Hey Music Mag - Issue 5 - April 2019

G FOR
A SONG
Multi-platinum songwriter and founding
member of the Songwriting Academy,
Tim Fraser was also made a member of
Hollywood Elite Composers, in Los Angeles,
last year. catches up with Tim to
discuss his songwriting chops
Words_Darren Haynes
How did you get into songwriting?
I started off, like any young
teenager, thinking I’ve got to be
in a rock band or a pop band. My
band did quite well but I didn’t like
playing live. What I wanted to do
was just write songs.
In my late teens, I was writing
songs for artists that now seem
lost in the mists of time. They were
very big business… people like
The New Seekers. But in my early
20s I could not see myself making
enough money, quickly enough, so
I stopped [songwriting].
To cut to the next phase as far as
music was concerned – and this
is some 25, 26 years after writing
some pop hits – I went out and
bought a guitar, which I kept in my
office. After a few months, I wrote
a song or two and then I needed
to record them. I found an amazing
guy – ex Cockney Rebel keyboard
player Milton Reame-James – and
got some demos together.
Someone said to me, ‘Oh, I
know Terry Britten’. Terry is one of
Britain’s great unsung heroes of
songwriting. He’s written so many
hits – Devil Woman for Cliff Richard;
What’s Love Got To Do With It and
We Don’t Need Another Hero for
Tina Turner.
I was introduced to him in his
studio. He listened to all four
demos. A few weeks later he was
producing the latest Tina Turner
album [Twenty Four Seven]. Tina
Turner’s legendary manager Roger
Davies happened to be there and
Terry played my demo. Tina never
really chose any of the songs, it
was always her manager.
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