Alan Tarney (born 19 November 1945, Northside, Workington, Cumberland, England) is an English songwriter, record producer, vocalist, guitarist, bass guitarist and keyboardist.
His family migrated to Australia and he spent his teenage years in Adelaide, Australia, where he met his songwriting and musical partner
Trevor Spencer. The two played together in the band
James Taylor Move (1967–1968). When the group disbanded, Tarney and Spencer moved to London, England and met up with former band member
Kevin Peek. The trio formed the Kevin Peek Trio (1968–69). In 1969,
Terry Britten moved to England and the four musicians formed the short lived band
Quartet. Alan went on to play bass guitar with
The Shadows from 1973 to 1977 both in the studio and live, covering four major albums Rockin With Curly Leads, Specs Appeal, Live At Paris Olympia and Tasty with
John Farrar. He formed
The Tarney/Spencer Band with Trevor Spencer in 1976.
In 1979, Alan wrote and arranged the
Cliff Richard hit We Don’t Talk Anymore. This led to him becoming Richard’s record producer of his next two albums, I’m No Hero (1980) and Wired for Sound (1981). Alan went on to bigger success as a producer in the mid-1980s when he worked with Norwegian band
A-ha.