Eg is the professional name of Francis Anthony White, a British musician, songwriter and producer. He begins his career in the bands Yip Yip Coyote and Brother Beyond, the latter formed with his brother David in the late 1980s. He leaves Brother Beyond before their chart success and after their work with the songwriting team Stock, Aitken and Waterman.

Eg and Alice

In 1990, White teams up with London model and BMX champion Alice Temple. Together they record the pop album 24 Years of Hunger, released in 1991 under the name Eg and Alice. The album receives strong critical praise and appears in several major music publications’ lists of the year’s best albums, but it does not reach the UK Top 75. The singles Indian and Doesn't Mean That Much To Me are also well received.

Solo work and production

White produces the debut album by Kinky Machine in 1992, then reappears in 1996 with his first solo album, Turn Me On, I'm a Rocket Man. That record is also critically well regarded. Its singles Stay Home and Made My Baby Cry do not chart. In 1997, he provides instrumentation for Suggs’ solo album The Three Pyramids Club.

Songwriting career

By 1999, White becomes widely in demand as a songwriter, musician and producer. He works again with Alice Temple on her solo debut Hang Over and collaborates with Emiliana Torrini on her debut album Love In The Time Of Science. He co-writes Say It for Alison Moyet’s Hometime and contributes to debut albums by Nicole Russo and Jade Anderson, as well as Javine’s Surrender.

White writes Leave Right Now for Will Young, which reaches number one in the UK singles chart. He receives the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically in 2004 for that song. He also co-writes Going My Way and Out Of My Mind for Young’s Fridays Child.

Later collaborations

White continues to work across pop music, contributing to Tamyra Gray’s The Dreamer, Joss Stone’s Mind, Body & Soul, Natalie Imbruglia’s Counting Down the Days, Nate James’ Set the Tone, Charlotte Church’s Tissues and Issues, Sara Jorge’s R3MIX and Tina Dico’s In The Red. He also works on material by Simon Webbe and Will Young, including the track Who Am I, which he co-writes with Lucie Silvas and which reaches number 11 in the UK.

Other collaborations include work with James Morrison, for whom he co-writes and produces the top 10 single You Give Me Something and the follow-up Wonderful World, as well as songs with Jamelia, Take That, Beverley Knight, Mutya Buena, Kylie Minogue and James Blunt.

Adele and later credits

White co-writes three tracks on Adele’s debut album 19 for XL Recordings: Chasing Pavements, Tired and Melt My Heart To Stone. He also produces all three tracks.