Peter Callander (born Peter Robin Callander, 10 October 1939) is a British songwriter and record producer.[1]
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Active from the 1960s to the present day, Callander has written or co-written songs that have been performed by recording artists such as Cilla Black, Tom Jones, Cliff Richard, Shirley Bassey, and The Tremeloes, among many others.[2]
Callander has often worked in conjunction with Mitch Murray with Murray writing the music and Callander the lyrics for their compositions. The two have also teamed together to produce recording artists such as Paper Lace, Tony Christie, and The Brothers.
While Callander was especially prolific during the 1960s and 1970s, his oeuvre continues to be performed and recorded today. In 2005, Tony Christie spent seven weeks at number one on the UK Singles Chart with the Murray and Callander produced tune, "Is This the Way to Amarillo."[3] Also in 2005, Swedish pop singer Agnetha Fältskog recorded the tune, "A Fool Am I," for her successful comeback album, My Colouring Book, a collection of covers of classic 1960s pop tunes.[3] Callendar provided the English language lyrics to what had originally been an Italian language song.
In an interview in The Times (of London) in which he described another Murray-Callander penned tune, "Las Vegas," Tony Christie noted that the two "were the star songwriters of the day."[4]
"They write brilliant, melodic, story-based songs," he stated. "To this day I still write with Peter."