Mike Batt
Michael Philip Batt, LVO (born 6 February 1949) is an English singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, record producer, director and conductor. He was formerly the Deputy Chairman of the British Phonographic Industry.
Having attained significant international recognition as a solo artist, his notable contributions in the UK include creating The Wombles pop act, writing many hits including the chart-topping "Bright Eyes", and the introduction of Katie Melua to the music scene.
He has also conducted many orchestras, including the London Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony and Stuttgart Philharmonic in both classical and pop recordings and performances.
Early life and career[edit]
Michael Philip Batt was born on 6 February 1949, in Southampton, England. He attended Peter Symonds School, Winchester. His blog refers to his role as cadet Company Sergeant Major at the school.[1]
Batt began his career in pop music at the age of eighteen when he answered an advertisement placed by Ray Williams in the New Musical Express on behalf of Liberty Records. Batt initially signed as a songwriter and artist to Liberty, but became head of A&R for the label only months later, at the age of nineteen. He signed and produced Tony (TS) McPhee's 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. Also in 1969, Batt released as producer/artist a Liberty single, his cover version of The Beatles' "Your Mother Should Know".
2000s, 2010s and current work[edit]
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.
He formed his own record label, Dramatico, in 2000, working with a small group of artists including Katie Melua, Carla Bruni,[2] Marianne Faithfull, Caro Emerald, Gurrumul, and Sarah Blasko.[11] From 2005, Dramatico became one of the top UK based indie labels. 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, in the UK and three million copies in total, 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.[12]
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 position 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 the Batt (Dramatico) management stable and record label in January 2014 after a ten-year contract during which she had recorded six albums for Dramatico. Since 2014, Batt has guided his Dramatico organization towards a more theatrical/TV /film direction, albeit concentrating on projects which have his music at their core.
He has served on the boards of many industry organizations including 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[13] 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.[14]
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.[15]
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.[16]
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.[17]
In July 2019, Batt was made a Companion of the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts by co-founder Paul McCartney.[18]
His fantasy adventure novel The Chronicles Of Don't Be So Ridiculous Valley is published by London Street Books.[19]
In 2022, Batt launched Croix-Noire, an art project with Jean-Charles Capelli, linking music, comics and video games.[20]