Song:Theme From The Avengers
Album:Cult TV Themes By Laurie Johnson
British film music composer Laurie Johnson is best known for the theme from the 60s TV series The Avengers. He has written other TV themes and film scores. He was born Feb. 7, 1927 in Hampstead, England. He studied at the Royal College of Music in London and started out as an arranger for Ted Heath and other bands. Johnson was an arranger and producer for Pye Records in the 50s and he started composing film scores for director J. Lee Thompson like the 1957 film Tiger Bay. He also was Bernard Herrmann's assistant on several Ray Harryhausen films including Jason & The Argonauts. Johnson replaced Herrmann and wrote the score for the 1964 film The First Men in the Moon. He also wrote the score for the Stanley Kubrick classic Dr. Strangelove. And he composed music for TV shows like Top Secret. The Avengers TV series had already been around for three seasons starring Canadian actor Patrick Macnee and Honor Blackman. Blackman was replaced by Diana Rigg in 1965 and ITV sold the show to ABC. Johnson was asked to write a new theme for The Avengers and like a lot of TV themes, it has a cult following. You can get several of Johnson's TV themes on this CD. When Diana Rigg was replaced by Canadian actress Linda Thorson in 1969, Johnson wrote a slightly abridged theme. And he also composed the theme and was a producer on the series The New Avengers. Johnson wrote the music for the 1977 TV series The Professionals. When The Avengers was turned into a 1998 film, Johnson was music consultant. Laurie Johnson formed The London Big Band in 1997 and continues to tour England today. Here's a video for Theme From The Avengers by Laurie Johnson.
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