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Hi there,

through the years I've learned that songs like Gonzales, F.B.I., Shotgun were in fact written by Hank Marvin / Bruce
Welch and Jet Harris. Are there any other songs where the Shadows are not named as the real writers / composers ?
Is it true that not all songs published under Marvin / Welch / Bennett / Rostill were written by the whole group
but sometimes by individuals only ?

Peter K

I know that Brian Bennett has released solo recordings under artist-pseudonyms:
- Single: "Ridin' On The Gravy Train"/"Bubble Drum", artist Thunder Company;
- Single: "Melissa"/"Little Miss Bristol", artist WASP;
- Single: "Holy Mackerel!", artist The Sound Stage Orchestra;
- Single: "Boogie To The Drummer", artist Mean Machine;
- Single: "Shake Down"/"You're Gonna Love This", artist Heat Exchange;
- 12" single: "Shake Down"/"You're Gonna Love This", artist Heat Exchange;
- Album: "Misty", artist Collage;
- Album: "One Step Ahead", artist Heat Exchange.

Also, Tony Meehan has released a single in 1984 under the name of "Little Bird", with tracks "Zola"/"Reaching Out For Gold".

I remember asking the guys at the start of the Polydor era if the songs credited to all three were sometimes only written by one member and the answer was an emphatic 'No' - they were the product of joint writing sessions. I'm guessing the same was true in the 60s, as some numbers were only credited to Hank, Bruce or John

George

Hi

The Marvin, Welch, Bennett and Rostill writing team worked together a lot and those songs credited to all four were written by all four. They worked a lot at Hank's place when he lived in Devon. Quite a lot of songs in that era were written by one or two people, ie Marvin and Rostill, Dean's Theme, and where that happened just those were credited.

Regards

Stuart