Mike Batt

Biography

Michael Philip Batt (born 6 February 1949) is an English singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, record producer, director, and conductor. He served as the Deputy Chairman of the British Phonographic Industry.
Batt created the novelty pop band the Wombles, after recording the theme song for the animated BBC series of the same name. He also composed the song "Bright Eyes×Bright Eyes2006 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 15 tracks1Bright Eyes3:542Railway Hotel3:253Soldiers Song4:224A Winters Tale4:165Please Don’t Fall in Love3:206Caravan Song3:447Theme from 'Caravans'3:408Lady of the Dawn4:109The Winds of Change4:0310Love Makes you Crazy4:1911I Feel Like Buddy Holly4:2412The Walls of the World3:2713System 6053:0114I Watch You Sleeping5:0415I Dine Alone4:25" for the 1978 animated film Watership Down. Batt promoted the early career of singer Katie Melua after signing her to his label, Dramatico. He wrote, arranged and produced her debut album Call Off the Search and her following two albums.
Batt has conducted the London Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony and Stuttgart Philharmonic.

Early life

Michael Philip Batt was born in Southampton, England, and attended Peter Symonds School, in Winchester.

Career

Batt began his career in pop music when he was 18 by answering an advertisement placed by Ray Williams in the New Musical Express on behalf of Liberty Records. He was initially signed as a songwriter and artist to Liberty, but at the age of 19 became the head of A&R for the label.
He signed and produced Tony (TS) McPhee's band, the Groundhogs and produced their first album, Scratching the Surface. He produced, co-wrote and played piano on Hapshash and the Coloured Coat's second album, Western Flier. Additionally, in 1969, Batt was credited as producer/artist on a Liberty single covering the Beatles' "Your Mother Should Know".

1970s

In the early 1970s, Batt was asked by the producers of a new children's television programme to write the theme music. Instead of taking his £200 fee, Batt asked for the character rights for musical production. He produced his first hits as a singer-songwriter/producer with the Wombles in 1974. The collaboration resulted in eight singles and albums that achieved gold certification.
Batt worked with various artists as a songwriter and producer, including Steeleye Span on their album All Around My Hat (1975). Also in 1975, at the end of the summer, he entered the UK Singles Chart with the only hit under his own name "Summertime City×Summertime City1975 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksASummertime City3:28BChildren of the Storm3:04" (credited to "Mike Batt with the New Edition"). The song, used as the theme music for the BBC series Seaside Special, reached number 4.
Batt produced Elkie Brooks' version of "Lilac Wine" in 1978. The song was a hit in the UK and across Europe. He also wrote the song "Bright Eyes×Bright Eyes2006 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 15 tracks1Bright Eyes3:542Railway Hotel3:253Soldiers Song4:224A Winters Tale4:165Please Don’t Fall in Love3:206Caravan Song3:447Theme from 'Caravans'3:408Lady of the Dawn4:109The Winds of Change4:0310Love Makes you Crazy4:1911I Feel Like Buddy Holly4:2412The Walls of the World3:2713System 6053:0114I Watch You Sleeping5:0415I Dine Alone4:25" for the animated film version of Watership Down. Recorded by Art Garfunkel, it reached the number 1 spot on the UK Singles Chart and was number 1 in six countries. Batt also wrote the score for the film Caravans, released in 1978.

