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Concept
Harold Spiro
Summary
Harold Jacob Spiro (25 June 1925 – 11 December 1996) was an English songwriter. He is best known for his co-writing with Valerie Avon, particularly the song "Long Live Love" (1974) performed by Olivia Newton-John, which was the UK's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1974.
He won an Ivor Novello Award for Best Novel or Unusual Song for co-writing "Nice One Cyril".
His interest in music began at an early age, in London's East End, where his uncle regularly took him to the Music hall.
It was here that he first met Tony Hiller, (who helped create Brotherhood of Man) and so began a lifelong friendship. Years later Hiller gave Spiro his first publishing deal, and later still was to be involved in producing him in his singing career as 'Hoagy Pogey'.
In 1944, aged 18, Spiro volunteered for the Royal Navy and did his training in Chatham, Kent, where he qualified as a nurse, and was sent to Iceland to work on an American naval base.
After the World War II ended, he knew that he wanted a career in the music industry, rather than taking over the family shop. He enrolled at Carnegie Hall, where he studied musical theory and conducting. However, popular music became his main interest. Continuing to work in the shop, he wrote songs in his spare time, inspired by the works of George Gershwin and Hoagy Carmichael.
In 1954 his father died, and he met his future wife, Barbara, and they married the following year. In 1956, their first child, Judith, was born. Their daughter Lorraine, was born in 1959, and Spiro started a wholesale greeting cards business, where he wrote the verses for the cards he sold. In 1961, their son, Russell, was born.
Spiro decided to enter the music business full-time after a discussion with Eddie Cantor. He got his first publishing deal, and also supported his wife's cousin, Phil Wainman, who was later to become the producer for The Bay City Rollers and The Boomtown Rats. Together, they wrote for Mike and Bernie Winters and they also initially worked together with a band, later to become The Sweet, who first rehearsed in the Spiro's living room.
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