Tony Coulter

Philip Coulter (born 19 February 1942) is an Irish musician, songwriter and record producer from Derry, Northern Ireland. He was awarded the Gold Badge from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors in October 2009. Coulter has amassed 23 platinum discs, 39 gold discs, 52 silver discs, two Grand Prix Eurovision awards; five Ivor Novello Awards, which includes Songwriter of the Year; three American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers awards; a Grammy Nomination; a Meteor Award, a National Entertainment Award and a Rose d'or d'Antibes. He is one of the biggest record sellers in the island of Ireland. His well known songs include "The Town I Loved So Well", "Puppet on a String" and "Congratulations". == Early years == Coulter was born in Derry, Northern Ireland where his father (from Strangford, County Down) was one of a minority of Catholic policemen in the Royal Ulster Constabulary. His mother was from Belfast. He was the fourth child with two older brothers and a sister and one younger sister, each born with a year's difference between them, in a two-up two-down terraced house. Coulter's father, also called Phil, encouraged music in the house. He played the fiddle whilst his wife played the upright piano. The younger Coulter recalls this piano, made by Challen, as "the most important piece of furniture in the house". One of Coulter's most popular songs, "The Town I Loved So Well", deals with the embattled city of his youth, filled with "that damned barbed wire" during the Troubles. == Education == Coulter spent his secondary school years at St. Columb's College. He later studied music and French at Queen's University Belfast (QUB). == Beginnings of a career in music == He started his first band at Queen's University, playing early rock and roll music despite studying classical music. Coulter was also founder of the Glee Club, which staged music events for the university. By 1964, his final year at university, Coulter had already written a couple of hit songs in Ireland and he moved to London, where his first job was as an arranger/songwriter with a music publisher in Denmark Street. From here he was hired to work with acts including Billy Connolly, Van Morrison, Jerry Lee Lewis and Tom Jones. He wrote "Foolin' Time" (1963), a hit for the Capitol Showband. Other songs he contributed to around that time included his arrangement of "Terry" (1964), a UK No. 4 hit for Twinkle, plus co-writing "I Can Only Give You Everything" with Tommy Scott, which was originally recorded by Them. == Songwriting partnership with Bill Martin == In 1965, he met Bill Martin and the two became established as a successful songwriting team that lasted more than ten years (Martin for the lyrics, Coulter for the melody). They wrote Sandie Shaw's 1967 Eurovision-winning entry, "Puppet on a String", which became an international hit which was covered more than a hundred times. The following year their song "Congratulations", sung by Cliff Richard, came