Doug Flett

Doug Flett
Born	Douglas Jackson Flett 13 October 1935 Australia[1]
Origin	London, England
Died	15 July 2019 (aged 83)
Genres	Pop
Occupation	Songwriter
Years active	1965–2019

Douglas Jackson Flett (13 October 1935 – 15 July 2019) was an Australian songwriter based in the UK, best known for his collaborations with longtime songwriting partner, Guy Fletcher. Collectively, the duo have also been known as Fletcher & Flett. Since the mid-1960s, they wrote and composed hit songs for many artists.

Career

Before moving to London in the early 1960s, Flett had worked in Sydney as a TV cameraman and in advertising. While in London, he was introduced to Guy Fletcher in 1965 by Shadows drummer Tony Meehan through a phone call, and the two met up. Since then, the duo wrote many songs for a wide number of artists including Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, Cliff Richard and Frankie Valli.^[2]

Flett and Fletcher's song "Save Me" (originally recorded by Merrilee Rush in 1977) was later covered by several other artists:

• Brian Chapman - 1977
• Clodagh Rogers - 1977
• Donna McDaniel - 1977
• Clout - 1978
• Mary Wilson of The Supremes - 1980
• Louise Mandrell - 1983

In 2016, they were each awarded a Gold Disc for their song "Just Pretend" due to sales of the Elvis Presley & Royal Philharmonic Orchestra compilation album The Wonder of You; the song features twice on the album, including a duet version with Helene Fischer.^[3]

Death

It was announced that Flett had died on 15 July 2019 after a long illness.^[4] He was survived by his daughter, journalist and broadcaster Kathryn Flett.^[5][6]

References

1. "My Son John - THE REBELS (1969) - Pop Archives - Sources of Australian Pop Records from the 50s, 60s and 70s". Poparchives.com.au.
2. "PRS Chairman Celebrates 50 Years of Songwriting". M-magazine.co.uk. 6 November 2015. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
3. "PRS Chairman Receives Gold Disc". M-magazine.co.uk. 13 December 2016. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
4. Tributes paid to Doug Flett, 20 July 2019, Ivors Academy. Accessed 19 August 2019
5. "Doug Flett obituary". The Times.
6. The International Who's Who of Women 2002 p. 179, ed. Elizabeth Sleeman.

External links

• Doug Flett discography at Discogs