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"Music by Laurie Johnson"
Laurie Johnson
Laurence Reginald Ward Johnson, MBE (born 7 February 1927) is an English composer and bandleader who has written scores for dozens of film and television series and has been one of the most highly regarded arrangers of instrumental pop and swing music since in the 1950s with works often serving as stock production music.
Career
Johnson was born in Hampstead, and studied at the Royal College of Music in London, and spent four years in the Coldstream Guards before moving to the entertainment industry in the 1950s. One of his first major projects was as composer and music director in a musical adaptation of Henry Fielding's Rape Upon Rape entitled Lock Up Your Daughters (1959), which opened in Bernard Miles' Mermaid Theatre. The score, with lyrics by Lionel Bart, won an Ivor Novello Award. Johnson's stage work included music for the Peter Cook revue, Pieces of Eight (1959), and The Four Musketeers (1967), starring Harry Secombe.
In 1961, Johnson entered the UK Singles Chart with "Sucu Sucu", the theme music from the UK television series Top Secret. It was in this area of television scoring that he was to be most prolific. From the 1960s to the 1980s, he composed over fifty themes and scores, including the theme used on This Is Your Life ( entitled "Gala Performance" ), The Avengers (from 1965), Animal Magic ( entitled "Las Vegas" ), Jason King, The New Avengers and The Professionals. He was one of the founders, with Albert Fennell and Brian Clemens, of Mark One Productions, the television production company responsible for The New Avengers and The Professionals.
Johnson was responsible for the theme music to the BBC Radio 1 series "Sounds of Jazz", introduced by Peter Clayton and broadcast on Sunday evenings from October 1973 onwards.
Johnson's film scores included The Good Companions, The Moonraker (1958), Tiger Bay, Dr. Strangelove, First Men in the Moon, You Must Be Joking!, And Soon the Darkness, Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter and Diagnosis: Murder (the 1975 Christopher Lee film). Among his other works was the music for the television film, Mister Jerico, which involved many of the original Avengers team, including Patrick Macnee.
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Many of Johnson's works have since become stock music for a number of animated series, including SpongeBob SquarePants and Ren And Stimpy.
{snip}
Laurence Reginald Ward Johnson, MBE (born 7 February 1927) is an English composer and bandleader who has written scores for dozens of film and television series and has been one of the most highly regarded arrangers of instrumental pop and swing music since in the 1950s with works often serving as stock production music.
Career
Johnson was born in Hampstead, and studied at the Royal College of Music in London, and spent four years in the Coldstream Guards before moving to the entertainment industry in the 1950s. One of his first major projects was as composer and music director in a musical adaptation of Henry Fielding's Rape Upon Rape entitled Lock Up Your Daughters (1959), which opened in Bernard Miles' Mermaid Theatre. The score, with lyrics by Lionel Bart, won an Ivor Novello Award. Johnson's stage work included music for the Peter Cook revue, Pieces of Eight (1959), and The Four Musketeers (1967), starring Harry Secombe.
In 1961, Johnson entered the UK Singles Chart with "Sucu Sucu", the theme music from the UK television series Top Secret. It was in this area of television scoring that he was to be most prolific. From the 1960s to the 1980s, he composed over fifty themes and scores, including the theme used on This Is Your Life ( entitled "Gala Performance" ), The Avengers (from 1965), Animal Magic ( entitled "Las Vegas" ), Jason King, The New Avengers and The Professionals. He was one of the founders, with Albert Fennell and Brian Clemens, of Mark One Productions, the television production company responsible for The New Avengers and The Professionals.
Johnson was responsible for the theme music to the BBC Radio 1 series "Sounds of Jazz", introduced by Peter Clayton and broadcast on Sunday evenings from October 1973 onwards.
Johnson's film scores included The Good Companions, The Moonraker (1958), Tiger Bay, Dr. Strangelove, First Men in the Moon, You Must Be Joking!, And Soon the Darkness, Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter and Diagnosis: Murder (the 1975 Christopher Lee film). Among his other works was the music for the television film, Mister Jerico, which involved many of the original Avengers team, including Patrick Macnee.
{snip}
Many of Johnson's works have since become stock music for a number of animated series, including SpongeBob SquarePants and Ren And Stimpy.
{snip}
The Avengers TV Intro - Season 5 - 1966
233,738 views•Aug 31, 2011
VIDEOBEAT dotCOM
12.2K subscribers
TV doesn't get any cooler than this, does it? Wow! UK TV series The Avengers Season 5 was the first in color and broadcast in the US. There were several female co-stars but Diana Rigg as Emma Peel is a classic! In fact, she was the inspiration for the look of the go-go girl our homepage: http://www.thevideobeat.com/
They're not all great:
Laurie Johnson Happy Go Lively
650,139 views•Oct 4, 2010
Beckinstein Shinn
442 subscribers
Laurie Johnson- Happy Go Lively
Music For TV Dinners