Nicky Chinn

Nicholas Barry "Nicky" Chinn^[1] (born 16 May 1945,^[2] London, England) is an English songwriter and record producer. Together with Mike Chapman he had a long string of hit singles in the UK and US in the 1970s and early 1980s, including several international number-one records. The duo wrote hits for Suzi Quatro, Mud, The Sweet, New World, Arrows, Racey, Smokie, Tina Turner, Huey Lewis and the News and Toni Basil.^[3]

Career

Chinn was born to an affluent London Jewish family, that owned a string of service stations and car sales distributorships. As a young man his talent for writing successful pop songs was obvious and within a month or two of his first efforts as a songwriter, Chinn co-wrote with Mike d'Abo the two main songs for the hit film, There's a Girl in My Soup (1970).^[3]

It was at this point that Chinn joined the Australian-born Mike Chapman, who was a waiter at a night club Chinn frequented, and they decided to team up. Chapman was already a professional musician and songwriter with the band Tangerine Peel, and the two quickly joined up with Mickie Most's RAK label. They began writing songs for a new glam rock band, Sweet, and their compositions accounted for all the singles the band released in their early years.^[3]

Chinn's and Chapman's songwriting style was so successful with British and worldwide audiences, that Sweet had an uninterrupted string of million-selling hits in the next few years. These included "Co-Co", "Little Willy", "Wig-Wam Bam", "Blockbuster!" "The Ballroom Blitz", "Hell Raiser" and "Teenage Rampage".^[3] " Ballroom Blitz" entered the UK Singles Chart at number two – an unusual feat in those days. "Little Willy" and "Ballroom Blitz" both went on to be top five hits in America.

Chinn and Chapman stopped working with Sweet in 1975 but achieved equal success worldwide with Suzi Quatro, for whom they wrote many hits. These include "48 Crash" and the No.1 singles "Can the Can" and "Devil Gate Drive". Chinn and Chapman found their next big success with Mud who had hits with a number of their compositions between 1973 and 1975, including two number ones in "Tiger Feet" and "Lonely This Christmas". Smokie became Chinn and Chapman's next project and they had a number of hit singles with them between 1975 and 1978 including the worldwide hit "Living Next Door to Alice".^[3]

In 1978, the two scored their first number one in the United States with Exile's "Kiss You All Over",^[3] and Suzi Quatro and Chris Norman reached number four in the same year with their duet "Stumblin' In".^[4] In 1982 "Mickey" by Toni Basil gave the two their second American number one,^[3] and in the mid 1980s they had top ten hits with Tina Turner's "Better Be Good To Me",^[5] and Huey Lewis's "Heart and Soul".^[6]

1980s-2000s

Chinn and Chapman gradually separated during the early 1980s, finally splitting up in 1983. Chinn's twelve-year stint with Chapman had made him co-writer of over fifty Top 40 hits. In 1983 he co-wrote "Dancing in the Dark", a UK hit for Kim Wilde.^[7]

During their careers they were recipients of three Ivor Novello Awards for songwriting,^[8] including the Jimmy Kennedy award for outstanding career achievement in 1997.^[9]

During the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, Nicky Chinn suffered from ill health causing an enforced break in his career. He returned in 2004 and started working with various writers including Jorgen Elofsson, and they wrote "You Must Have Had a Broken Heart" for Westlife's 2006 album Back Home,^[10] which went to number one in the UK Albums Chart selling over a million copies.^[11]

Chinn now spends time in Nashville, Tennessee, working with many writers there. He co-wrote "Live Like There's No Tomorrow" recorded by Selena Gomez for her 2010 album, A Year Without Rain, which debuted at number 4 on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart.^[12] The song was also featured in her Disney movie Ramona and Beezus.^[13] Also while in Nashville he co-wrote "A Beautiful Life", which was recorded by Donny and Marie Osmond for their 2010 album, Donny & Marie.^[14]

Singles

• 1971:

New World: "Tom Tom Turnaround"

The Sweet: "Funny Funny", "Co-Co", "Alexander Graham Bell"

• 1972:

The Sweet: "Poppa Joe", "Wig-Wam Bam"

• 1973:

Mud: "Crazy", "Hypnosis", "Dyna-Mite"

Suzi Quatro: "Can the Can", "48 Crash", "Daytona Demon"^[15]

The Sweet: "Block Buster!", "Little Willy", "Hellraiser", "The Ballroom Blitz"

• 1974:

Arrows: "Touch Too Much"

Mud: "Tiger Feet", "The Cat Crept In", "Rocket", "Lonely This Christmas"

Suzi Quatro: "Devil Gate Drive", "Too Big", "The Wild One"

The Sweet: "Teenage Rampage", "The Sixteens", "Turn It Down"

• 1975:

Mud: "The Secrets That You Keep", "Moonshine Sally" (originally recorded in 1972), "One Night"

Suzi Quatro: "Your Mama Won’t Like Me"

Smokie: "If You Think You Know How to Love Me", "Don't Play Your Rock 'n' Roll to Me"

• 1976:

Smokie: "Something's Been Making Me Blue", "I'll Meet You at Midnight", "Living Next Door to Alice"

• 1977:

Suzi Quatro: "Tear Me Apart"

• 1978:

Exile: "Kiss You All Over"

Suzi Quatro: "If You Can't Give Me Love"

Suzi Quatro & Chris Norman: "Stumblin' In"

Racey: "Lay Your Love On Me"

• 1979:

Racey: "Some Girls"

References

External links

• Discogs.com