Laurie Johnson

Laurie Johnson is perhaps best known internationally for his title theme for the Diana Rigg/Linda Thorson seasons of The Avengers. He has also worked on dozens of feature films, including Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove, J. Lee Thompson's Tiger Bay, Ray Harryhausen's The First Men in the Moon, and Brian Clemens' Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter. Additionally, in England he has been a recording artist specializing in instrumental pop music since the mid-'50s, and is one of the most highly regarded arrangers of big-band swing and pop music. Educated at the Royal College of Music (where he later taught), he also began his career as an arranger and composer at age 19, working for Ted Heath and later with such bandleaders as Jack Parnell and Ambrose. In 1955, he began his recording career at Pye Records, a newly-organized business that became the home to artists such as Petula Clark and Lonnie Donegan, Tony Hatch, the Searchers, and the Kinks. During his first few years at Pye, most of Johnson's releases focused on recordings of pop standards arranged as dance music, along with his own original compositions. He also entered the movie industry in 1955, initially as an arranger and orchestrator, and quickly moved on to composition. Johnson got to work on the music for some very high profile films in the 1950's, most notably in association with director J. Lee-Thompson, including The Good Companions (1956), Tiger Bay (1957), and I Aim at the Stars (1960). The latter also marked Johnson's first occasion to work for producer Charles Schneer. During the early '60s, Johnson also served as an assistant to film composer Bernard Herrmann, who scored several of Schneer's films made in conjunction with special effects designer-producer Ray Harryhausen, including Mysterious Island and...