in 1965, he met phil coulter and the two became established as a successful songwriting team that lasted more than ten years (martin for the lyrics, coulter for the melody). they had records with such (mostly uk) acts as comedian and baritone ken dodd, american r&b artist geno washington, los bravos, dave dee & co, the troggs, mireille mathieu, george harrison, dick emery, tony blackburn, billy connolly, cilla black, the foundations, cliff richard, sandie shaw, and elvis presley.