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.

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