Encouraged by his musical abilities, his mother – also a pianist – enrolled him in the London Choir School in Wansunt Road, Bexley, Kent when he was 10.
On his return in 1959, Hatch began producing Top Rank artists such as Bert Weedon, the then unknown Adam Faith ("Ah, Poor Little Baby"), Josh MacRae (together with MacRae's early recordings with Scottish folk trio the Reivers), Jackie Dennis, Carry On comedy actor Kenneth Connor, and the Knightsbridge Strings, and started his own recording career with a cover version of Russ Conway's piano instrumental "Side Saddle".
Top Rank, despite some worldwide success with artists such as Jack Scott and the Fireballs, ultimately failed because of an unusual distribution arrangement with EMI.
As Mark Anthony, Hatch continued to write songs for Pye artists, including "Messing About on the River" for Josh MacRae.
In 1963, Philadelphia teen idol Bobby Rydell hit the charts with "Forget Him" written and produced by Hatch (still writing as Mark Anthony); Hatch produced, arranged and wrote for other American stars such as Chubby Checker, Connie Francis, Pat Boone, Big Dee Irwin and Keely Smith.
[3] In November 1965, Hatch performed with David Bowie (then known as Davy Jones) in the band the Lower Third, in an unsuccessful audition for the BBC's Talent Selection Group.
"[4] Hatch produced many artists for Pye and other labels including the Searchers, David Bowie, Mark Wynter, the Settlers, the Viscounts, Julie Grant, Gary Miller, Benny Hill, the Overlanders, Roy Budd, the Brook Brothers, Jimmy Justice, the Montanas, Miki & Griff, Emile Ford, Craig Douglas, Bruce Forsyth, Norman Vaughan, Sue Nicholls, the Breakaways, Julie Budd, Buddy Greco, Sacha Distel, Anne Shelton, Sweet Sensation, David Parton, and Graduate among others.
Hatch became one of her regular songwriting partners, in addition to supplying English lyrics for songs she had composed with French lyricists.
When Clark heard the still unfinished tune, she told him that if he could write lyrics to match the quality of the music, she would record the song as her next single.
[9] Their duet "The Two Of Us" reached number three in the Australian charts in 1967 and created a demand for concert and cabaret performances earning the duo the nickname of "Mr & Mrs Music".
Their first project, The Card, based on Arnold Bennett's novel, with book by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall, ran in London's West End with Jim Dale and Millicent Martin in the lead roles.
A rewritten version of the show, starring Peter Duncan and Hayley Mills, played the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre in the 1990s and spawned a new cast album.
During the 1970s Hatch was also a regular panellist on the talent show New Faces, where his blunt style of assessing the contestants proved to be a forerunner of approaches to come in later, similar series.
Hatch continued to produce hit television themes for series such as Seagull Island and Airline before moving to Australia in 1982.
Hatch performed at the Hackney Empire on 9 September 2012, for a Grand Order of Water Rats evening - 'The Golden Years of Variety'.
[15] Hatch performed in October 2016 at the inaugural Variety Hall of Fame Awards, with Petula Clark, and hosting "As Heard on TV" on BBC Radio 2 on 1 November 2016.
[16] Hatch was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to music and charity.