The life and achievements of Isle of Man resident Mitch Murray CBE are celebrated by the Isle of Man Post Office in a set of ten dynamic stamps to be issued 16th September 2020.
Songwriter-Composer, Producer and Author Mitch Murray CBE, whose career spans sixty years, has lived on the Isle of Man since 1978. Throughout his songwriting career his hits topped the charts and were performed by bands like Gerry and the Pacemakers (‘How Do You Do It?’ and ‘I Like It’), Georgie Fame (‘Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde’), Paper Lace (‘Billy Don’t Be A Hero’) and Tony Christie (‘Avenues and Alleyways’, ‘Las Vegas’ and ‘I Did What I Did For Maria’). With Freddie and The Dreamers he had his first American number one hit: ‘I’m Telling You Now’.
In 1971 he founded SODS – The Society Of Distinguished Songwriters whose members include Don Black, Mike Batt, Gary Barlow, Sir Tim Rice, Tony Hatch, Justin Hayward, Barry Mason, and 40 more superb British songwriters whose music continues to thrill the world with the greatest songs, film scores and musicals.
Since his rendition of ‘Down Came The Rain’, Mitch has built up a reputation for comedy in many areas, including broadcasting, after-dinner speaking and a series of best-selling books on the subject of humorous speechwriting. In 2019 he was made a Commander Of The British Empire (CBE) for services to music.
In a world first, Mitch Murray’s new composition ‘The Mannin Suite’, an homage to the Isle of Man’s legendary Fairy Bridge, will be released first and exclusively, for a limited period, ‘Zappar-access-only’ via this stamp collection. This is a free added content for the people who own the stamps and will premiere on issue date 16th September 2020.
As a special limited edition, a 28 page prestige booklet about Mitch Murray and his outstanding career features the stamps as well as a bonus four track CD-EP with four special intros recorded by the man himself and will have a certificate of authenticity signed and numbered by Mitch.
Mitch Murray CBE, said “This fabulous collection, issued by the Isle of Man Post Office, represents my career in all its aspects, and covers a period of sixty years. It’s an honour I could never have imagined receiving.”
Chris Raynor of Paper Lace said “The Paper Lace success was due to Mitch Murray & Peter Callander...without Mitch's commercial & catchy songs the world may never have heard of the band.”
Maxine Cannon, General Manager Isle of Man Stamps & Coins, said: “It is a real privilege for us to work with Mitch Murray and to be able to commemorate his career so far with this dynamic and vibrant stamp collection. His many achievements are an impressive collection of success and we are proud to feature them on this very special stamp collection together with a world first: a new musical composition released via a stamp issue!”
‘Mitch Murray’s Top Ten’ collection includes a set of ten stamps, a Presentation Pack, a First Day Cover, a Sheet Set and 28 page Prestige Booklet limited edition with 4 track CD can be ordered from www.iompost.com/mitchmurray.
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