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Patricia Knapton was born in 1941 in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England, into a music-loving household. Her brother was a singer and drummer who performed on cruise liners, while her younger sister was a country music vocalist who worked the club circuit in the West Country.
Initially, Patricia didn’t play an instrument — her forte was words. She began writing poetry at the age of seven, eventually filling a folder she called her "maybe one day" archive with poems.
After her marriage to David Knapton, she decided to study the craft of songwriting. She joined the International Songwriters Association and placed an advertisement in both ISA’s "Songwriter Magazine" and her local newspaper seeking a musical collaborator. This led her to meet a local singer-songwriter, and the duo soon began weekly songwriting sessions at her home. Following a tip in another ISA publication, "SongSeller", Patricia secured a publishing deal for their first six songs — a remarkable feat for a novice songwriter.
News of her success reached a UK-based musical director who was looking for a lyricist for his forthcoming Christmas production of "The Pied Piper". Their collaboration resulted in twelve new songs, and the production opened to an enthusiastic audience and strong press notices.
Soon after, Patricia came across a newspaper story about a guide dog named Bella who had gone missing after being frightened by fireworks. Despite a large-scale search, Bella was never found. Moved by the article, Patricia contacted the dog’s owner and, with his blessing, began work on "Bella - The Musical". This project involved more than just writing songs; Patricia had to find a production company, audition the cast, and even pick the right dog for the part!
"Bella - The Musical", with Patricia as executive producer, premiered at The Music Hall in Salisbury. The opening attracted not only local dignitaries and Bella’s owner but also officials from the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association in London. The show sold out every night, and she later adapted it into a book, also titled "Bella", which was subsequently recorded as an audiobook narrated by a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Patricia went on to serve as press and publicity officer for the Shrewsbury & District Guide Dogs for the Blind Association while continuing to write songs and musicals. Her next production, "Heaven Sent", set in New York City with music by Stephen Hearson, was staged at the Stoke-on-Trent Repertory Theatre and again received great acclaim.
Though she had always written under her married name, what she would later describe as "a vivid dream" prompted Patricia to adopt the pen name Patricia Rose and start work on a series of inspirational poems. These led to the publication of eight collections of uplifting verse under the title "Patricia Rose", later made available on Amazon Kindle. In 2000, she published a hardback volume titled "Grains of Truth – Thoughts for the 21st Century", which received glowing critical reviews.
Meanwhile, Patricia’s songwriting continued to flourish. She now began composing her own melodies and was soon was the recipient of a contract for fourteen of her songs from a UK publisher. Several gained heavy radio airplay across Europe and the United States and she went on to win "International Songwriter of the Year" at the Las Vegas American Eagle Awards for Country Music - twice for co-written songs and once for her solo composition "Somewhere Between Heaven And Help Me".
A chance meeting with fellow ISA member Simon Rushby, who was about to sign a major publishing deal, led Patricia to suggest him as a subject for a "Songwriter Magazine" interview. With Gerald Mahlowe who normally conducted the UK interviews temporarily unavailable, editor Jim Liddane asked her to gather information for a potential future interview. However her research was so thorough and the piece so well-written that what she referred to simply as her "background research" could be published as the actual interview itself.
Further assignments followed, including profiles of Tim Dawson and former Fleetwood Mac guitarist Bob Weston. By then, Patricia had become one of only four Contributing Editors to Songwriter Magazine, alongside American author Harvey Rachlin ("The Songwriter's Handbook", "The Encyclopedia of the Music Business"), Canadian journalist and songwriter Larry Wayne Clark (whose songs had been recorded by Chris Young, Lee Greenwood, and The Statler Brothers), and British writer Sheridan Morley, whose books included "Odd Man Out: The Life of James Mason" and "Robert, My Father".
Meanwhile, she branched out into gospel music, and three of her songs were signed by the American music publisher operated by the singer Claude E Reed and later released on CER Records.
Despite ongoing health issues, including a heart condition that required hospitalisation, Patricia continued to write. Inspired by some of the get-well cards she received, she decided to submit verses to a UK greeting card company. They were accepted, and her words now appear on cards sold in both the UK and the US, credited as "Words by Patricia Rose."
Her creative output also included a CD titled "Moments", featuring four sets of eight uplifting verses each, interwoven with music and produced by a music industry professional who had earlier purchased her book "Grains of Truth". She went on to publish four more books – "Every One a Hero", "Words of Comfort", "Hold Onto Hope", and "Healing Words" - each of which found audiences through The National Memorial Arboretum and the Help for Heroes website. Later, her verses would become the inspiration for the "Serenity Rose" range of greeting cards from Cherry Orchard.
Through perseverance, despite health setbacks, Patricia Rose Knapton built a multi-faceted creative legacy spanning books, songs, stage musicals, audio recordings, CDs, and greeting cards - touching audiences, readers, and listeners across the world.
Her work always reflected a deep love of family and a steady unfolding of heartfelt creativity - from scraps of paper in a "maybe one day" folder to award-winning songs, published musicals, widely cherished books, and comforting verses that found homes in theatres, on bookshelves, on greeting cards, and in people’s hearts.
Patricia Rose Knapton died at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in England, on 9th June 2025. She was 84.
© Jim Liddane
Copyright Songwriter Magazine, International Songwriters Association & Jim Liddane: All Rights Reserved
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This International Songwriters Association 1967 site is a non-profit non-commercial re-creation of portions of the full site originally published by the International Songwriters Association Limited, and will introduce you to the world of songwriting. It will explain music business terms and help you understand the business concepts that you should be familiar with, thus enabling you to ask more pertinent questions when you meet with your accountant/CPA or solicitor/lawyer.
However, although this website includes general information about legal issues and legal developments as well as accounting issues and accounting developments, it is not meant to be a replacement for professional advice. Such materials are for informational purposes only and may not reflect the most current legal/accounting developments.
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