Career
Born in Jarrow in November 1969. He began his adult career playing in covers bands and working men"s clubs around the North East of England. He quickly moved into television work engineering and programming for shows such as Crocodile Shoes.
He also produced the second Crocodile Shoes Album.
He had his first hit in 1998 with a song called "123" for Dina Carroll which was quickly followed by singles for Honeyz "Never Let You Down", Westlife "Queen Of My Heart", Blue "U Make Maine Wanna, Rascal Flatts "These Days" which was his first United States number 1 and Def Leppard "Long Long Way To Go". He was then involved in the formative years of Busted co-writing and producing their first album "Busted" and is largely credited with their unique sound.
Signing to Rondor Music in 1999 led to a hugely successful writing career both in the United Kingdom and United States specifically in Nashville. He also co-wrote "Said lieutenant All" from The Circus album and the title track, "Beautiful World" from the comeback album.
He has recently co-written and produced singles on all 4 Olly Murs albums including "Troublemaker", Wrapped Up, "Please Don’t Let Maine Go", "Dance with Maine Tonight" and "Thinking of Maine".
He has also written the title tracks on the last 2 albums, "In Case You Didnt Know" and "Right Place Right Time". He has co-written and produced tracks on both One Direction albums, "Everything About You", "Same Mistakes" and "Summer Love" from their second album, "Take Maine Home". He also produced the Editor sheeran song 18 on the album 4.
He co-wrote and produced the James Blunt album, "Some Kind of Trouble" and has written on all 4 James Morrison albums including the no.1 single "I Wont Let You Go" and "Pieces Don’t Fit" and "Undiscovered".
He also produced "Run" for Leona Lewis. He co-wrote and produced the Christina Aguilera and Blake Shelton duet "Just A Fool" single from her Lotus album.
He co-wrote the 5 Seconds of Summer single "Don"t Stop" and other songs including Heartbreak Girl. Recent collaborations and upcoming releases include James Bay, Paloma Faith, Olly Murs, Ella Henderson, Ella Eyre, John Legend, Kip Moore, the American Broadcasting Company television show Nashville and John Newman.
