December 2021

André Leon's Christmas Radio Juke Box

André Leon introduces seasonal sounds as you join him on a musical sleigh ride with Santa’s Juke Box on board!

Expect to hear Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley amongst A Star Line Up!

also available via our Streaming Audio selection

November 2021

STEPHEN SONDHEIM (1930-2021)

The American composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim has died aged 91.

You can read an obituary here.

October 2021

A Tribute to Leslie Bricusse

(A Musical Theatre Melodies broadcast from Inner FM)

A Musical Theatre Melodies broadcast pays tribute to the Academy, Grammy and Ivor Novello Award-winning composer, lyricist, librettist and screenwriter, Leslie Bricusse (who passed away at his home in the South of France last week at the age of 90).

The program features an archival interview with Leslie from July 2021 to mark the 60th Anniversary of the London premiere of the Bricusse – Anthony Newley musical Stop The World – I Want to Get Off, in which Leslie also discussed his up-coming projects, which included the long-awaited British premiere of his Sammy Davis Jr. bio-musical Sammy, plus his recently completed stage work The Great Musical Comedy (aka Sunday Dallas), the concert presentation of A Few Words With George (for which Leslie wrote lyrics to accompany the orchestral works of George Gershwin), animated film versions of Noah’s Ark (featuring a song score originally written in the 1960s) and Scrooge (based on his 1970 film and subsequent stage adaptation) and the projected film version of Jekyll & Hyde.

The programme concludes with a replay of excerpts from a 90th Birthday tribute to Leslie Bricusse which featured a selection of his songs written and co-written (with collaborators including Anthony Newley, Cyril Ornadel, Henry Mancini, John Williams and Frank Wildhorn) for the stage musicals Stop The World – I Want To Get Off, Pickwick, The Roar Of The Greasepaint – The Smell Of The Crowd, The Good Old Bad Old Days, Sherlock Holmes, Jekyll & Hyde and Cyrano de Bergerac; and screen musicals Charley Moon, Doctor Doolittle, Goodbye Mr. Chips, Scrooge, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and Victor/Victoria, from the respective original cast and film soundtrack recordings.

See Leslie Bricusse's Obituary by Anthony Wills

October 2021

Alan Hawkshaw (1937-2021)

Composer who wrote the theme tunes for Channel 4 News and Grange Hill, and the music to accompany the Countdown clock has died aged 84.

You can read an obituary here.

August 2021

Barbara Moore (1932-2021)

The talented pianist, singer, arranger and composer Barbara Moore has died after a long illness, aged 89. Born in Yorkshire, Barbara was the daughter of saxophonist and arranger Arthur Birkby. She was an early member of The Ladybirds backing group.

As well as composing music for commercials and the De Wolfe Music Library, she wrote the new, up-dated arrangement for Brian Fahey's celebrated signature tune At The Sign Of The Swinging Cymbal, still used on BBC Radio 2's Pick Of The Pops. She later worked with Jimi Hendrix, Dusty Springfield, Elton John, Tom Jones and Dudley Moore, with whom she became a close friend.

At one time Barbara was married to arranger Pete Moore (1924-2013), former Head of Orchestrations at Radio 2; their daughter Lindsay sadly died in her 40s.

In her later years Barbara moved to the coastal town of Bognor Regis, where she became a well-known personality, performing locally and lecturing at the University of Chichester.

https://www.barbaramoore.co.uk/

Anthony Wills
© August 2021

June 2021

Hundreds of full editions of 'Music While You Work'
are available for streaming on Brian Reynolds' website

Read more about this item

June 2021

Vernon Anderson

It is with profound sadness that we record the death of our supporter Vernon Anderson, who peacefully passed away on June 15th, after a period of ill health borne with great courage and dignity.
Click here to read an obituary.

May 2021

Aspidistra Drawing Room Orchestra Concert
May 31st 2021

Click here to read the report

March 2021

'HEHR Archive' on Youtube

This USA Youtube channel contains many playlists some of which Light Music enthusiasts will find of interest:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdw7kJeC2h7oZ8StCdQUjYg/playlists

Here is a selection of some of the playlists available on the channel:

'World of Light Music'
'The Story of Light Music'
BBC 'My Music'
'Melody Time'
'The Andre Kostelanetz Show'
BBC 'Sing Something Simple'
'Bands and their Music'
'On Parade'
'My Kind of Music'

and there are a lot more including over 40 BBC 'My Word' programmes!

February 2021

Sunday Bandstand

For those of you who like Brass Bands, Chris Helme produces a two hour weekly programme of Brass Band music which you can stream online here

We have linked to his programmes from our streaming light music page.