On a Parr with the best

12:20pm Monday 1st September 2008

When John Parr began life in the humble surroundings of a small North England mining town, few would have believed the future that lie in wait for him.

Nominated for a Grammy in 1985, the singer-songwriter and producer has seen his songs covered by world wide stars such as Tom Jones, Meatloaf, The Monkees and Roger Daltry, and shared the stage with Tina Turner, Celine Dion and Bryan Adams.

He has written music for nine movies and achieved his own global success with songs like Man in Motion - the theme to St Elmo’s Fire - Night Moves and Don’t Break my Heart.

Parr’s career began when he was just 12, forming the Silence with two of his school friends. They went on to have considerable success in the clubs and dance halls of Northern England, before turning professional and changing their name to Three For All, which played throughout Europe and had a six-month season at Caesar’s Palace.

In 1983, after Dire Straits had pipped Parr’s new band Ponders End top a record deal, things really began to heat up for the guitarist as he secured a solo record deal, Meatloaf asked him to write for him and he met John Wolfe, the manager of The Who who was after a new project.

Parr became an instant hit in America with Naughty Naughty his first US top five hit and achieved top three positions on every rock station in America for up to six weeks.

He toured 10,000 seater venues throughout the States and was approached by successful producer David Foster to write a song for the movie St Elmo’s fire, a song which became a number one around the world and earned him that Grammy nomination.

Many more film tunes followed, including the theme to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s The Running Man, and both acoustic and brand new arrangements of these compositions will feature in the show.

• John Parr, Botley Hill Farmhouse, Limpsfield Road, September 7, £9.50. Call 01959 540720.