Robert Raymond Heatlie (July 20, 1946 – April 8, 2023) was a Scottish

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

and

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

who collaborated with many music acts, both bands and solo artists. He also produced multiple musical scores for television entertainment series.

Biography

Early life

Born in Craigmillar, in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, he started learning the

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

from his father when he was six years old. He later played drums in his father's band.

Hit songs

His most successful and prominent songs are " Japanese Boy" and " Merry Christmas Everyone", both substantial 1980s pop chart hits across Europe and beyond: the former being a 1981

novelty Novelty (derived from Latin word ''novus'' for "new") is the quality of being new, or following from that, of being striking, original or unusual. Novelty may be the shared experience of a new cultural phenomenon or the subjective perception of an ...

hit, recorded by Scottish singer Aneka and released by the German record label Hansa, and the latter being a 1985-released

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

hit, recorded by Welsh artist Shakin' Stevens. Merry Christmas Everyone reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart, and has since become an annual mainstay of radio

airplay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...

around the December holidays. Heatlie wrote the songs " Cry Just a Little Bit" (1983) and " Breaking Up My Heart" (1985) for Shakin' Stevens. Heatlie wrote another track for Stevens titled "Woman (What Have You Done To Me)", included on the 1988 album, '' A Whole Lotta Shaky''. The song's remixed version of the same song was featured in Stevens' 2009 release, '' The Epic Masters''. Bob Heatlie then co-produced and remixed nine songs on Stevens' albums. The last single Heatlie worked on with Shakin' Stevens was "Radio", which was released in 1992 and featured Roger Taylor from

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

Later work

In later years, Heatlie concentrated on creating

musical compositions Musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are call ...

for

children's television Children's television series (or children's television shows) are Television show, television programs designed specifically for Child, children. They are typically characterised by easy-going content devoid of sensitive or adult themes and are ...

. His career began with the 1986 children's animation, '' The Trap Door''. He composed the music for the documentary series ''Worlds Apart'' and the television special ''The Curious Case of Santa Claus''.

Personal life and death

One of Heatlie's partners was Hungarian singer Éva Csepregi, lead vocalist of the

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

band Neoton Família. Heatlie produced her solo albums from 1985 to 1992, which gained popularity in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and across

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. In 1992, Csepregi and Heatlie had a son, Dávid. Heatlie died at home in Edinburgh on April 8, 2023, at the age of 76, after battling an illness.https://www.blikk.hu/sztarvilag/hazai-sztarok/csepregi-eva-fia-heatlie-david-edesapa/jckvlgf

Songwriting credits

Solo

* Aneka – " Japanese Boy" (single, 8 August 1981, UK No. 1) *

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is a British singer and actor. He has total sales of over 21.5 million singles in the United Kingdom and, as of 2012, was the third-top-selling artist in UK Singles Chart histo ...

– "Locked Inside Your Prison" (album track on '' Silver (Cliff Richard album)'', October 1983, UK No. 7) * Shakin' Stevens – " Cry Just a Little Bit" (single, November 5, 1983, UK No. 3) *Shakin' Stevens, " Breaking Up My Heart" (single, 2 March 1985, UK No. 14) *Shakin' Stevens, " Merry Christmas Everyone" (single, 7 December 1985, UK No. 1) *Ann Turner, "Too Hot to Handle" (runner-up in the UK's '' Song For Europe''

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

selection TV programme, 1987) *Shakin' Stevens, "Woman (What Have You Done to Me)" (album track on "A Whole Lotta Shaky," 1988)

Gordon Campbell

*Local Hero: "Why Don't You" (B-side to the single "Daydream Believer") *

Anya Anya, Ania or Anja is a given name. The names are feminine in most East European countries and unisex in several African countries. Origins and variant forms * Anya (Аня) is a Russian diminutive of Anna. * Ania is the spelling in Polish ...

– " Moscow Nights" (single, 1985) *Shakin' Stevens, "Radio" (single, 10 October 1992, UK No. 37)

For TV

*'' Professor Bubble'' theme tune *'' The Trap Door'' theme tune - vocals performed by Zygott *'' Little Robots'' (2003–2005) *'' Kipper'' (1997–2000) *''

Bob the Builder ''Bob the Builder'' is a British animated children's television series created by Keith Chapman for HIT Entertainment which ran from to in the United Kingdom through the CBBC strand and later CBeebies. The series centres on the adventures ...

'' (1997 pilot) *'' Sheeep'' (2000–2001) *'' Anthony Ant'' (1999) *'' Percy the Park Keeper'' (1996–1999) *First Report (used as the Hevrat HaHadashot theme tune for its 1996 Israeli general election special, and for its main evening news between 1997 and 2003) * Composed with David Pringle **'' Fun House'' theme tune **'' Wheel of Fortune'' theme tune (title "Spin And Win", published by KPM)

References

External links

* *
Official Shakin' Stevens website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heatlie, Bob 1946 births 2023 deaths Scottish male songwriters Scottish record producers Musicians from Edinburgh