between 1967 and 1976 they had four no. 1 hits in the uk: "puppet on a string", "congratulations", "back home" and "forever and ever". martin is the only scottish songwriter to pen four uk number one hits for four different acts. there were also numerous top 10 hits including the bay city rollers' "shang-a-lang", "fancy pants" by the glam rock band kenny, "requiem" by the scottish pop group slik, and "surround yourself with sorrow" by cilla black. in 1975, martin and coulter were joint recipients of an ivor novello award for 'songwriter of the year'.