In 1980 Vince Cross left behind a promising career teaching religious education to teenagers with every intention of becoming a writer. But the lure of rock’n’roll proved too great, and he passed the next decade and a half stoking the ‘star-maker machinery of popular song’.

On the way he wrote and produced million-selling cassettes of music for children, composed the music for an acclaimed TV animation eventually sold to more than fifty countries, and penned the words and music for a number of stage shows which have wowed holidaying crowds at Butlins’ holiday camps.

He has managed a professional recording studio, written jingle packages and TV commercials, and composed and arranged the music for more than 4,000 songs which today help millions of children learn English all around the globe. Now, still poor, he happily combines continuing to develop such materials with being Director of Music at his parish church, and developing a writing career

In 1997 he wrote a first children’s novel for Piccadilly Books about aggressive in-line skating : ‘MC3 Get In Line’. Shortly afterwards OUP published a picture book of his poems illustrated by Robin Bell Corfield : ‘All The Year Round’.

Since joining Pollinger’s he has written two of Working Partners/Macmillan’s highly successful ‘Puppy Patrol’ series, and three books for Scholastic’s ‘My Story’ series, one of which ‘Blitz : The Diary of Edie Benson’ has attracted particular attention. There have also been two non-fiction careers books for John Hunt Publishing. One is about sport. The other shares valuable hints on how to make it in the music biz. Not.

A new and satirical novel for young teenagers, ‘The A Club’, is due for publication by Lion Hudson in October 2006. Abi Goodenough is 14. She’s nice. Bright. Talented. And every adult in Abi’s life has just so many good ideas about how she should spend her time. Making them feel good, of course!

PUBLISHED WORKS

• Zulu War : Jabulani - Africa 1879-1882
  Scholastic (My Story Series 2002)
  
  
• Civil War : Thomas Adamson - England 1643-1650
  Scholastic (My Story Series 2002)
  
  
• Do What? The Sports Industry
  John Hunt (2002)
  
  
• Do What? The Music Business
  John Hunt (2002)
  
  
• Blitz : The Diary of Edie Benson : London 1940-1941
  Scholastic (My Story 2001)
  
  
• Two's company : Puppy Patrol 31
  Macmillan/Working Partners (2000)
  
  
• Superdog : Puppy Patrol 22
  Macmillan/Working Partners (1999)
  
  
• MC3 Get In Line
  Piccadilly (1997)
  
  
• All The Year Round (with artist Robin Bell Corfield)
  OUP (1997)
  
  
• Sing A Song Of Sixpence (With artist Nick Sharratt)
  OUP (1997)
  
  
• Christian Worship (with Peter Taylor)
  Holt, Rinehart & Winston (1985)
  
  
• Jesus
  Holt, Rinehart & Winston 1984 : non-fiction