Batt began his career in pop music when he was 18 by answering an advertisement placed by
Ray Williams in the
New Musical Express on behalf of
Liberty Records. He was initially signed as a songwriter and artist to Liberty, but at the age of 19 became the head of
A&R for the label. He signed and produced
Tony (TS) McPhee's band, The Groundhogs and produced their first album,
Scratching the Surface. He produced, co-wrote and played piano on
Hapshash and the Coloured Coat's second album,
Western Flier. Additionally, in 1969, Batt was credited as producer/artist on a Liberty single covering
The Beatles' "
Your Mother Should Know".
1970s In the early 1970s, Batt was asked by the producers of a new children's television programme to write the theme music. Instead of taking his £200 fee, Batt asked for the character rights for musical production. and
Tarot Suite (1979,
Epic Records) (both with the
London Symphony Orchestra). From these albums came the European hit songs "Railway Hotel", "Lady of the Dawn" and "". He worked on these recordings with such fellow artists as
Colin Blunstone and
Roger Chapman as singers on
Tarot Suite. A version of "Introduction (The Journey of a Fool)" from
Tarot Suite was used as the theme for the
Sydney radio station
Triple M, from its first broadcast in 1980 until the 1990s. Over the course of May 2010, this theme tune, still based on the main central
riff from "Introduction (The Journey of a Fool)" was re-recorded by
Slash, former
Guns N' Roses guitarist, as a new theme to mark the 30th anniversary of Triple M in Sydney. This was released to air at the end of June 2010. In 1980, Batt released the solo album
Waves, recorded at Wisseloord Studios in
Hilversum, Netherlands. In the same year, he sailed with his family aboard his boat, Braemar, ending up in Australia after two and a half years, travelling via France, the West Indies, South America, Central America, Mexico, Los Angeles, Hawaii and Fiji. In 1981, on the Los Angeles-Sydney leg of the sea voyage, he was commissioned to write a piece for the 50th anniversary of the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation which became the musical fantasy production
Zero Zero. Batt designed, co-directed and starred in the studio-based production of
Zero Zero shot at Gore Hill studios in Sydney and aired by
Channel 4 TV in the UK in the week of the channel's broadcast launch in 1982. The album, featuring Batt with the
Sydney Symphony Orchestra, was released on Epic as a Mike Batt solo album. Batt's character Number 17 falls in love and is sent to an emotional decontamination centre called Zero Zero. The single, "Love Makes You Crazy", was released by Sony on Epic Records. Returning to the UK in 1983, Batt wrote, produced and arranged three more
Top Ten hits, "
Please Don't Fall in Love" (for
Cliff Richard), "
A Winter's Tale" (for
David Essex, with lyrics co-written by
Tim Rice) and "
I Feel Like Buddy Holly" (for
Alvin Stardust). In the same year, he helped write lyrics for
Abbacadabra. With
Richard Stilgoe, Batt co-wrote the lyrics to the title song of
Andrew Lloyd Webber's "
Phantom of the Opera", producing and arranging the single by
Steve Harley and
Sarah Brightman. Batt's and Stilgoe's lyrics were later partially replaced by those of
Charles Hart. Batt's arrangement of the song is still used in the stage version. The album
The Hunting of the Snark, based on
Lewis Carroll's poem, was recorded in 1984. However, the album was withheld from sale after a dispute with Sony Music, to whom Batt had leased the self-financed masters. Batt went ahead with a promotional concert at the Royal Albert Hall in 1987, which he filmed at his own expense and was shown on
BBC2. In the late 1980s, Batt also produced, arranged and conducted
Justin Hayward's album with the
London Philharmonic Orchestra entitled
Classic Blue and the music for
The Dreamstone. A number of stars performed for the
Dreamstone soundtrack; including
Billy Connolly,
Ozzy Osbourne, former British heavyweight boxing champion
Frank Bruno, and
Bonnie Tyler. Batt performed the programme's theme song, "Better Than A Dream". The first series was completed and broadcast in 1990 and lasted for three more series, ending in 1995.
