The composer and lyricist Steve Brown, who has died of pulmonary fibrosis aged 69, had a career unlike anyone else’s. As a writer of musical theatre, he co-created Spend, Spend, Spend (1998) – about the football pools winner Viv Nicholson – which prompted fan mail, cherished by Brown, from Stephen Sondheim calling it “the first good British musical”.
As a comedian, he worked closely with Rory Bremner, Harry Hill and Steve Coogan on TV shows and tours, most notably starring as the bandleader Glenn Ponder in the latter’s Alan Partridge talkshow Knowing Me, Knowing You (1994). Brown also produced acclaimed debut albums by the singer-songwriters Rumer and Laura Mvula. The latter’s was nominated in 2013 for the Mercury prize, a stratum of musical prestige you might have thought beyond the man who also wrote the Wonky Donkey jingle for Ant and Dec’s SM:TV.
