Geoff Stephens, the Grammy Award winning songwriter who wrote hits from The Hollies, Hermans Hermits, Boy George and Tom Jones, has died from Covid-19 at the age of 86.
Stephens passed away on 23 December. His death has now been announced by his family.
Stephens first hit was ‘Tell Me When’ by The Applejacks in 1964.
In 1964 he wrote ‘The Crying Game’. It was originally a hit for Dave Berry and later Boy George.
In 1966, Stephens formed The New Vaudeville Band and wrote their biggest hit ‘Winchester Cathedral’.
The hits were numerous over the next 10 years. The wrote Manfred Mann’s ‘Semi-Detached Suburban Mr James’, Hermans Hermits ‘There’s A Kind of Hush’, The Hollies ‘Sorry Suzanne’, Tom Jones ‘Daughter of Darkness’, Cliff Richard ‘Goodbye Sam, Hello Samantha’, Mary Hopkin ‘Knock Knock Who’s There’, The Drifters ‘Like Sister and Brother’, Hot Chocolate ‘I’ll Put You Together Again’, Wayne Newton ‘Daddy Don’t You Walk So Fast’, David Soul ‘Silver Lady’, and The New Seekers ‘You’ll Never Find Another Fool Like Me’.
Stephens was awarded the Gold Badge of Merit by the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors in 1995.
Geoff Stephens contracted pneumonia after being diagnosed with Covid-19.
In a post Tim Rice said, “Very sad news in that the great British songwriter Geoff Stephens has died. He wrote many hits including standards such as A Kind Of Hush, The Crying Game and the wonderfully wacky Winchester Cathedral (covered by Sinatra among others) RIP a major talent and lovely chap”.
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