Alan Tarney

Alan Tarney (born on 19 November 1945) is an English songwriter, record producer and bass guitarist. He was born in Workington, Cumberland, England, but spent his teenage years in Adelaide, Australia where he met his songwriting and musical partner Trevor Spencer.^[1]

Career

Tarney was part of the huge influx of British migrants who settled in Adelaide during the height of '60s pop music boom. His first major group in Australia was The James Taylor Move, a four-piece outfit regarded as one of Australia's first psychedelic rock bands; the original lineup comprised Tarney on bass, his longtime collaborator Trevor Spencer on drums, Kevin Peek on lead guitar and Robert (R.J.) Taylor on vocals. Both The James Taylor Move and their rising-star contemporaries The Twilights were formed by various members of two earlier Adelaide bands, Johnny Broome and the Handels, and The Hurricanes.^[2]

James Taylor Move's early concerts were in support of The Twilights, who soon moved to Melbourne. JTM built up a solid following in Adelaide and in early 1967 they won the South Australian final of the Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds. They headed to Melbourne in July for the national finals, and although they were defeated by The Groop they decided to remain there.

Securing a deal with Festival Records they released their debut single "And I Hear The Fire Sing" / "Magic Eyes" in August 1967. The A-side was apparently considered too radical for local radio, but the B-side was picked up, received plenty of airplay in the southern states and became a Top 40 hit in Melbourne. In October Festival released their second and final single, "Baby Jane", backed by the raga-influenced "Still I Can Go On".

Kevin Peek left the band in May 1968, and was replaced by two new members, John Pugh (ex-Roadrunners, 18th Century Quartet, Cam-Pact) and organist Lance Dixon. Lead singer Robert Taylor left the following month, and he was replaced by 18-year-old blues/soul singer Wendy Saddington. This second lineup lasted only a few more months and regrettably made no commercial recordings before their split at the end of 1968.

Alan Tarney and Trevor Spencer were next reunited with Kevin Peek in The Kevin Peek Trio (1968–69). They moved back to the UK in 1969, where they recruited an old Adelaide friend Terry Britten (ex Twilights) to join the group, which was then renamed Quartet (1969–70).

Quartet recorded one album with Decca records which remains unreleased but 2 singles were released on Decca: "Joseph"/"Mama where did you fail" (1970) F13072 and "Now"/"will my lady come" (1970) F12974.

After the demise of Quartet, the four members became a session musicians and songwriters, recording and writing for many top UK acts including Cliff Richard and Olivia Newton John. Around this time Tarney also joined The Shadows and was a member from 1973 to 1977. He performed backing all three artists in the Eurovision Song Contest three years running: 1973, 1974 and 1975. In 1975 he was one half of Tarney-Spencer Band along with Trevor Spencer.^[3] They signed a 10-album deal with A & M Records, but met with little success and after three album releases, the group disbanded and discontinued their contract with agreement by the record company.^[2]

In 1979, Tarney began the biggest period of his career when he wrote and arranged the Cliff Richard No.1, "We Don't Talk Anymore".^[4] This led to him becoming producer of his next few albums and was responsible for albums such as I'm No Hero (1980) and Wired for Sound (1981). At this time he also wrote and produced artists such as Barbara Dickson and Leo Sayer - his distinctive sound being heard on hit singles "January February" and "More Than I Can Say".^[5][6] Tarney went on to even bigger success when he teamed up with Norwegian group a-ha. Producing the second version (after Tony Mansfield) of their first single "Take On Me", the song became a massive worldwide hit and he went on to produce the group's first three albums.^[7] He also produced David Cassidy's comeback 1985 album Romance, which included the top ten hit "The Last Kiss".^[8] His other production credits include Bow Wow Wow, The Moody Blues, The Dream Academy's "Life In A Northern Town", Squeeze, Matthew Sweet, Voice of the Beehive, the Princess Diana tribute album and Pulp's hit single "Disco 2000".

Alan Tarney currently lives in Richmond, London. He has a daughter, Mia, a professional artist painter and a son, Oliver, who works in the music industry.^[2]

Selected discography

With The Tarney-Spencer Band

Albums:

• 1976 Tarney and Spencer (Bradley's)
• 1978 Three's a Crowd (A & M)
• 1979 Run for Your Life (A & M)
• UICY-90680: A&M 60's & 70's Single Box [Japanese Import] - features 2 tracks by the Tarney/Spencer band. 5 CD box set.

CD reissues

• 2003 Tarney and Spencer (Castle Communications plc), UK + 4 bonus tracks.
• 1993 Run for Your Life (polydor), German. 1,500 copies.
• 19?? Three's a Crowd (?), Canada.
• 19?? Run for Your Life (?), Canada.
• 2009 Three's a Crowd (Tone Arm, Digipak), Sweden + 4 bonus tracks.
• 2009 Run for Your Life (TONE TA 0004, Digipak), Sweden + 4 bonus tracks.

Producer

Singles:^[9][10]

Note that all chart placings refer to UK charts only.

• "January February" by Barbara Dickson (1980 #11)
• "Dreamin'" by Cliff Richard (1980 #8)
• "More Than I Can Say" by Leo Sayer (1980 #2)
• "A Little in Love" by Cliff Richard (1981 #15)
• "Wired for Sound" by Cliff Richard (1981 #4)
• "Annie Get Your Gun" by Squeeze (1982 #43)
• "The Last Kiss" by David Cassidy (1985 #6)
• "Take on Me" by a-ha (1985 #2)
• "The Sun Always Shines on TV" (1985 #1)
• "Train of Thought" by a-ha (1986 #8)
• "Hunting High and Low" by a-ha (1986 #5)
• "I've Been Losing You" by a-ha (1986 #8)
• "Cry Wolf" by a-ha (1986 #5)
• "Manhattan Skyline" by a-ha (1987 #13)
• "My Pretty One" by Cliff Richard (1987 #6)
• "Some People" by Cliff Richard (1987 #3)
• "Stay on These Roads" by a-ha (1988 #5)
• "Touchy! " by a-ha (1988 #11)
• "You Are the One" by a-ha (1988 #13)
• "Lean on You" by Cliff Richard (1989 #17)
• "Stronger Than That" by Cliff Richard (1990 #14)

Albums:

• Living in a Fantasy by Leo Sayer (1980 UK#15)
• The Barbara Dickson Album by Barbara Dickson (1980 UK#8)
• I'm No Hero by Cliff Richard (1980 UK#4)
• You Know it's Me by Barbara Dickson (1981 UK#39)
• Wired for Sound by Cliff Richard (1981 UK#4)
• Romance by David Cassidy (1985 UK#20)
• Hunting High and Low by a-ha (1985 UK#2)
• Scoundrel Days by a-ha (1986 UK#2)
• Always Guaranteed by Cliff Richard (1987 UK#5)
• Fortune and Men's Eyes by Jennifer Hall (1987)
• Stay on These Roads by a-ha (1988 UK#2)
• Stronger by Cliff Richard (1989 UK#7)
• Wanted by Cliff Richard (2001 UK#11)

Studio session musician for:

• Olivia Newton John
• The Real Thing
• Bonnie Tyler
• The Drifters
• The New Seekers^[11]
• Bow Wow Wow
• Squeeze

See also

• Tarney-Spencer Band

References

External links

• http://www.discogs.com/artist/Alan+Tarney