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Mike Moran | |
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| Birth name | Michael Moran |
| Born | 4 March 1948 Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, England |
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| Instrument | Keyboards |
| Years active | 1960s–present |
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Michael Moran (born 4 March 1948) is an English musician, songwriter, composer and record producer.
Moran studied at the Royal College of Music in London prior to becoming a session musician and a composer and arranger. [1] His work in the latter field includes scoring music for such HandMade Films productions as Time Bandits (1981), The Missionary (1982) and Water (1985). His other film scores included Bloodbath at the House of Death (1984), The Turnaround (1995), A Fox's Tale (2008), Blessed (2008) and A Thousand Kisses Deep (2011), as well as arranging the score to Death Wish 3 (1985), and his TV work includes providing music for Strangers (1978), Harry's Game (1982), Taggart (1985), The Bombmaker (2001), and Sherlock: Case of Evil (2002). He also played with the Ian Gillan Band. [2]
"Rock Bottom", which he wrote in partnership with Lynsey de Paul, was the UK entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1977, and put him in the spotlight for the first time. Although leading early on in the voting, the song eventually came second in the contest. Nevertheless, it went on to become a Top 20 hit in many European countries including France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, where it reached the top of their singles chart. It was more successful in Continental Europe than in the United Kingdom and was also covered by many local artists in a number of different languages. [3]
De Paul and Moran continued there successful songwriting partnership, notably writing "Let Your Body Go Downtown", a UK Top 40 hit for the Martyn Ford Orchestra, [4] and the follow-up single "Going to a Disco", as well as the songs "Without You" and "Now and Then", which appeared on the de Paul albums Tigers and Fireflies (1979) and Just a Little Time (1994) respectively. [5] [6]
For many years. Moran was the musical director for the UK ITV children's music series Get It Together , performing each week, accompanying the various studio guests and playing the theme music. He had another attempt at writing a UK Eurovision entry in 1990, when he wrote "That Old Feeling Again" for Stephen Lee Garden, which placed fifth out of the eight songs in the UK song selection competition.
Other songs co-written by Moran are "Snot Rap" (recorded by Kenny Everett), as well as "No Mean City" (the theme to the crime drama Taggart , sung by Maggie Bell), "It's Alright" (the theme to the crime drama New Tricks , sung by Dennis Waterman) and the music for the UK game series Chain Letters , Lucky Ladders , The Krypton Factor .
Moran has worked with Ozzy Osbourne, Nicko McBrain, George Harrison, and various members of Queen. He was co-producer, arranger, keyboard player, and co-author of all the tracks on the album Barcelona , the classical crossover collaboration of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury and opera singer Montserrat Caballé, released in 1988. He produced The Queen Album (1988), Piaf (1994) and Essential Musicals (2006) for Elaine Paige. [5] [6]
More recently, Moran appeared in Dragons' Den (series 7, episode 3) as the musical director of a Dusty Springfield musical, and also produced the Tommy Fleming album The West's Awake (2014).
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Göran BrorBennyAndersson is a Swedish musician, composer and producer best known as a member of the pop group ABBA and co-composer of the musicals Chess, Kristina från Duvemåla, and Mamma Mia! For the 2008 film version of Mamma Mia! and its 2018 sequel, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, he worked also as an executive producer. Since 2001, he has been active with his own band Benny Anderssons orkester.
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1986.
John Barry Prendergast was an English composer and conductor of film music. Born in York, Barry spent his early years working in cinemas owned by his father. During his national service with the British Army in Cyprus, Barry began performing as a musician after learning to play the trumpet. Upon completing his national service, he formed a band in 1957, the John Barry Seven. He later developed an interest in composing and arranging music, making his début for television in 1958. He came to the notice of the makers of the first James Bond film Dr. No, who were dissatisfied with a theme for James Bond given to them by Monty Norman. Noel Rogers, the head of music at United Artists, approached Barry. This started a successful association between Barry and the Bond series that lasted for 25 years.
