Fletcher was born on 21 April 1944 in
St Albans,
Hertfordshire, England. He was educated at
Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School. Fletcher and Flett's first UK top 10 success was with
the Hollies' "
I Can't Tell the Bottom from the Top" (1970), and they also had hits with songs performed by
Cliff Richard, "
With the Eyes of a Child", "
Sing a Song of Freedom", "
Baby You're Dynamite" and "
Power to All Our Friends", which was the UK entry for the
1973 Eurovision Song Contest, achieving third place. Their greatest international success was with "
Save Me", a No. 6 hit on the
Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart, when released in 1983 by
Louise Mandrell. "Save Me" was also a
Billboard Hot 100 entry for American stars Donna McDaniel and
Merrilee Rush in 1977 and was recorded by
Helen Reddy for her 1981 album
Play Me Out. In 1977, the South-African band Clout had a hit with it around Europe (No. 4 in Germany and Switzerland, No. 5 in Belgium, No. 6 in the Netherlands). Fletcher and Flett also wrote hits for
Ray Charles ("Is There Anyone Out There"),
Tom Jones,
Joe Cocker ("
Lady Put the Light Out") and the
Bay City Rollers ("Dedication"). Fletcher and Flett also discovered, managed and published for
Chris de Burgh. where he had been a director since 1998. He served six years as chairman and was succeeded by Nigel Elderton. Fletcher is chairman and managing director of the rights management company, Commercial Arts Ltd. He was for twelve years the chairman of the
British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors, Fletcher has also composed TV music, songs, commercials and music for the stage. In 2005, he was honoured in
HM the Queen's
birthday honours list with an
OBE for services to British music. ==Family==