s musical style. Their debut single "Winchester Cathedral" was a Number.
1 hit in the United States. and Number.
4 in the United Kingdom Singles Chart, and covered by others including Dizzy Gillespie and Frank Sinatra. lieutenant was followed by further hits for the band, "Peek A Boo", "Finchley Central" and "Green Street Green". With John Carter, Stephens wrote "Semi-Detached Suburban Mr.
James" for Manfred Mann and, with Les Reed, "There"s a Kind of Hush" for The New Vaudeville Band.
A year later, a cover version of "There"s a Kind of Hush" was a hit for Herman"s Hermits, and it was also later a hit for The Carpenters. In 1972, his joint composition with Peter Callander of "Daddy Don"t You Walk So Fast", was recorded by Wayne Newton.
lieutenant sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. in July 1972. In 1983, Stephens and Don Black composed the songs for the West End musical Dear Anyone, followed a year later by The Magic Castle with Les Reed.
More recently he wrote "To All My Loved Ones", featured as a centrepiece of the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall.
In 2005, Stephens worked with Peter Callander and David Cosgrove on the musical production of Bonnie & Clyde. Most recently Stephens has worked with Don Black on a planned stage revival of Dear Anyone.
