Robert Walton
(1936-2024)
Robert was born in
1936 in Auckland, New Zealand,
where he received his education
at King’s College, an
independent Secondary School.
It was here he discovered his
love for Robert Farnon's music.
In 1957, on a family trip to
England, he met Robert Farnon,
who gave him a great deal of
advice about arranging and
composing.
Upon leaving school he got a job
with New Zealand Broadcasting,
initially as a post-boy, but was
soon on-air, announcing and then
presenting. He also had a trio
playing in clubs in Auckland.
Music was his first love and he
came to London in 1963. His first
jobs were playing piano in the
pubs in the docklands, some
notorious for their gangsters !
Eventually, he moved up-market to
the Dorchester Hotel. He then
embarked upon a second career
doing voice-overs for the cinema
advertising company, Pearl and
Dean, and presenting programmes
for three radio stations.
Meanwhile he was writing,
conducting and arranging for the
BBC Radio Orchestra. At the same
time was a presenter on Radio
Caroline, then Radio 390. These
were under different names, as
the BBC would certainly not have
approved !
On one celebrated occasion, he
played for Royalty. He was
performing at New Zealand House,
London, at a reception for the
late Queen Elizabeth, the Queen
Mother. When he played her
favourite tune, Her Majesty
turned and waved to him ! On
another occasion, at the
Dorchester, he was congratulated
by the Earl Spencer on his
playing.
He composed and conducted mood
music for Chappell Music
Publishers, The New Zealand
Symphony Orchestra and arranged a
suite for the Royal Philharmonic
Orchestra. He arranged and
conducted The London Pops
Orchestra and made many CDs with
his trio.
A move to Ireland gave him a new
career, writing many articles for
Journal Into Melody
– the magazine of the Robert
Farnon Society. These were
received with great interest and
regularly resulted in favourable
comments from the other members.
Robert also wrote for In Tune
International, and played
piano in Residential Homes and a
local Jazz club.
Robert Walton died in June 2024,
leaving his wife Patricia, a
daughter, two grandchildren and
three great-grandchildren. There
is no doubt that he made an
inestimable contribution to the
world of Light Music; he will be
greatly missed by many devotees
of this genre.
© Tony Clayden March
2025
With grateful thanks to Ms.
Patricia Walton, for supplying
much of the above information.
|
