Clint Ballard Jnr: Songwriter best known for 'The Game of Love' and 'You're No Good'

Although little known outside the music industry, Clint Ballard Jnr was a successful pop songwriter, writing chart-topping records both in the UK and America, for Linda Ronstadt ("You're No Good"), the Hollies (I'm Alive"), Wayne Fontana ("The Game of Love") and Jimmy Jones ("Good Timin'"). The version of "You're No Good" by the Swinging Blue Jeans is one of the key records of the Merseybeat era.

Ballard Jnr was born in 1931 inEl Paso. He played piano on a local radio station at the age of three and throughout his school years was regarded as a gifted musician. He directed fraternity choirs and dance bands and he graduated from the Western College (now the University of Texas) in El Paso with a degree in radio production.

He went to New York to further his career, and worked as a night-club pianist but was more intent on becoming a songwriter in the Brill Building at 1619 Broadway. On a trip to Washington DC in 1957, he was impressed by a duo called the Kalin Twins andwanted to manage them. He secured a contract for them with US Decca and their first single was his composition, a perfunctory but cheerful rock 'n' roll song, "Jumpin' Jack". They had a US Top 10 hit and a UK No 1 with "When", which was written by one of Ballard's friends, Paul Evans. Although the Kalins found Ballard very likeable, he was too devoted to his own songwriting to concentrate on their career. Curiously, he did not pass on any more of his own songs to them.

In 1958, he wrote "Ev'ry Hour, Ev'ry Day Of My Life", a UK success for the balladeer Malcolm Vaughan. The most successful version in America was also by a British artist, Vera Lynn. In complete contrast, he wrote the nonsensical "Ginger Bread", which became a US Top 10 hit for Frankie Avalon:

"You're full of sugar, you're full of spice,

You're kinda naughty but you're naughty and nice."

Ballard had further success when Mitch Miller and his Orchestra took "March From the River Kwai" into the US charts as he had written the B-side, "Hey Little Baby". This tune was also used as the theme for the World's Fair in Brussels in 1958. Ballard wrote "The Ladder of Love" for the doo-wop group the Flamingos, "Journey's End" for Frankie Laine and "In The Rain" for Billy Eckstine. He encouraged new talent and discovered Kenny Young, who wrote "Under The Broadwalk" for the Drifters.

Ballard often worked with other writers, notably Angela Riela,Hank Hunter and Fred Tobias, with whom he had a good year in 1960. They wrote the follow-up to Jimmy Jones' "Handy Man", "Good Timin'", a high-pitched semi-novelty song which topped the UK charts. It claimed that Christopher Columbus would never have discovered America if Queen Isabella hadn't hocked her jewelsin 1492: fortunately, she had good timin'. Also in 1960, they wrote aclassic western song for Patti Page, "One of Us Will Weep Tonight", in which two women are waiting for one or other of their partners to return from a gunfight.

Occasionally, Ballard made recordings himself and a single under the name of Buddy Clinton was released in November 1960. It featured two early Burt Bacharach songs, "Take Me To Your Ladder (I'll See Your Leader Later)" and "Joanie's Forever". The A-side, a novelty about 20ft women living on the moon, made No 115 on the US charts.

"A Very Good Year For Girls" would be seen as politically incorrect today but back in 1962 it was a popular song with three notable versions: the original from Johnny Tillotson and cover versions from David MacBeth and Brian Poole with the Tremeloes.

Ballard wrote "You're No Good" on his own. This soulful put-down of a cheating partner was recorded by both Betty Everett and Dee Dee Warwick, but it was a cover version by the Liverpool band the Swinging Blue Jeans in 1964 that put the song in the charts. Ballard wrote their subsequent single, "It Isn't There", which tried to capture the feeling of "You're No Good" and contained the prophetic line, "Something's missing, that certain feeling". Another song recorded by Warwick, the passionate "Gotta Get a Hold of Myself", was covered by the Zombies in 1966.

Ballard had specifically written"I'm Alive" for the close harmonies of the Hollies, but they passed on the song and it was recorded by another Manchester band, the Toggery Five. A few days later, the Hollies changed their mind and recorded the song. The Toggery Five's version was never released and the Hollies had their first No 1 hit.

In 1965, Ballard wrote "The Game of Love, a US No 1 and UK No 2 for the Manchester group Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders. Later inthe year, he wrote further chart singles for them, "Just A Little Bit Too Late" and "She Needs Love". A Walker Brothers' styled ballad, "SpeakHer Name", was recorded by David and Jonathan in 1966. He also wrote songs for the film Love and Kisses (1965), starring Rick Nelson, but his attempts at writing stage musicals didn't get that far. He and Lee Goldsmith wrote a musical adaptation of the play Come Back Little Sheba but it never reached Broadway.

Ballard wrote several commercials, notably one for Greyhound buses, and his successful songs have had a life of their own. "You're No Good" became a standard after it was featured on Linda Ronstadt's album Heart Like a Wheel, and subsequently topped the US charts, and was featured in the 2008 film My Best Friend's Girl. "I'm Alive" has been used in campaigns for both Boots and Holland and Barrett, while "The Game of Love" was one of the songs played by Robin Williams' army disc jockey in Good Morning, Vietnam (1987).

Spencer Leigh

Clinton Conger Ballard Jnr, songwriter: born El Paso, Texas 24 May 1931; died Denton, Texas 23 December 2008.