Terry Dempsey

Terry Dempsey (8 March 1941 – 10 February 2019) was a South African songwriter whose songs were made famous by a number of artists.

Early life Born in England, he moved to South Africa in 1978 and formed two record labels, Storm and MAP. He wrote the song "Daydreamer", which he took to Tokyo Music Festival in 1974 where it was picked up by Artie Wayne and recorded by David Cassidy. Cassidy's recording spent three weeks at the top of the UK singles chart in October and November 1973. A French adaptation, "", recorded by Claude François, reached number 1 in France.

He also wrote "Love Is a Beautiful Song", performed by Dave Mills, which reached number 1 in South Africa, Canada and Australia. Two other songs written by him reached Number 1 in South Africa – "Spider Spider" by Tidal Wave and "Kentucky Blues" sung by Lauren Copley.

He also wrote theme songs for South African TV shows, including Twist Grip, TopSport, DriveTime, as well as the Comrades Marathon and television series' The Power of Persuasion and Wings Over Africa.

In 1999 he produced and wrote the film score for the South African feature film Heel Against the Head.

Death He was killed when he was struck by the blades of a gyrocopter when it made an emergency landing at the Vaal Marina during a family ash scattering.