![]() "My background is in pop music,” explains Thornalley. It also sealed his conversion from adult rock to pop. It was, he now says, "a career‑saving experience”. Released in 1997, the Imbruglia/Thornalley version of 'Torn' became a worldwide smash hit, as did her debut album, Left Of The Middle, which contained five songs co‑written and produced by the Briton. A year later, Thornalley was asked to produce a number of songs for Australian soap‑star‑turned‑singer Natalie Imbruglia, and they decided to re-record the song. 'Torn' was included on that band's 1995 eponymously titled and rather unsuccessful debut album. The early '90s were indeed a barren period for Thornalley, but the seeds for his resurrection as a pop writer were sown in 1991, when he co‑wrote a song called 'Torn' with Anne Preven and Scott Cutler, who later went on to form Ednaswap. ![]() Photo: Fredrik Solstad / Press Association Plus there was the fact that I was unemployed, which was the first time in my career that I had experienced that.” Tearing It Up It was not exactly an epiphany, but at least there was clarity. After the Johnny Hates Jazz experience I finally had clarity. But I do like to write songs for other people and I do like producing other people. I realised that I don't like being in a band and I don't like this process of taking forever to make a record. Today, talking from his Swamp Studios in Northwest London, Thornalley calls the Johnny Hates Jazz project "a grand mistake, in the sense that I devoted three years to it, and it was deeply unsuccessful. ![]() Towards the end of the decade, he made his first and only solo album, Swamp (1988), and he also ended up fronting Johnny Hates Jazz, a band he initially engineered and produced. He achieved his greatest successes as an engineer, producer and mixer during the '80s, but his teenage dream of becoming a songwriter and artist kept calling. Thornalley started his music career more than three decades ago at RAK Studios in London, where he learned many of the tricks of his trade from legendary producers Mickie Most, Steve Lillywhite and Alex Sadkin. He has since reinvented himself as one of this country's leading pop songwriters and producers, most recently with teen sensation Pixie Lott. Phil Thornalley was once known as an engineer, mixer and producer of serious, critically respected rock by the likes of Prefab Sprout, the Cure, XTC, Graham Parker, Julian Cope and Edwyn Collins. Phil Thornalley with the Fender Precision bass he has had since the age of 16. Then he co‑wrote a little‑known song called 'Torn'. Phil Thornalley learned his trade as a rock engineer and producer in the '80s.
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