Laurie Johnson

English composer (1927–2024)
the West Indies born cricketer

Laurence Reginald Ward Johnson (7 February 1927 – 16 January 2024) was an English composer and bandleader who wrote scores for dozens of film and television series, described as "one of the most highly regarded arrangers of big band swing and pop music" in England.

Johnson was born in Hampstead, London, England on 7 February 1927. He studied at the Royal College of Music, where his tutors included Herbert Howells and Ralph Vaughan Williams. 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). The score, with lyrics by Lionel Bart, won an Ivor Novello Award. Johnson began writing and recording for the KPM Music Library in 1960, holding orchestral sessions at the Friends House on Euston Road and at Denis Preston's Lansdowne Studios, where he was aided by engineer Adrian Kerridge. At the sessions Johnson produced two styles of music: light orchestral and big band jazz. He was also house conductor for KPM in the 1960s. His library music has been used more recently in a number of animation series, including SpongeBob SquarePants and Ren And Stimpy.

In 1961, Johnson entered the UK Singles Chart with "Sucu Sucu", the theme music from the UK television series Top Secret. (entitled "Gala Performance"), The Avengers (from 1965), Animal Magic (entitled "Las Vegas"),

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). The 1970 television film Mister Jerico involved many of the original Avengers team, including Patrick Macnee. For the theatre Johnson wrote the musical Lock Up Your Daughters, with Lionel Bart and Bernard Miles, which opened the new Mermaid Theatre in 1959. It was later revived at the Mermaid in 1962 and transferred to the West End in 1963. Johnson's other stage work included music for the Peter Cook revue, Pieces of Eight (1959), and The Four Musketeers (1967), starring Harry Secombe. Originally released by EMI Records in 1969, Symphony featured several famous jazz names including Tubby Hayes, Don Lusher, Joe Harriott, Kenny Wheeler and Stan Tracey, as well as the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Johnson also released albums of music from The Avengers, The New Avengers and The Professionals, albums of his scores for The First Men in the Moon, Dr Strangelove and Captain Kronos, and two albums of him conducting compositions of others: the film music of Dmitri Tiomkin, and Bernard Herrmann's suite for North by Northwest. The suite for military band To the Few was composed in 1989 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. In 1997 Johnson began touring his own band, The London Big Band with Jack Parnell as conductor and soloists Don Lusher, Vince Hill, Kenny Baker and Tom Whittle. Three CDs of their performances were issued. Their "Theme From 'The Professionals'" peaked on the UK Singles Chart at number 36 in May 1997. The property is a Grade II listed building and was offered for sale at £4.6 million. Johnson retired from composition work in the early 1990s. He published an autobiography, Noises in the Head, in 2000. He died on 16 January 2024 after a short illness, at the age of 96. He is survived by his wife Dot and daughter Sarah.