1980s

As a singer, Batt's solo albums included Schizophonia×Schizophonia1977 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracksA1The Ride to Agadir6:41A2Berber’s Prayer2:11A3The Walls of the World3:24A4Insh’Allah5:04B1The Fires of Rabat2:58B2It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time2:56B3Bourrée1:37B4Railway Hotel3:20B5Voices in the Dark4:03B6Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood4:11 and Tarot Suite (1979, Epic Records) (both with the London Symphony Orchestra). From these albums came the European hit songs "Railway Hotel", "Lady of the Dawn×Lady of the Dawn1995 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 16 tracks1It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time2:572Lady of the Dawn4:053Railway Hotel3:224The Ride to Agadir5:535Love Makes You Crazy3:346Run Like the Wind4:307The Valley of Swords5:278Caravan Song2:059The Walls of the World3:2310The Winds of Change3:5811Mona5:5612Imbecile5:0913Theme From 'Caravans'3:4014Journey to Badek1:4715Sierra Tango2:5416Berber's Prayer2:08" and "Ride to Agadir". He worked on these recordings with such fellow artists as Colin Blunstone and Roger Chapman as singers on Tarot Suite. A version of "Introduction (The Journey of a Fool)" from Tarot Suite was used as the theme for the Sydney radio station Triple M, from its first broadcast in 1980 until the 1990s. Over the course of May 2010, this theme tune, still based on the main central riff from "Introduction (The Journey of a Fool)" was re-recorded by Slash, former Guns N' Roses guitarist, as a new theme to mark the 30th anniversary of Triple M in Sydney. This was released to air at the end of June 2010.
In 1980, Batt released the solo album Waves×Waves1980 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1 1The Winds of Change4:001 2Waves6:021 3Portishead Radio4:121 4Mona6:562 1Conga Reel3:012 2Buenos Dias, Capitan2:422 3Lobsterissimus Bumbicissimus1:092 4Fishing for the Moon3:172 5Echo Foxtrot3:142 6Sierra Tango2:562 7Waiting for a Wave2:01, recorded at Wisseloord Studios in Hilversum, Netherlands. In the same year, he sailed with his family aboard his boat, Braemar, ending up in Australia after two and a half years, travelling via France, the West Indies, South America, Central America, Mexico, Los Angeles, Hawaii and Fiji.
In 1981, on the Los Angeles–Sydney leg of the sea voyage, he was commissioned to write a piece for the 50th anniversary of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation which became the musical fantasy production Zero Zero. Batt designed, co-directed and starred in the studio-based production of Zero Zero shot at Gore Hill studios in Sydney and aired by Channel 4 TV in the UK in the week of the channel's broadcast launch in 1982. The album, featuring Batt with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, was released on Epic as a Mike Batt solo album. Batt's character Number 17 falls in love and is sent to an emotional decontamination centre called Zero Zero. The single, "Love Makes You Crazy", was released by Sony on Epic Records.
Returning to the UK in 1983, Batt wrote, produced and arranged three more Top Ten hits, "Please Don't Fall in Love" (for Cliff Richard), "A Winter's Tale" (for David Essex, with lyrics co-written by Tim Rice) and "I Feel Like Buddy Holly×I Feel Like Buddy Holly1984 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAI Feel Like Buddy HollyAI Feel Like Buddy Holly" (for Alvin Stardust). In the same year, he helped write lyrics for Abbacadabra. In 1983, he wrote and produced "Ballerina (Prima Donna)", which, recorded by Steve Harley, peaked at number 51 in the UK.
With Richard Stilgoe, Batt co-wrote the lyrics to the title song of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Phantom of the Opera", producing and arranging the single by Steve Harley and Sarah Brightman. Batt's and Stilgoe's lyrics were later partially replaced by those of Charles Hart. Batt's arrangement of the song is still used in the stage version.
The album The Hunting of the Snark×The Hunting Of The Snark1995 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Introduction2:062Children Of The Sky5:253The Bellman's Speech3:144The Escapade9:215Midnight Smoke5:586The Snooker Song3:157The Pig Must Die5:138The Beaver's Lesson3:169A Delicate Combination1:5010As Long As The Moon Can Shine5:0111Dancing Towards Disaster3:0112The Vanishing8:00, based on Lewis Carroll's poem, was recorded in 1984. However, the album was withheld from sale after a dispute with Sony Music, to whom Batt had leased the self-financed masters. Batt went ahead with a promotional concert at the Royal Albert Hall in 1987, which he filmed at his own expense and was shown on BBC2.
In the late 1980s, Batt also produced, arranged and conducted Justin Hayward's album with the London Philharmonic Orchestra entitled Classic Blue and the music for The Dreamstone. A number of stars performed for the Dreamstone soundtrack; including Billy Connolly, Ozzy Osbourne, former British heavyweight boxing champion Frank Bruno, and Bonnie Tyler. Batt performed the programme's theme song, "Better Than A Dream". The first series was completed and broadcast in 1990 and lasted for three more series, ending in 1995.