1990s In January 1990, Batt was appointed joint musical director of the Melbourne Summer Music Festival with the State Orchestra of Victoria. Among the classical concerts and other programming he conducted, curated and performed on that visit to Australia, he programmed another costumed concert,
The Hunting of the Snark, with narration by
Michael Parkinson and the Bellman played by
Keith Michell. On a second visit that year, Batt took the opportunity to mount a more ambitious version of the fully expanded show score at the Hills Centre in Castle Hill and at the
State Theatre, Sydney. Having tried out the show in Australia, Batt moved towards securing funding and a theatre to mount the show in London's West End, and subsequently did so at the
Prince Edward Theatre, opening on 24 October 1991. The production was designed and directed by Batt and starred
Philip Quast as the Bellman,
David McCallum as
Lewis Carroll, and
Kenny Everett as the Billiard Marker. There was a 50 piece live orchestra on stage, hidden variously by venetian blinds and gauzes upon which the scenery was projected entirely from more than 200 projectors and involved 12,000 hand-prepared still slides often moving in rapid succession to create animation. This visual technique had been developed by Batt over the years since the launch of his first solo album
Schizophonia and had been used in his
Zero Zero TV production of 1982. The show ran for seven weeks at the Prince Edward Theatre. In 1995, Batt made a solo album for
Sony Germany,
Arabesque. Batt was then commissioned to write the official anthem for the inauguration of the
Channel Tunnel by
the Queen, entitled "When Flags Fly Together". This was performed for the Queen and
President Mitterrand, along with many senior politicians, by The Band of the Royal Engineers, and sung by Robert Meadmore. Batt composed and produced the four million-selling album
The Violin Player, which launched classical violinist
Vanessa-Mae (EMI Classics, 1995) from which the top twenty single of his arrangement of
J.S. Bach's "Toccata and Fugue" was taken.
Marianne Faithfull,
Caro Emerald,
Gurrumul, and
Sarah Blasko. Batt discovered Katie Melua in 2002 while scouting for a new artist with whom to work. Melua's album
Call Off The Search (containing six of Batt's songs including "
The Closest Thing to Crazy") was released on Dramatico in November 2003. After six weeks at number one in the
UK Albums Chart, it sold six times platinum. Over 1.8 million copies were sold in the UK and three million copies worldwide, making Melua the biggest selling UK female artist of 2004. Her second album,
Piece by Piece (including Batt's song "
Nine Million Bicycles") was released in September 2005, and sold 3.5 million copies in Europe, going to number one in the UK, The Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and hitting top five chart positions in eight other countries. At this point, Melua had become the biggest female UK album artist in the world for that year according to official British Phonographic Industry sales figures. In 2008, Batt performed and released ''A Songwriter's Tale
, a compilation album of his hits, newly recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Henry Spinetti, Ray Cooper, Chris Spedding, Mitch Dalton and Tim Harries. The album reached number 24 in the UK albums chart. In 2011, his record label, Dramatico, released the album Deleted Scenes From the Cutting Room Floor
by Caro Emerald, reaching more than 400,000 UK sales and paving the way for the release of The Shocking Miss Emerald'' by the same artist in 2013. This album went to number one in the UK album charts. Melua departed
Dramatico in January 2014 after a ten-year contract, during which she had recorded six albums for them. In 2018, he produced and arranged
Hawkwind's album
The Road to Utopia, consisting primarily of new versions of their 1970s songs with a guest appearance from
Eric Clapton. He arranged and conducted a series of concerts of Hawkwind songs featuring the band and orchestra in October and November 2018. In September 2018, the GUILD classical label released a recording of 'Holst: The Planets Suite for Large Orchestra' played by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted by Batt. The release coincided with the centenary of the composition's first performance. In 2022, Batt launched Croix-Noire, an art project with Jean-Charles Capelli, intended to link music, comics and video games. In 2025, Batt worked with
Justin Hayward to cover "
Life in a Northern Town", released on March 14. ==Personal life==