You may not know Jackie Trent’s name, but you’ve certainly heard her work. Alongside eventual husband Tony Hatch, she wrote more than 400 songs, including Petula Clark’s “I Couldn’t Live Without Your Love” and the theme song to the long-running Australian soap opera Neighbours. Trent died on this day (March 21) in 2015 at age 74 in Menorca, Spain.
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Born Yvonne Burgess on Sept. 6, 1940, in Newcastle-under-Lyme, England, she displayed an early knack for performing, winning her first talent show at age 9. By 11, she was singing in British Legion and working men’s clubs and had adopted the stage name Jackie Trent, after living in the town of Stoke-on-Trent.
She released her first single, “Pick Up the Pieces”, in 1961 on the small Oriole label. Three years later, after moving to Pye Records, Trent scored her first No. 1 hit with “Where Are You Now”, which she wrote alongside composer Tony Hatch. At the time, the two were collaborating professionally with British pop star Petula Clark, of “Downtown” fame.
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How Jackie Trent’s Relationship With Her Songwriting Partner Inspired This Petula Clark Hit
“Where Are You Now” was the only hit of Jackie Trent’s singing career, but she and Hatch would successfully continue their songwriting collaboration for the next three decades.
At some point, their relationship became something more than professional, despite the fact that Hatch was still married to his first wife. The couple’s affair inspired them to write “I Couldn’t Live Without Your Love”, which Petula Clark took to the top 10 in both the U.S. and the UK: Said you didn’t want a friend or lover / That your life was happy with another / But as time went by my love grew stronger
Knew that I just couldn’t wait any longer.
After the song’s 1966 release, Trent and Hatch went public with their relationship, marrying the following year. Together, the two wrote over 400 songs for Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Shirley Bassey, and more. After moving to Australia in the 1980s, they composed the opening theme song to the soap opera Neighbours, which ran for 40 years.
Trent separated from Hatch in 1995 and returned to England. They would divorce seven years later in 2002, with Trent marrying her second husband, Colin Gregory, in November 2005. The couple retired to Spain, where Trent lived until her death in 2015.
Featured image by Stanley Bielecki/ASP/Getty Images
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