Born in the village of Muizenberg in the Western Cape in 1931, he qualified as a lawyer before he left for London in 1955 to pursue his dream of becoming a songwriter. It was the Tin Pan Alley era and with his unusually inventive lyrics, he had little difficulty in getting his songs covered by stars of the day, including Rose Brennan, Joan Regan, Petula Clark, the Brook Brothers, Diana Dors, Bryan Johnston and Ronnie Hilton.

His first major recognition came with an Ivor Novello Award in 1959. But it was when Matt Monroe recorded his Softly As I Leave You — an Italian melody to which Shaper added English lyrics — that his career took off internationally. The song was recorded by Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Bobby Darin, Shirley Bassey and several hundred others.

Shaper used the early royalty cheques from this to start his own publishing company, Sparta Music, to which he signed other songwriters. They included a number of Jamaican artists and he played an important part in the early success of reggae music, co-writing The Israelites with Desmond Dekker, who took the song to No 1 in the British charts in 1969. He later helped to write UB40’s 1990 hit Kingston Town.

A humane and generous man, he was a versatile writer whose songs ranged from the 1960s protest No Tears for Johnny to the 1975 disco hit El Bimbo. Working mainly but not exclusively as a lyricist, he produced songs along the way such as My Friend the Sea, a hit for Petula Clark and Nana Mouskouri, and From Denver To LA, recorded by Elton John. Bing Crosby, Barbra Streisand, Jack Jones, Paul Anka, Elaine Paige and Dusty Springfield also sang his songs.

In the 1970s, he branched out into stage work and with Cyril Ornadel wrote the lyrics for Treasure Island, first staged at London’s Mermaid Theatre in 1973.

He also wrote more than 80 songs for films, and collaborated with Jerry Goldsmith, Maurice Jarre, Michel Legrand, Ron Goodwin and John Williams. Among his most successful film songs were It’s a Long Road from First Blood (1982) and Free as the Wind, the theme song from Papillon, later covered by Andy Williams and Engelbert Humperdinck.

In 1992 he returned to South Africa, where he worked tirelessly to help unite the post-apartheid nation.

From South Africa, Shaper continued to write songs for the international market, including Interlude, a duet between Siouxsie Sioux and Morrissey, and the lyrics for Elaine Paige’s Piaf album. He also wrote and staged La Bohème Noir, a version of Puccini’s opera set in Soweto during the 1976 uprising.