- Johnny Pearson
Johnny Pearson (born
June 18 ,1925 ,Chesterfield ,Derbyshire ) is a Britishcomposer andpianist . He has written a vast catalogue of library music, and has had many of his pieces used as the theme music to television series, including "3-2-1 ", "All Creatures Great and Small ", "Captain Pugwash ", "Mary Mungo & Midge " andITN 's "News at Ten " (the last of which was titled "The Awakening"). He also wrote theGrampian Television startup music "Sounds On" and the ATV startup theme "Midlands Montage", as well as music used during intervals between schools programmes onITV .ounds Orchestral and the Johnny Pearson Orchestra
He was pianist in the group Sounds Orchestral, who had a number 5 hit in early 1965 with "Cast Your Fate To The Wind". As leader of the Johnny Pearson Orchestra, he reached number 8 in early 1972 with "Sleepy Shores", theme from the TV series "
Owen MD ". Pearson is also known to have composed under thepseudonym 'Oscar Brandenburg ', a name he shared with Neil Richardson andAlan Moorhouse ."Top of the Pops"
He was also musical director of "
Top of the Pops " for many years until the early 1980s, conducting the programme's orchestra which provided backing for live and pre-recorded performances of current hits. In some cases, notably Althia and Donna's reggae song "Uptown Top Ranking", Pearson's versions sounded rather different from the original records. However, for some other styles of song, Pearson's arrangements and orchestrations could subtly improve on the original record versions. One example is Pearson's addition of a punchy brass backing to Amen Corner's "Bend Me Shape Me" in the programme broadcast on 15th February 1968, which is one of the few surviving recordings of a complete "Top of the Pops " broadcast from the 1960s [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5XS8ky2lRk YouTube - Amen Corner - Bend Me Shape Me [totp2 ] ] . His orchestra's version of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" was the theme tune to "Top of the Pops " for most of the 1970s.In the United States
In the
United States , Pearson's best known composition is "Heavy Action ", originally used as the theme to the cult BBC sports show "Superstars ", and subsequently adopted by ABC's "Monday Night Football " (the NFL's weekly nationally televised showcase) and the "SFM Holiday Network ". In 1989,Edd Kalehoff composed and recorded a new arrangement of this music for later seasons of "Monday Night Football".In Australia
In
Australia , his best known library music piece was "Power Drive," which was used as the theme for the 1969-75 police drama "Division 4 ". This tune was also famous in the U.S. for use in some episodes of the 1967-70 cartoon series "Spider-Man", as well as being the theme for Los Angeles station KNXT/KCBS-TV's afternoon movie series "The Early Show" for much of the 1970s and into the 1980s.References
External links
* [http://www.80stvthemes.com/ra/MONDAYNITE.ra ABC Monday Night Football (1970)]
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