[2] He wrote two UK number one singles, recorded by Jimmy Jones ("Good Timin'", 1960) and The Hollies ("I'm Alive", 1965).
After serving in the US Army, he moved to New York and became a songwriter and a composer of musicals, including Come Back Little Sheba.
His song, "Hey, Little Baby", was recorded by band leader Mitch Miller and became the theme of the 1958 World's Fair in Belgium.
In addition to recording several singles under his own name without much success, in 1960 he adopted the alias Buddy Clinton to cut a two-sided single featuring the songs "Take Me to Your Ladder (I'll See Your Leader Later)" and "Joanie's Forever", both co-written by then-unknown composer Burt Bacharach with his writing partner Bob Hilliard.
A competing version recorded by Betty Everett appeared weeks later and was a bigger hit, reaching the Top Ten of the US Billboard R&B chart.
One of Ballard's best-known songs, "The Game of Love", was recorded by Manchester-based Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders in 1965.