Geoff Morrow

Geoffrey Stanton "Geoff" Morrow (born 16 May 1942, London, England)[1] is a British songwriter and businessman. His compositions have been recorded by Sandie Shaw,[2] The Carpenters,[3] Elvis Presley,[4] Johnny Mathis,[5] Jessie J,[6] Barry Manilow[7] and many other musicians. Many of his early compositions were co-written by David Martin and/or Chris Arnold, with whom he also recorded, both as 'Arnold, Martin and Morrow' and under the group name of 'Butterscotch'.[8] Fellow songwriter and producer Phil Wainman played the drums for Butterscotch.

Morrow and Arnold's first big songwriting success was "In Thoughts of You", taken to the top ten in the UK Singles Chart by Billy Fury in 1965.[9] All three songwriters composed "Annabella", originally recorded in the UK by Dave Dee without chart success,[10] but which reached the US charts via a cover version by Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds in 1971.[11] The writers themselves (as Butterscotch) scored another top twenty UK hit in 1970 with "Don't You Know (She Said Hello)".[12]

Arnold, Martin and Morrow went on to compose "Can't Smile Without You", made famous by Barry Manilow.[7] Morrow also co-wrote four songs for Elvis Presley, with whom he spent time, and Presley made the song "Let's Be Friends" the title track of an album.[13]

Morrow formed two record companies. One record company was sold to RCA and the other to EMI. In 1990, he bought the Manchester Opera House and Palace Theatre, Manchester, for £6 million and produced numerous shows there.[14] He was a director and major shareholder of Caesars Palace, Luton.[14] He wrote five musicals, which have been produced. His latest, A Legendary Romance,[15] produced by Laurence Myers, successfully "tried out" in New Hampshire.[16] He has also written several screenplays including Don't Go Breaking My Heart. Morrow collaborated with David Simmons to stage two plays. These were Obits, a series of sketches based on obituaries, featuring characters including, Enid Blyton, Ernie Wise and Hitler; and The Boy Who Was Woody Allen, which has been adapted into a full scale musical comedy, Being Woody Allen, and was produced by Michael Grade and Michael Linnit in 2017.[17]