1. Michael Stock was born on 3 December 1951 and is an English songwriter, record producer, musician, and member of the songwriting and production trio Stock Aitken Waterman.
33 Facts About Mike Stock
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Mike Stock has been responsible for over a hundred top-40 hits in the UK, including 16 Number One's and is recognised as one of the most successful songwriters of all time by the Guinness World Records.
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Mike Stock was born in Margate, Kent, England in 1951 and grew up in Swanley, Kent.
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Mike Stock attended White Oak primary school and Swanley comprehensive school.
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Mike Stock was self-taught in playing the piano and guitar and began writing songs at the age of seven.
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Mike Stock signed a publishing contract when he was nineteen after earning a reputation as a budding songwriter, although no one had suggested a full-time career in the music world was a possibility.
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In 1970 Mike Stock earned a placement at the University of Hull to study Drama and Theology and formed a band with a fellow student, the future film director, Anthony Minghella.
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Whilst at Hull, Mike Stock met his wife Bobbie and left university when she graduated to concentrate his efforts in making it in music.
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Mike Stock played his first paid, solo gig at Aveley Working Men's Club in Essex in 1976, earning twenty five pounds.
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Mike Stock's band had gone through several guitar players before he was alerted to Matt Aitken; a guitarist who had been spotted by another member of his band working on a cruise ship.
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Mike Stock contacted Aitken to offer him a role in the band.
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In 1982 Mike Stock moved to Abbey Wood, South London where, along with Aitken he acquired a recording desk and tape machine and formed his first record label.
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The track was re-recorded and produced by Collins; Mike Stock sang on the track under the alias Chris Britton.
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In 1983 Mike Stock had been approached by Andy Paul, a Greek Cypriot, to write a song for Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest.
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Whilst working with the band Brilliant, Mike Stock wrote a song for their backing singer Desiree Heslop called "Say I'm Your Number One", which became a hit in the UK under her stage name 'Princess'.
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That year SAW produced "Let It Be" in aid of the victims involved in the Zeebrugge Ferry disaster, and Mike Stock got the chance to work with his musical inspiration Paul McCartney whose original recordings of the Beatles classic were sent to the production team by producer George Martin.
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Mike Stock was informed by Minogue's manager, Terry Blamey, that she had been in London for ten days waiting to work with SAW though Waterman had not informed Mike Stock.
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Mike Stock flew to Australia to meet Minogue and her parents at her home to apologise and successfully convinced her to record a follow-up single "Got to Be Certain", which reached No 2 in the UK charts.
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Mike Stock wrote "Especially for You", sang the demo with a SAW backing singer and Aitken flew to Australia to record Minogue and Donovan's vocals in time for a Christmas release.
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Mike Stock became the first person to receive the Ivor Novello Award for Songwriter of the Year three times in a row between 1988 and 1990.
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In 1994 Simon Cowell asked Mike Stock to produce the record for the popular kid's TV show 'Mighty Morphin Power Rangers' which was a top 5 hit in the UK.
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Mike Stock again collaborated with Cowell in 1993 on the World Wrestling Federation album Wrestlemania which spawned the No 4 hit "Slam Jam".
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In 1994 Mike Stock produced several artists for Simon Cowell including Kym Mazelle, Jocelyn Brown and Robson and Jerome.
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Mike Stock produced a further two No 1 singles with Robson and Jerome and two No 1 albums.
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In 1997, Mike Stock produced a version of "You Can Do Magic" under the name The Mojams, for an investigation on ITV programme The Cook Report into chart rigging.
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Mike Stock scored a top 20 with "Airhead" by girl band Girls@Play, with EastEnders' star Rita Simons that toured with Steps.
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Mike Stock wrote and produced two further singles for the Fast Food Rockers including the top 10 "Smile Please".
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In 2005 Mike Stock briefly teamed up with Pete Waterman to write and produce a single for The Sheilas, a novelty group created by the Sheilas' Wheels car insurance brand and again in 2010, collaborating on the UK's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest, "That Sounds Good To Me".
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In 2013, Mike Stock worked on a cartoon character called The Retrobot, which was an 80's robot who was fed up with modern culture.
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In 2014, Mike Stock worked with Shayne Ward on his comeback album Closer.
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Mike Stock co-wrote and produced all 14 tracks on the album.
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In 2016 Mike Stock confirmed that he was working with young singer Chloe Rose on a single for NSPCC's ChildLine 30 year anniversary.
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Mike Stock co-wrote and produced the album The F-Z of Pop - the group's first studio album in over 33 years.