William Wylie MacPherson (9 November 1938 – 26 March 2020), known professionally as Bill Martin, was a Scottish songwriter, music publisher and impresario. His most successful songs, all written with Phil Coulter, included "Puppet on a String", "Congratulations", "Back Home", and "Saturday Night". He was presented with three Ivor Novello Awards, including one as Songwriter of the Year. Biography Bill Martin was born William Wylie MacPherson in Govan, Glasgow, Scotland, to Ian and Letitia (Letty) and had an older brother, Ian. They lived in Taransay Road, Govan, near the Fairfield shipyard. Martin was educated at Govan High School, three years ahead of Sir Alex Ferguson; in 2011, they were both inducted into the inaugural Govan High Hall of Fame. After World War II, many of the Glasgow tenements were pulled down and the MacPherson family moved to Priesthill, a new housing scheme on the south side of Glasgow. Having tried, and failed to build a career in the shipyards, Martin completed his apprenticeship as a marine engineer. Although he had actually written his first song at 10 years of age, it was during his apprenticeship that he heard Bobby Darin's song "Dream Lover" which convinced him that his future lay in songwriting. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music, and had trials to become a professional footballer for Partick Thistle. In 1960, Martin and his new bride, Margaret (Mag) went to South Africa, where he played football for Johannesburg Rangers. On their return, he determined to make songwriting his primary focus, and began using the name Bill Martin as he thought that Wylie MacPherson was "too Scottish". He spent months working in Denmark Street and finally, in 1963, he had his first song released on record, with "Kiss Me Now" by Tommy Quickly. The song was released on 22 November 1963, the same day that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and light-hearted songs were not the order of the day. In 1964, he entered into a writing partnership with Tommy Scott. As Scott & Martin he had success with such acts as the Irish trio The Bachelors, Twinkle, the Irish folk band The Dubliners, Van Morrison, and Serge Gainsbourg. 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