A brief history of beautiful music radio:

by Richard O'Connor

Johnny Pearson has died

John Valmore Pearson (18 June 1925 – 20 March 2011) known as Johnny Pearson, was a British composer, orchestra leader and pianist. He led the Top of the Pops orchestra for sixteen years, wrote a catalogue of library music, and had many of his pieces used as the theme music to television series.As leader of the Johnny Pearson Orchestra, he reached number 8 in the UK chart in early 1972 with "Sleepy Shores", the theme from the television series Owen, M.D.[6] (1971-73). The Johnny Pearson Orchestra, which as a musical project was begun in 1972, ran side by side with his other projects. At the time, these projects included working on albums with John Schroeder for Sounds Orchestral and also providing library music to Britain's KPM Records.

Johnny Pearson, 1971 photo

Instead of the slightly jazzy sounding, Sounds Orchestral albums, Pearson was offered a project for easy listening and romance music, based on the success of his "Sleepy Shores" hit. This time he teamed up with music executive Larry Page, who wanted to move his label Penny Farthing into the easy listening genre. The albums were released outside the UK in Europe, Australia, Canada and the USA. In 1978, Larry Page decided to rename his Penny Farthing label to Rampage Records, to reflect a more modern outlook. One of the first singles and albums from the Rampage label, would be another of Pearson's international hits, the theme from All Creatures Great and Small.

Wikipedia | Search Amazon.com for Johnny Pearson Orchestra

HAGOOD HARDY

Hugh Hagood Hardy, CM (February 26, 1937 – January 1, 1997) was a Canadian composer, pianist, and vibraphonist. He is best known for the 1975 single, "The Homecoming", (US #41 pop, #6 easy listening) originally created as music to a 1972 TV commercial for Salada tea, and for his soundtrack to the Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea films.
Born in Angola, Indiana, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Trinity College in the University of Toronto. He also studied music privately in Toronto with Gordon Delamont.Hardy started his professional career as a vibraphonist in 1956 at the House Of Hamburg. After relocating to New York in the early '60's he became a much-in-demand performer with all of the Jazz elite including The Village Vanguard.
He began touring with the likes of Herbie Mann, George Shearing and Martin Denny for nearly seven years in such places as Las Vegas and Hawaii.
He moved back to Toronto in 1966 to form Hagood Hardy & The Montage which toured internationally for six years. It was around this time that he started music for film and television.
He wrote "The Homecoming" in 1972 for a Salada Tea commercial and once people began writing to the company to find out how they could get a copy of the instrumental piece Hardy finally released it. In 1975 it was released as a single and the song went Top-10 across Canada. Two Juno Awards followed for 'Composer Of The Year' and 'Instrumental Artist Of The Year'.
Hardy died after an 18 month struggle with stomach cancer in Hamilton on January 1, 1997 and is survived by 4 children.



Bio | Search Amazon.com for Hagood Hardy

Remember radio WGER in Michigan

Hans “Jeff” Borger admits that even when WGER’s “Beautiful Music” program spread the sounds of Percy Faith and Roger Whitaker across most of the Lower Peninsula, he was not its typical listener.

LINK to Story | WGER Historical Society