Mike Stock

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Mike Stock is an English songwriter, producer and musician. He was born in 1951 in Margate and grew up in Swanley, in Kent. He taught himself to play piano and guitar and was writing songs at the age of seven. The Beatles, but also writers such as Irving Berlin and Rodgers and Hammerstein, gave him a great love of the pop song. For years he played with bands in clubs and hotels every night. In the early 1980s he brought the guitarist Matt Aitken into his band. In 1984 the two began working only in the studio, and shortly afterwards they formed the trio Stock Aitken Waterman with Pete Waterman.

Music and breakthrough

The trio began with Hi-NRG for the dance clubs and in 1985 scored a first number 1 hit with You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) by Dead or Alive. In their new studio in the Borough, the Hit Factory, Venus by Bananarama, Respectable by Mel and Kim and Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley (1987) followed. For Kylie Minogue, Stock and Aitken wrote I Should Be So Lucky (1988) in forty minutes. Stock was above all the man of melodies and chords. The SAW sound consisted of a tight drum machine, glossy synthesizers and a chorus you know after hearing it once. In 1989 the trio had seven number 1 hits in Great Britain.

Influence

After Aitken's departure in 1991, Stock worked with Waterman for another two years. He then started his own label, Love This Records, and had success with Nicki French and with Robson & Jerome. He is regarded as one of the most successful songwriters in Great Britain.

Listening

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

• Mixtape 7: The 1980s^NL Reader
• Mixtape 12: The Hit Factory^NL Reader