Gibraltarian Albert Hammond was born in London on May 18, 1944. In 1966, Albert met Mike Hazelwood, teamed up as collaborators and began gaining recognition as a songwriting team with "Little Arrows" (Leapy Lee 1968,) "Gimme Dat Ding" (The Pipkins 1970,) and "Freedom Come Freedom Go" (The Fortunes 1971 ).
Having become one of Britain's most successful songwriting teams, they decided to move to Southern California. After auditioning for CBS President Clive Davis, Albert went into the studio to record what would become the album It Never Rains in Southern California. Albert went on to record six English language albums. Many of his songs were covered by other artists: "The Air That I Breathe" (The Hollies,) "When I Need You" (Leo Sayer,) "To All the Girls I've Loved Before" (Julio Iglesias and Willie Nelson,) and "99 Miles from LA" (Art Garfunkel) to name a few. Albert gained respect from within the industry from record label executives, producers, fellow songwriters, and an amazing array of artists.
Artists who covered Albert's tunes during the 1970's include Johnny Cash, Elton John, Mama Cass, The Association, Steppenwolf, Sonny & Cher, Johnny Mathis, Olivia Newton-John, Petula Clark, Jose Feliciano, Perry Como, Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdinck, Helen Reddy, Glenn Campbell, The Oakridge Boys and The Carpenters with "I Need to be in Love." Albert wrote songs with some incredible songwriters such as Mike Hazelwood, Hal David, Diane Warren, John Bettis, Carol Bayer-Sager, Gerry Goffin, Roy Orbison, Roger Cook & Roger Greenaway, Richard Carpenter, Tony Macauley, Graham Lyle and Marcus Vere.
Albert wrote and produced “Cantare Cantaras,” which like USA for Africa and Band Aid, was a charity single but for the Latin market. More than 50 stars contributed vocals to the recording including Gloria Estefan, Sergio Mendez, Placido Domingo, Julio Iglesias, Irine Cara, Jose Feliciano, Celia Cruz and Menudo, to name a few. Because Albert is a bi-lingual writer, he has been equally successful in the Anglo and Latin markets. In the 1980's and 1990's, Albert wrote several other highly successful songs including Oscar, Golden Globe and Grammy-nominated "Nothings Gonna Stop Us Now” (Starship), "I Don't Want to Live Without Your Love" (Chicago), "Through the Storm" (Aretha Franklin & Elton John), "Don't Turn Around" (Aswad, Neil Diamond and Ace of Base), "I Don't Wanna Lose" and "The Way of the World" (Tina Turner), "Give A Little Love" (Ziggy Marley & The Melodymakers), "It Isn't, It Wasn't, It Ain't Never Gonna Be" (Whitney Houston & Aretha Franklin), "Don't You Love Me Anymore?" (Joe Cocker), and "When You Tell Me That You Love Me" (Diana Ross).
In 1988, Albert wrote the theme song for the Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea, "One Moment in Time" performed and recorded by Whitney Houston, which won him his first Emmy. During this period, other artists that recorded his songs were Rod Stewart, Barry Manilow, Dolly Parton, Celine Dion, Roy Orbison, Simply Red, Dionne Warwick, Bonnie Tyler, Hank Williams, Jr., Air Supply, Agnetha Faltskog (of ABBA), Phil Everly, Bill Medley & KD Lang, Nancy Sinatra, Cliff Richard, Westlife, Jose Carreras and Josh Groban.
