Clifford T. Ward
10 February 1944 – 18 December 2001
10 February 1944 – 18 December 2001
This man is probably one of the best songwriters Britain has ever produced and his track ‘Home Thoughts From Abroad’ is without doubt lyrically one of the finest thing you will ever hear. A very self conscious and kind man – playing live always scared him, doubting his own ability to deliver a performance. The video below shows this fragile, nervous side to his character – maybe if he had overcome this fear he might of become a household name, one of the acclaimed greats, a title he really did deserve in his lifetime.
He had married his childhood sweetheart and with two children money was tight. As Ward recalls: ..’the other men were able to pocket their money and have nights out in Paris. I would mail my money to my wife to help pay the rent and feed the kids. I used to walk in the forests of Fontainbleau and I remember working on Home Thoughts from Abroad on a lovely sunny day there.’ Read more…
In 1968, following the demise of The Secrets, Ward decided he needed to get a ‘real job’, and so spent the following three years at a teacher training college, ultimately finding employment at nearby North Bromsgrove High School, teaching English and drama. One of his pupils was the future wife of Sting, Trudie Styler. The children heard singing on Ward’s early albums were from North Bromsgrove High School. In his spare time, he continued songwriting and recorded his first solo album Singer Songwriter.
His first album, Singer Songwriter, was released in 1972 on Dandelion Records (a label formed by the late disc jockey John Peel) just before it went into liquidation. As a result, the album received little media coverage and went largely unnoticed. Signing a new recording contract with Charisma Records, Ward went on to have a hit with the single “Gaye”. It sold over a million copies worldwide and reached number 8 in the UK Singles Chart in July 1973.
In July 1973, following the success of “Gaye”, Ward’s second album Home Thoughts achieved healthy sales and reached number 40 in the UK Albums Chart. At this point, wanting to concentrate on music full time, he gave up the teaching profession. He made a rare public appearance in August, performing “Gaye” on Top of the Pops. In January 1974 Ward entered the singles chart again at number 37 with “Scullery”, a track from his third album Mantle Pieces.
Clifford T. Ward. (2011, April 12). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 08:33, April 13, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Clifford_T._Ward&oldid=423675668
Extract from Peter Bright’s Blog a former pupil of Clifford T. Ward.
Clifford T Ward, was my English teacher (which explains a lot). He was a singer songwriter who had a ‘chart’ sucess with ‘Gaye
‘ – the rumor was that the song was about a pupil in my class. His English lessons were spent writing requests to ‘radio one’ DJs – Tony Blackburn et al. There is a bit more about how CTW influenced me here. He was a nice bloke (but a crap teacher) and his lyrics were very poetic – I think I will listen to him again.
‘ – the rumor was that the song was about a pupil in my class. His English lessons were spent writing requests to ‘radio one’ DJs – Tony Blackburn et al. There is a bit more about how CTW influenced me here. He was a nice bloke (but a crap teacher) and his lyrics were very poetic – I think I will listen to him again.
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