Topic: Albert Hammond

Albert Hammond (born 18 May 1944, London, England) is a Gibraltarian-British singer, songwriter and music producer. Hammond is one of the more successful pop/rock songwriters to come out of England during the 1960s and 1970s, and has also enjoyed a long career as a recording artist, his work popular in two languages on three continents across four decades.

Hammond was born in London, where his family had been evacuated from Gibraltar during World War 2. His family returned to Gibraltar shortly after his birth, where he grew up. In 1960 he started in music with Gibraltarian band 'The Diamond Boys', of no real commercial success, but which played a part in Spain's introduction to popular music. The Diamond Boys performed at the first nightclubs in Madrid to stage modern bands alongside Spanish rock and roll pioneers, such as Miguel Ríos. In 1966 Hammond co-founded the British vocal group, The Family Dogg scoring a UK Top 10 hit with "A Way of Life" in 1969.

He also wrote songs for others with frequent collaborator Mike Hazelwood. These include "Little Arrows" for Leapy Lee, "Make Me An Island" (1969) and "You're Such a Good Looking Woman" (1970) for Joe Dolan (which Hammond himself re-recorded in 1979, in a Spanish disco-style version), "Gimme Dat Ding" for The Pipkins in 1970 (itself a cover from the Freddie and the Dreamers album, Oliver in the Overworld), "Good Morning Freedom" for Blue Mink, "Freedom Come, Freedom Go" for The Fortunes in 1971 and "The Air That I Breathe" which was a hit for The Hollies in 1974. In 1971. Hammond also found time to sing on Michael Chapman's fourth album, Wrecked Again, and worked briefly with The Magic Lanterns on recordings of his and Hazelwood's songs and other material.