1990s

In January 1990, Batt was appointed joint musical director of the Melbourne Summer Music Festival with the State Orchestra of Victoria. Among the classical concerts and other programming he conducted, curated and performed on that visit to Australia, he programmed another costumed concert, The Hunting of the Snark, with narration by Michael Parkinson and the Bellman played by Keith Michell. On a second visit that year, Batt took the opportunity to mount a more ambitious version of the fully expanded show score at the Hills Centre in Castle Hill and at the State Theatre, Sydney. Having tried out the show in Australia, Batt moved towards securing funding and a theatre to mount the show in London's West End, and subsequently did so at the Prince Edward Theatre, opening on 24 October 1991.
The production was designed and directed by Batt and starred Philip Quast as the Bellman, David McCallum as Lewis Carroll, and Kenny Everett as the Billiard Marker. There was a 50 piece live orchestra on stage, hidden variously by venetian blinds and gauzes upon which the scenery was projected entirely from more than 200 projectors and involved 12,000 hand-prepared still slides often moving in rapid succession to create animation. This visual technique had been developed by Batt over the years since the launch of his first solo album Schizophonia×Schizophonia1977 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracksA1The Ride to Agadir6:41A2Berber’s Prayer2:11A3The Walls of the World3:24A4Insh’Allah5:04B1The Fires of Rabat2:58B2It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time2:56B3Bourrée1:37B4Railway Hotel3:20B5Voices in the Dark4:03B6Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood4:11 and had been used in his Zero Zero×Zero Zero1982 · Album · SoundtrackSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracks1Introduction (The Birth of Number 17)5:222System 6052:173Love Makes You Crazy3:384Delirium8:465Whispering Fools4:306Zero Zero7:177The Dance of the Neurosurgeons3:528No Lights in My Eyes3:099Love Makes You Crazy (instrumental reprise)3:02 TV production of 1982. The show ran for seven weeks at the Prince Edward Theatre.
In 1995, Batt made a solo album for Sony Germany, Arabesque×Arabesque1995 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1Don't Trust the Angels5:472Amy Floats Downstream4:103Battlefield Theme5:394The Flame Burns On5:365Irish Peace4:506The Closest Thing to Crazy4:387Chorale4:518Who Was the Fool?3:569Arabesque5:3010Let It Be in Your Arms2:54. Batt was then commissioned to write the official anthem for the inauguration of the Channel Tunnel by the Queen, entitled "When Flags Fly Together". This was performed for the Queen and President Mitterrand, along with many senior politicians, by The Band of the Royal Engineers, and sung by Robert Meadmore.
Batt composed and produced the four million-selling album The Violin Player, which launched classical violinist Vanessa-Mae (EMI Classics, 1995) from which the top twenty single of his arrangement of J.S. Bach's "Toccata and Fugue" was taken.
In 1997, the year of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip's golden wedding anniversary, he was commissioned by the military to compose a piece, "Royal Gold," for the massed bands of the Coldstream, Welsh, Irish, and Grenadier Guards, together with 100 pipers. The piece was performed in the presence of The Queen and Prince Philip at the Royal Tournament that year. Batt simultaneously dedicated the piece to his own parents, whose golden wedding anniversary happened to be in the same year.
The same year, Batt produced an album for the soprano Anna Maria Kaufmann, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; an original dramatic song cycle called Blame It on the Moon, from which his song, "Running with a Dream" was taken as the theme for Germany's national football team at the 1998 World Cup.
In 1998, Batt produced, arranged and conducted the album Philharmania with the Royal Philharmonic and guest singers included Joey Tempest, Roger Daltrey, Marc Almond, Bonnie Tyler, Status Quo, Huey Lewis, Kim Wilde, Justin Hayward and others. Later the same year, Batt relaunched The Wombles pop group, with two hits, "Remember You’re A Womble" and "The Wombling Song". In 2000, he collaborated with Roy Wood for a single which combined new versions of previous Christmas hits by Wizzard and The Wombles, released as "I Wish It Could Be a Wombling Merry Christmas".
Later, he composed, arranged and conducted the music for the 1999 TV series Watership Down with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. A soundtrack album starring Stephen Gately from Boyzone, Paul Carrack from Mike and the Mechanics, Cerys Matthews from Catatonia and the RPO was recorded but, owing to disagreements with the record label, was never released and subsequently acquired by Batt for his Dramatico label some years later. His orchestral suite "Watership Down×Watership Down2000 · Album · SoundtrackSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 15 tracks1Watership Down: The Beginning (Overture)4:412Bright Eyes3:583Thank You, Stars3:324On Watership Down (Folk Theme)6:075(When You're) Losing Your Way in the Rain3:406Military Theme and Development5:267The View From a Hill3:268Fantasia on a Flying Theme6:519Chase Adventure From Watership Down5:4610Baroque Tune0:3811Frith's Blessing2:5512Winter on Watership Down6:4013Winter Song4:0014A Kind of Dream (Choral Fantasy)6:2415Bright Eyes (Steve Mac version)3:46" was recorded with the RPO at this time and was released on Dramatico, in a 2 CD set with the soundtrack to Caravans×Caravans1979 · Album · SoundtrackSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 14 tracksA1Caravan on the Move4:00A2Main Title2:45A3Russian Dance1:43A4Inside Sardar Khan’s Palace1:35A5Journey to Badek1:45A6The Camp at Qualir3:02A7The Desolate Valley1:22A8Caravan Song2:04B1Qualir at Night1:45B2Storm in the Desert6:35B3Becky’s Waltz1:03B4Kochi Dancer1:13B5The Aftermath3:48B6Theme From Caravans3:38.
Also, for the 1999 release of XTC's album Apple Venus Volume 1, he wrote the orchestral arrangements for the tracks "Green Man" and "I Can't Own Her".

