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Ashley Hicklin

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Ashley Hicklin
Birth nameAshley Hicklin
Born1985 (age 38–39)
OriginScarborough, North Yorkshire, England
GenresPop
Occupation(s)Singer-songwriter, record producer
Instrument(s)Vocals, guitar, piano
Years active1999–present
LabelsEMI (2008–present)
Warner Music (2010–present)
Websiteunified-songs.com

Ashley Hicklin (born 1985) is an English singer, songwriter, and record producer. He co-owns Unified-Songs, a UK based music publishing/management company and has written songs for artists such as Tiësto, Oliver Heldens, R3hab, Hardwell, Timmy Trumpet, Lost Kings, Feder, Duncan Laurence, and Waylon, including more than ten No.1 chart releases and over twenty Top-10 chart releases.

Biography

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Early life

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Ashley Hicklin was raised in his parents' pub on the North-East coast of England in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. He first began as a singer-songwriter performing at open mic nights in the pub, at the age of 13.[1][2]

As a writer

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In 2008, the European CEO of EMI Publishing (Peter Ende) saw a live video of Hicklin performing for BBC Introducing.[2] Hicklin signed a deal with EMI Publishing and in less than six months had co-written several chart hits for other artists across Europe, including Johan Palm's single Emma-Lee which reached No. 1 in Sweden.[3][4]

Hicklin went on to collaborate with the teams behind Lana Del Rey, Felix Jaehn, Tiësto, Natasha Bedingfield, James Morrison, Hurts, Amy Winehouse, Sugababes and various other international acts.[2] Hicklin is very active in the dance music scene as a writer and vocalist under the moniker Bright Sparks.[5] Notable releases include the Tiësto song On My Way, the Hardwell song Summer Air, the Feder song Keep Us Apart, the Oliver Heldens song Somebody, the Klingande song Messiah, the Timmy Trumpet song Friday and Lost Kings release Feather.[6]

Eurovision Song Contest entries

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Hicklin has written the following Eurovision Song Contest entries:

Year Country Song Artist Co-written with Final Points Semi Points
2010  Belgium "Me and My Guitar" Tom Dice Tom Eeckhout, Jeroen Swinnen 6 143 1 167
2014 "Mother" Axel Hirsoux Rafael Artesero Failed to qualify 14 28
2019  Lithuania "Run with the Lions" Jurij Veklenko Eric Lumiere, Pele Loriano 11 93
2020  Spain "Universo" Blas Cantó Blas Cantó, Dan Hammond, Dangelo Ortega, Mikołaj Trybulec Contest cancelled
2021  Austria "Amen" Vincent Bueno Tobias Carshey, Jonas Thander Failed to qualify 12 66
2022  Poland "River" Ochman Krystian Ochman, Adam Wiśniewski, Mikołaj Trybulec 12 151 6 198
2023   Switzerland "Watergun" Remo Forrer Argyle Singh, Mikołaj Trybulec 20 92 7 97

In 2018, Hicklin co-wrote two songs for the British national selection Eurovision: You Decide. "You", performed by Jaz Ellington and "Astronaut", performed by Liam Tamne. In 2024, he co-wrote "Tears like Rain", performed by Bodine Monet, for the German national final.

As a publisher

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In 2015, Hicklin co-founded Unified Songs, an independent music publisher and management company based in Edinburgh. They have residential recordings studios where they regularly host songwriting camps.[7]

References

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  1. ^ "ashleyhicklin.com". Ashleyhicklin.com. Archived from the original on 13 September 2011. Retrieved 8 December 2011.
  2. ^ a b c Ortiz, Paula. "Unsere Jury stellt sich vor: Ashley Hicklin".
  3. ^ "Swedishcharts.com - Johan Palm - My Antidote". Archived from the original on 6 February 2010. Retrieved 8 December 2011.
  4. ^ [1][permanent dead link]
  5. ^ "Oh Bright Sparks". Ohbrightsparks.com. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  6. ^ "Releases". Unified-songs.com. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
  7. ^ "Our Story". Unified-songs.com.