Scott English (1937-2018) was a singer and songwriter from Brooklyn. Before recording "Brandy", his biggest claim to fame was co-writing "Bend Me, Shape Me" for The American Breed (who also appear on this website).
"Brandy" reached #12 on the UK singles chart but did not chart appreciably in North America, except for local markets such as Toronto - it reached #91 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #73 on the Canadian national chart. This made it possible for Barry Manilow to cover the song, which he renamed "Mandy" so that it would not be confused with "Brandy (You're A Fine Girl)" (also listed on this website). This version, as you probably know, became globally famous.
I found "Brandy" surprisingly listenable - it's got great wodges of production but English's voice isn't exceptionally polished and he seems to be singing with some actual emotion. It doesn't suffer from the (in my opinion) schmaltzy vocal histrionics and total lack of feeling that doom Manilow's version.
It is apparently an urban legend that English wrote "Brandy" about his dog - he reportedly just said this to get an annoying interviewer to go away. He wasn't that happy with Manilow's version until he discovered that the royalties from it enabled him to buy multiple houses.
After "Brandy", English kept on keeping on with his chosen career as a singer-songwriter, with bits of success here and there, until passing away from complications resulting from hip surgery.
Created January 5, 2026.