Alan O'Day
b. 3 October 1940, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA. After leaving school, O'Day began writing music for Hollywood b-movies before being signed to Warner Brothers Music as a staff writer. O'Day composed a number of hits including Bobby Sherman's The Drum and the Righteous Brothers' Rock ‘n’ Roll Heaven before finally hitting number 1 with Angie Baby, recorded by Helen Reddy. In an inspired move, Warners decided to launch a subsidiary, Pacific Records, whose purpose was to exploit the work of promising songwriters. O'Day was invited to record the first single for the new company and came up with Undercover Angel. Surprisingly, the song was banned on some US radio stations due to its alleged sexual connotations, but O'Day surmounted the controversy and went all the way to number 1 in July 1977. Unwilling to pursue his singing career to excessive lengths, O'Day continued his main job as a writer and accepted the mantle of a chart-topping one-hit-wonder.