Harold "Lally" Stott (16 January 1945 – 6 June 1977) was a British singer-songwriter and musician who wrote the song "

Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep "Chirpy Chirpy, Cheep Cheep" is a song recorded in 1970 by its composer Lally Stott, and made popular in 1971 by Scottish band Middle of the Road for whom it was a UK #1 chart hit. That version is one of fewer than fifty singles ever to hav ...

" which became a UK number one hit for the Scottish band Middle of the Road in 1971, and charting at number 20 in the U.S. and number 41 in the UK the same year for

Mac and Katie Kissoon Mac and Katie Kissoon are a pop soul duo, consisting of brother and sister Mac Kissoon (born Gerald Farthing, November 11, 1943, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago) and Katie Kissoon (born Katherine Farthing, March 11, 1951, Port of Spain). E ...

Life and career

Stott was born in

Prescot Prescot is a town and civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley in Merseyside, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, it lies about to the east of Liverpool city centre. At the 2001 Census, the civ ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, in 1945. He spent several years in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, as vocalist and front-man of the 1960s Liverpool

beat Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery (c ...

band The Motowns. He wrote the song "

" and released his version in September 1970 on the

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...

label. Scottish pop band Middle of the Road later released their version which went on to top the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in 1971 for five weeks. Stott's own version of the song was a hit in Italy, France and the Netherlands, went to number one in Australia for one week and charted at number 92 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The song has been covered in many languages, including Vietnamese, Korean, Estonian, Swedish, French, Finnish, Spanish, Dutch and German. Stott released other minor hits, "Jakaranda" and "Love Is Free, Love Is Blind, Love Is Good". He also wrote "My Summer Song" which was recorded by Engelbert Humperdinck,

Jerry Reed Jerry Reed Hubbard (March 20, 1937 – September 1, 2008) was an American singer, guitarist, composer, and songwriter as well as an actor who appeared in more than a dozen films. His signature songs included " Guitar Man", " U.S. Male", "A Thi ...

, and

Jigsaw Jigsaw may refer to: * Jigsaw (tool), a tool used for cutting arbitrary curves * Jigsaw puzzle, a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of interlocking pieces Arts and media Comics * Jigsaw (Marvel Comics), a supervillain and arch-enemy of ...

. Stott co-wrote " Bottoms Up", "

Samson and Delilah Samson and Delilah are Biblical figures. Samson and Delilah may also refer to: In music * ''Samson and Delilah'' (opera), an opera by Camille Saint-Saëns * ''Samson & Delilah'' (album), released in 2013 by V V Brown * "Samson and Delilah" (t ...

", "

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

", " Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum" and other songs for Middle of the Road, all reaching the top 10 in several European countries between 1971 and 1973. Under his own name Stott released, with moderate success, "Good Wishes, Good Kisses" (the theme song of the Italian TV miniseries "Tenente Sheridan - La donna di picche") and "Sweet Meeny". Stott was killed aged 32 in a traffic accident in 1977 while riding a small commuter bike close to his hometown of Prescot. He is buried in St. Ann's Churchyard,

Rainhill Rainhill is a village and civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, in Merseyside, England. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 10,853. Historically part of Lancashire, Rainhill was formerly a townsh ...

References

1945 births 1977 deaths Road incident deaths in England English male singer-songwriters Beat musicians People from Prescot 20th-century British musicians 20th-century English male writers 20th-century British male singers {{Songwriter-stub