Terry Britten

Terry Britten is a prolific English singer-songwriter, who has written songs for Tina Turner and Sir Cliff Richard, Olivia Newton-John, Status Quo, Michael Jackson and many others.

Career

A native of Manchester, Britten began writing for Adelaide, Australia bands Hurricanes and The Twilights, a popular 1960s band for which he played lead guitar. At times he co-wrote with Glenn Shorrock and Peter Brideoake. [http://www.atkinguitars.com/players/Britten.htm Atkin Guitars website biography of Britten] ]

After the Twilights broke up, he moved to London and wrote for Cliff Richard; eventually coming up with "Devil Woman". He was a guitarist in Richard's band for years. [http://www.abc.net.au/adelaide/stories/s1870627.htm 891 ABC Adelaide Radio website] ] Richard called "Devil Woman" his best song ever, and it brought him the heavier pop-rock image that partly typify his concerts up to today. The track became a Top 10 hit in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.

In the early 1980s, Britten's psychedelic rock song "9.50" was revived by Australia's Divinyls as a b-side to one of their singles.

In 1983 Britten, along with co-songwriters B. A. Robertson and Sue Shifrin won a Razzie Award for the Worst 'Original' Song for "Pumpin' and Blowin'" as featured in the 1982 film, "The Pirate Movie". [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0731731/bio IMDb database] ]

With Graham Lyle (ex-Gallagher and Lyle), Britten wrote "What's Love Got to Do with It" and initially sent it to Richard's office, but his representative rejected it without consultation with the singer. In later years, the Richard joked that "the man who did that doesn't work for me anymore..." Cliff Richard would however release the song on his 2001 covers album, "Wanted".

As Tina Turner's comeback million selling hit "What's Love Got to Do with It" (1984), reached #3 in the UK Singles Chartcite book
first= David
last= Roberts
year= 2006
title= British Hit Singles & Albums
edition= 19th
publisher= Guinness World Records Limited
location= London
pages= p. 569
id= ISBN 1-904994-10-5] and #1 in the Billboard Hot 100, and won Britten a Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1985. Later that year, they co-wrote "We Don't Need Another Hero" for the film "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome". Also sung by Tina Turner, the song reached #2 in the US and #3 in the UK. It got a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Original Song in 1985. It also earned Turner a 1986 Grammy nomination for best female pop vocal performance.

He also acted as a record producer for Turner, producing songs such as "Girls", "I Might Have Been Queen" and "I Want You Near Me" (the latter of which he co-wrote).

Additionally, the pair co-wrote "Just Good Friends" for Michael Jackson's "Bad" album. Other 1980s songs of note were "We Got Love" recorded by The Real Thing and "A Little TLC", from the television series "Kidd Video", which were both co-written by Britten with Lynsey De Paul.

Britten has also written songs for Olivia Newton-John, including "Love Make Me Strong" in 1981 and "Toughen Up" (with Graham Lyle) in 1985. He has additionally written songs for Meat Loaf, Melissa Manchester, Bonnie Raitt, and Hank Marvin. Britten continues to compose from his home base in rural England, but has returned to Australia on occasion, including the Twilights' reunion for the "Long Way To The Top" concert tour.

In 2002, the song "Rain, Tax (It's Inevitable)", co-written by Britten and Charlie Dore, appeared on Celine Dion's album "A New Day Has Come".

