Monday, June 10, 2019

Leslie David Reed

RIP Leslie David Reed, OBE (24 July 1935 – 15 April 2019) Composer, conductor, arranger

English songwriter, arranger, musician and light orchestra leader. His major songwriter partners were Gordon Mills, Barry Mason and Geoff Stephens, although he penned songs with many others such as Roger Greenaway, Roger Cook, and Johnny Worth. Allmusic noted that "Reed's sixty or more major hits have earned numerous gold discs, Ivor Novello Awards and, in 1982, the British Academy Gold Badge of Merit. In the mid-1960s, it was unusual for a British singles chart not to list a Les Reed song".

Jack De Mello

Jack de Mello (15 Nov 1916 – 27 April 2019) Arranger, keyboardist, composer, conductor, producer, entrepreneur and founder of Music Of Polynesia Inc.
Composer, arranger, producer and recording artist Jack de Mello, who created an expansive new synthesis of Hawaiian melodies and lush, contemporary orchestral music, died in Las Vegas. He was 102. During his prolific career, de Mello recorded close to 160 albums of all types of music, including almost 500 Hawaiian songs. He recorded at top studios around the world and “gave Hawaiian music a new identity,” according to a statement from his family. Born Nov. 15, 1916, in Oakland, Calif., de Mello showed early musical talent. He studied music and music theory at the Bickett Military Band School in San Francisco and was only 9 years old when he began playing the trumpet. The family recalled his stories about piling into a Model T Ford with his brother to go to his lessons, which also required travel by ferry boat and train since the Bay Bridge had yet to be built.
As a young musician in San Francisco, de Mello joined the staff band at the CBS radio network and later served as a musical director at ABC and NBC. He entered the Army as a bandmaster at Camp McQuaide in California. As musical director of Mutual Network top-rated radio show, “Beat The Villian,” de Mello hired the Society Band led by Joe Reichman. They went on to perform together at major U.S. hotels including the Waldorf Astoria and Roosevelt in New York. During a run at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, they accepted an invitation to reopen the Royal Hawaiian hotel in 1947. The hotel had been used exclusively by the U.S. Navy during World War II. 

Composer Johnny Harris

Composer, Arranger, Conductor JOHNNY HARRIS

Johnny Harris was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music in London. Originally a trumpet player with the Norman Burns band & big bands led by Vic Lewis, Ken Mackintosh, Cyril Stapleton and then a member of the short-lived beat group The Shubdubs with drummer Jimmie Nicol and organist Roger Coulam. In 1964, he recorded a Beatles cover version album and EP called Beatlemania with Jimmie Nicol which resulted in Nicol replacing the ill Ringo Starr on a worldwide Beatles tour. He joined Pye Records in 1965 as an arranger and conductor for producer Tony Hatch and his then-wife Jackie Trent. Johnny had an un-credited role as conductor on the Nancy Sinatra In London album and worked with many other artists in the sixties as a staff member at Pye. He worked freelance for many other record labels in Great Britain and Europe and was a regular arranger, conductor, and producer for Petula Clark until she left Pye in 1971

Sunday, December 16, 2018

Beautiful Christmas Music Begins

Starting at midnight on Dec 17th Beautiful Instrumentals Channel flips the switch with beautiful Christmas instrumentals. Enjoy the Holiday season with friends and family while enjoying some beautiful Christmas instrumentals. 


Sunday, December 9, 2018

RIP Francis Lai

In 1970 Lai won the Academy Award for Best Music, Original Score and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score for the film Love Story. In the United States, the soundtrack album went to No. 2 in the Billboard album charts and the film's theme, "Where Do I Begin", was a hit single with lyrics by Carl Sigman for traditional pop singer Andy Williams. The song would also be recorded successfully by Lai himself, with a full orchestra, and by Henry Mancini and Shirley Bassey. Lai's "Love Story" theme was heard in the 1978 Love Story sequel titled Oliver's Story, although the main score was composed by Lee Holdridge. His movie scores include films as diverse as Mayerling, Three into Two Won't Go, International Velvet, Édith et Marcel, and Michael Winner films such as I'll Never Forget What's'isname and Hannibal Brooks. Lai has also had success with music written for softcore erotic films like Emmanuelle 2 (1975) and Bilitis (1977). He earned high praise for the latter film's score and its sound-track sold over a million copies throughout the world. In a career spanning forty years, Lai also wrote music for television programs and alone or in collaboration with others has composed music for more than one hundred films and has personally written more than six hundred songs. Notably, he penned the music for the Perry Como hit "I Think of You" (lyrics by Rod McKuen). He died on 7 November 2018, aged 8

Saturday, September 29, 2018

Leslie David Reed

RIP Leslie David Reed, OBE (24 July 1935 – 15 April 2019) Composer, conductor, arranger English songwriter, arranger, musician and light o...