As an A&R manager for EMI, he worked with musicians such as Shirley Bassey, Dalida, Claude François, Vera Lynn, Russ Conway, Bette Midler, Judy Garland, Petula Clark, Jake Thackray, Malcolm Roberts, Bobby Crush and Peter and Gordon.
[3] In 1999, Newell's song, "Portrait of My Love", originally recorded by Matt Monro in 1960, was honoured at the BMI Awards in London for having two million radio plays.
[3] During this period, he produced records by Petula Clark, the French male voice choir Les Compagnons de la chanson, Josef Locke, Ronnie Ronalde, The Beverley Sisters, Dorothy Squires and the bandleader Victor Silvester.
[4] Newell was also a much sought-after lyricist, sometimes writing under the pen-name David West, and responsible for co-writing songs that included "Portrait of My Love" (music by Cyril Ornadel), a UK Singles Chart hit for Matt Monro.
1 hit "Reach for the Stars",[5] (composed by Nini Oliviero and Riz Ortolani) and Bassey's "This Is My Life" ("La vita", written by Antonio Amurri and Bruno Canfora).
With the composer Philip Green, he co-wrote the United Kingdom's 1963 Eurovision Song Contest entry, "Say Wonderful Things", recorded by Ronnie Carroll.
[12] In 1964, Newell produced Peter and Gordon's number one UK hit "A World Without Love", which also topped the charts in the United States and several other countries.
Newell wrote English-language lyrics to "The White Rose of Athens" for Nana Mouskouri, and Vicky Leandros's 1972 Eurovision Song Contest winning entry, "Après toi" ("Come What May").
[14] His numerous contacts in the music publishing industry in the United Kingdom assisted EMI in securing the rights for British recordings of cast albums for many American shows opening in London.
[22] George Martin said of Newell that he "always wanted to be a Stephen Sondheim," but noted that "his main strength came from his ability to handle big showbiz entertainers.