He was one of the most important producers of Middle of the road hits in the United Kingdom in the 1950s and early 1960s, along with Norrie Paramor. As a producer he had several number ones in the singles chart:-
Neil Reid: "Mother Of Mine" Dec 1971 (reached number 2)
Englebert Humperdinck: some tracks on "Greatest Love Songs"
Due to the rapid success of USA-style rock and roll, he was left high and dry, looking extremely old-fashioned. He frequently made use of the session guitarist Big Jim Sullivan who is prominent on hits by Billy Fury and Jet Harris & Tony Meehan. For lovers of Shadows-style twanging, he occupied a unique spot in UK pop history.
The first song by Tony Hatch to be recorded was "'Crazy Bells'. This was produced by Dick Rowe and sung by Gerry Dorsey (Engelbert Humperdinck). When Rowe got a job at the "Top Rank" label, he recruited Tony Hatch as an assistant.
He is historically presented in popular musical history as "the man who turned down The Beatles". This is somewhat unfair as he, unlike most A&R men, was at least willing to give the Beatles an audition. He has often been quoted as saying "Guitar groups are on their way out, Mr. Epstein". However, this attribution is uncertain, as the Beatles were turned down in favor of Brian Poole & The Tremeloes, who themselves were a guitar group. Brian Epstein had already been turned down by nearly all the record companies in London during the preceding year, before getting The Beatles signed to EMI-owned Parlophone, which up to that point had chiefly been a jazz label with a sideline in novelty and ethnic songs.
