Woolfson didn't sign an exclusive deal and also freelanced for Southern Music, where he met Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, who instilled in him the belief that the stage musical could be the right medium for him.Ī jobbing musician, songwriter and occasional producer, over the next few years Woolfson also worked with Dave Berry, the Equals, Herman's Hermits, Frank Ifield, Marmalade, the Swinging Blue Jeans and the Tremeloes and had his material adapted into French by Joe Dassin and Marie.

He served as a session pianist on several Immediate releases and also managed to place his own compositions with the label's acts, including 'Tomorrow's Calling' with Marianne Faithfull and 'Baby Make It Soon', which became the B-side of Chris Farlowe's chart-topping version of the Stones' 'Out of Time', produced by Mick Jagger in 1966.

I thought at the time many others would follow in our footsteps, but this didn't happen.' The idea was to make recordings much as Kubrick or Hitchcock made movies, where the production values are the key rather than star actors. As Woolfson, who was credited as executive producer, explained, 'the Alan Parsons Project was never a 'band' in the conventional sense. Chart regulars in the US and throughout most of continental Europe, they sold over 45 million albums worldwide.

While in Britain they enjoyed a cult following and turntable hits with 'Old and Wise' – sung by Colin Blunstone of the Zombies, one of several recurrent guest vocalists they employed – and 'Don't Answer Me', with lead vocals by Woolfson. Blurring the lines between progressive and soft rock, the Alan Parsons Project captured the imagination of music fans the world over with high-concept albums inspired by the work of Edgar Allan Poe (their 1976 debut Tales of Mystery and Imagination) Isaac Asimov (their 1977 follow-up I Robot) and Philip K Dick (Eye in the Sky, the sixth of their 10 studio recordings, issued in 1982). Even if the name the Alan Parsons Project put the emphasis on the Beatles and Pink Floyd engineer, it was very much a partnership between Parsons, the producer, and Eric Woolfson, the songwriter, lyricist, occasional singer and manager.

Eric woolfson poe