A WEYMOUTH songwriter who penned an album with an American rock band is celebrating following its number one rank in the US Amazon rock download chart.

Richard Hymas, 48, of Rodwell, has written tracks for musicians for years and teaches guitar to children at All Saints School, Holy Trinity School and previously at Wyke Regis Junior School.

The chart-topping new album, entitled ‘Precious Metal’ by rock band House of Lords, was released last week and has reached number one in the Amazon hard rock download chart in America. It is also number one in the Japanese hard rock downloads and number two in the Canadian chart.

Richard said: “The band was put together and managed by Gene Simmons of rock band Kiss in the late 1980s. Their new album was released on February 25 and to my surprise it is at number one and also in the top five rock downloads of the same chart in Italy, France and the UK.

“I don’t know how long it will stay in the charts but it’s doing brilliantly so far.”

Mr Hymas said American songwriter Charlie Mason, who has written tracks for Miley Cyrus and others, put him in touch with lead singer of House of Lords James Christian.

The trio then worked on the album with Richard contributing ideas and lyrics via email and over the internet.

He added: “It’s brilliant to see that my work is helping artists do really well in the charts.”

Richard is married to Claire and has two daughters Libby, 10 and 12-year-old Hollie. He has been a songwriter for more than 30 years, previously co-creating tracks with pianist Ben Waters including songs on his Grammy-nominated album Boogie For Stu.

He has now signed a publishing deal with Frontier Records in Italy. A few of his written tracks also appear on musician Ben Waters’ new CD, Live in London.

ANOTHER song written by Richard two years ago is now in the top 800 selling songs of all time according to the Swedish chart.

Richard’s daughters Libby and Hollie featured in the song The Scarecrow by 20-year-old Swedish internet sensation Ulrik Munther – helping the artist reach number one.

The girls were invited to contribute to the demo track written by their song-writing father.

Ulrik Munther is the Swedish equivalent of Canadian pop star Justin Bieber.

The youngster has received more than a million hits on YouTube.