2000s onwards

After conceiving and co-creating the all-girl string quartet, Bond, and producing their first single, he then created the eight-piece classical crossover band, the Planets. Their album Classical Graffiti was released in February 2002. It went to number one in the UK classical music chart on the day of release and remained there for three months.
Batt agreed to pay an undisclosed six-figure out-of-court settlement to the John Cage Trust after featuring a silent track on Classical Graffiti co-credited to Cage.
He formed his own record label, Dramatico, in 2000, working with a small group of artists including Katie Melua, Carla Bruni, Marianne Faithfull, Caro Emerald, Gurrumul, and Sarah Blasko. Batt discovered Katie Melua in 2002 while scouting for a new artist with whom to work. Melua's album Call Off The Search (containing six of Batt's songs including "The Closest Thing to Crazy") was released on Dramatico in November 2003.
After six weeks at number one in the UK Albums Chart, it sold six times platinum. Over 1.8 million copies were sold in the UK and three million copies worldwide, making Melua the biggest selling UK female artist of 2004. Her second album, Piece by Piece (including Batt's song "Nine Million Bicycles") was released in September 2005, and sold 3.5 million copies in Europe, going to number one in the UK, The Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and hitting top five chart positions in eight other countries. At this point, Melua had become the biggest female UK album artist in the world for that year according to official British Phonographic Industry sales figures.
In 2008, Batt performed and released A Songwriter's Tale, a compilation album of his hits, newly recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Henry Spinetti, Ray Cooper, Chris Spedding, Mitch Dalton and Tim Harries. The album reached number 24 in the UK albums chart. In 2011, his record label, Dramatico, released the album Deleted Scenes From the Cutting Room Floor by Caro Emerald, reaching more than 400,000 UK sales and paving the way for the release of The Shocking Miss Emerald by the same artist in 2013. This album went to number one in the UK album charts.
Melua departed Dramatico in January 2014 after a ten-year contract, during which she had recorded six albums for them.
In 2018, he produced and arranged Hawkwind's album The Road to Utopia, consisting primarily of new versions of their 1970s songs with a guest appearance from Eric Clapton. He arranged and conducted a series of concerts of Hawkwind songs featuring the band and orchestra in October and November 2018.
In September 2018, the GUILD classical label released a recording of 'Holst: The Planets Suite for Large Orchestra' played by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted by Batt. The release coincided with the centenary of the composition's first performance.
In 2022, Batt launched Croix-Noire, an art project with Jean-Charles Capelli, intended to link music, comics and video games.
In 2025, Batt worked with Justin Hayward to cover "Life in a Northern Town", released on March 14.

Personal life

In August 2014, Batt was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in September's referendum on that issue.

Honours and awards

Batt has served on the boards of The Performing Right Society, the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA) and the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), being Deputy Chairman of the BPI from 2007 until November 2015. He has been a member of the Society of Distinguished Songwriters (SODS) since 1976. His awards include five Ivor Novello Awards issued by The British Academy Of Songwriters, Composers And Authors, according to their records.
Batt was appointed Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order (LVO) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to the Royal Household.
In July 2019, Batt was made a Companion of the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts by co-founder Paul McCartney.

Productions

1975: All Around My Hat – Steeleye Span
1976: "Little Does She Know" – Kursaal Flyers
1976: Rocket Cottage – Steeleye Span
1979: Hacienda View – Linda Lewis
1980: "Soldier's Song" – The Hollies
1981: Rapid Eye Movements – Autopilot
1982: "A Winter's Tale" – David Essex
1983 "Please Don't Fall in Love" – Cliff Richard
1984: "I Feel Like Buddy Holly×I Feel Like Buddy Holly1984 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAI Feel Like Buddy HollyAI Feel Like Buddy Holly" – Alvin Stardust
1989: Classic Blue – Justin Hayward / London Philharmonic Orchestra
1995: The Violin Player – Vanessa Mae
1998: Philharmania – Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / Mike Batt
2000: The Wombles Collection (34 track Double CD)
2002: The Classical Graffiti – The Planets
2003: Call Off the Search – Katie Melua
2005: After a Dream – Robert Meadmore
2005: Piece by Piece – Katie Melua
2007: Pictures – Katie Melua
2008: The Katie Melua Collection – Katie Melua
2012: Secret Symphony – Katie Melua
2013: Ketevan – Katie Melua (with Luke Batt)