Britten presently has a home in Richmond, London.

ongwriting credits

*"9.50" - The Twilights, Divinyls
*"Absolutely Nothing's Changed" - Tina Turner
*"Afterglow" - Tina Turner
*"Always" - Cliff Richard
*"Am I Fooling Myself" - Dan Hill
*"Carrie" - Cliff Richard
*"Cathy Come Home" - The Twilights
*"Celestial Houses" - Cliff Richard
*"Change of Heart" - Diana Ross
*"Circus" - Lenny Kravitz
*"Cities May Fall" - Cliff Richard
*"Count Me Out" - Cliff Richard
*"Devil Woman" - Cliff Richard
*"Do What You Do" - Tina Turner
*"Doing Fine" - Cliff Richard
*"Don't Push Me to My Limit" - Vivienne McKone
*"Don't Talk" - Hank Marvin
*"Everybody Move" - Cathy Dennis
*"Fallin' in Luv" - Cliff Richard
*"Free My Soul" - Cliff Richard
*"Getting Away with Murder" - Meat Loaf, Randy Crawford, Patti Austin
*"Give It Up (Old Habits)" - Hall & Oates
*"Golden Days" - Bucks Fizz
*"Heart User" - Cliff Richard
*"Heaven Help" - Lenny Kravitz
*"Hold On" - Cliff Richard
*"I Bless The Day" - Mica Paris
*"I Want You Near Me" - Tina Turner
*"I Wish You'd Change Your Mind" - Cliff Richard
*"If I Never See You Again" - Marti Pellow
*"Jam Side Down" - Status Quo
*"Joseph" - Cliff Richard
*"Just Good Friends" - Michael Jackson
*"Language of Love" - Cliff Richard
*"Love Make Me Strong" - Olivia Newton-John
*"Must Be Love" - Cliff Richard
*"My Luck Won't Change" - Cliff Richard
*"Never Say Die (Give a Little Bit More)" - Cliff Richard
*"No One Can Love You More Than Me" - The Weather Girls, Melissa Manchester
*"Old Habits Die Hard" - Dusty Springfield
*"Once in a Lifetime Love" - Carl Anderson
*"One Times Two Times Three Times Four" - Rick Springfield
*"Rain, Tax (It's Inevitable)" - Celine Dion
*"Sci-fi" - Cliff Richard
*"See How The Love Goes" - The Pointer Sisters
*"She's Trouble" - Musical Youth
*"Show Some Respect" - Tina Turner
*"Something Beautiful Remains" - Tina Turner
*"Soul Inspiration" - Anita Baker
*"Spider Man" - Cliff Richard
*"Stay Awhile" - Tina Turner
*"Storm Warning" - Bonnie Raitt, Bob James
*"Straight to the Heart" - Crystal Gayle
*"Takes a Woman to Know" - Lisa Stansfield, No Angels
*"The Best is Yet to Come" - Marilyn Martin
*"The Golden Days are Over" - Cliff Richard
*"The Radio Was Playing Johnny Come Lately" - Colin Blunstone
*"The Trouble with Me is You" - Hank Marvin
*"Till The Right Man Comes Along" - Tina Turner
*"Toughen Up" - Olivia Newton-John
*"Two People" - Tina Turner
*"Typical Male" - Tina Tuner
*"We Don't Need Another Hero" - Tina Turner
*"We Got All Night" - America
*"We Got Love" - The Real Thing
*"What You Get Is What You See" - Tina Turner
*"What's Love Got to Do with It" - Tina Turner
*"While She's Young" - Cliff Richard
*"Willpower" - Taylor Dayne
*"Yes He Lives" - Cliff Richard
*"You Belong To Me" - Anita Baker
*"You Got me Wondering" - Cliff Richard
*"You Know That I Love You" - Cliff Richard [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:wcfpxq85ldae~T3 All Music Guide discography] ]

Filmography

Britten's work has appeared in the soundtracks to the following films: [ [http://movies.nytimes.com/person/83056/Terry-Britten/filmography New York Times - Britten filmography listing - accessed February 2008] ]
*"The Pirate Movie" - 1982
*"The Jewel of the Nile" - 1985
*"9½ Weeks" - 1986
*"The Taking of Beverly Hills" - 1991
*"What's Love Got to Do with It" - 1993

ee also

*People from Australian rock and pop born overseas
*List of guitarists

References

External links

*imdb name|id=1144952|name=Terry Britten
* [http://www.chartwatch.co.uk/TopTen/writers/wri515.htm Chartwatch]