The United Kingdom was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1977 with the song "Rock Bottom", written and performed by Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran. The British participating broadcaster, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), selected its entry through a national final. In addition, the BBC was also the host broadcaster and staged the event at the Wembley Conference Centre in London, after winning the previous edition with the song "Save Your Kisses for Me" by Brotherhood of Man.
Michael Arnold Kamen was an American composer, orchestral arranger, orchestral conductor, songwriter, record producer and musician.
Lynsey de Paul was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. After initially writing hits for others, she had her own chart hits in the UK and Europe in the 1970s, starting with UK top 10 single "Sugar Me", and became the first British female artist to achieve a number one with a self-written song. She represented the UK in the 1977 Eurovision Song Contest, coming second and scoring another chart-topping hit in Switzerland, and had a successful career as a songwriter, record producer, actress and television celebrity.
Matt Monro was an English singer. Known as "The Man with the Golden Voice", he performed internationally during his 30-year career and sold a reported 23 million records. AllMusic has described Monro as "one of the most underrated pop vocalists of the '60s", who "possessed the easiest, most perfect baritone in the business". Frank Sinatra said of Monro after his death: “If I had to choose three of the finest male vocalists in the singing business, Matt would be one of them. His pitch was right on the nose; his word enunciations letter perfect; his understanding of a song thorough.”
Michael Philip Batt is an English singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, record producer, director, and conductor. He was formerly the Deputy Chairman of the British Phonographic Industry.
Norman Newell was an English record producer and lyricist, who was mainly active in the 1950s and 1960s. He was also the co-writer of many notable songs. As an A&R manager for EMI, he worked with musicians such as Shirley Bassey, Dalida, Claude François, Vera Lynn, Russ Conway, Bette Midler, Judy Garland, Petula Clark, Jake Thackray, Malcolm Roberts, Bobby Crush and Peter and Gordon.
Gaudete is a sacred Christmas carol, thought to have been composed in the 16th century. It was published in Piae Cantiones, a collection of Finnish/Swedish sacred songs published in 1582. No music is given for the verses, but the standard tune comes from older liturgical books.*
Ronald Hazlehurst was an English composer and conductor who, having joined the BBC in 1961, became its Light Entertainment Musical Director.
Edward William Welch is an English songwriter, composer, conductor and arranger.
Gerard W. Kenny is an American singer-songwriter, based in London, England. In 1981, he received the Ivor Novello Award for Best Television Theme Music for his song "I Could Be So Good for You", the theme tune of the ITV series Minder.
Malcolm James Roberts was an English traditional pop singer, who enjoyed three hit singles from 1967 to 1969 on the UK Singles Chart. He was also an actor and musical theatre star.
John Stanley Livingstone Harris was a Scottish composer, producer, arranger, conductor, and musical director. He lived in the United States from 1972 until his death.
Mary Mason is a British singer. She was a A Song for Europe contestant who entered the competition with "What Do You Say to Love?". She scored a minor hit in the UK Singles Chart in 1977 with a medley of Chip Taylor's "Angel of the Morning" / "Any Way That You Want Me".
"Rock Bottom" was the British entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1977, performed in English by Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran. It was also written and produced by de Paul and Moran and released on the Polydor record label. Originally it was written for the group Blue Mink; and submitted unbeknown to de Paul and Moran as an entry for A Song For Europe by the publishers; when it was selected, de Paul agreed to perform the song if Moran would join her. On 9 March 1977, "Rock Bottom" was selected to represent the UK at the A Song for Europe 1977 event held at the New London Theatre, presented by Terry Wogan.
David Richard Mindel is a British songwriter, jingle writer and composer of music for film and television.
Tigers and Fireflies is an album recorded in 1978 and released by Lynsey de Paul in April 1979 on the Polydor record label in the UK, Europe, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and South America. It was launched at a special event at the Mayfair Club in London, with de Paul looking similar to the 1940s film star Veronica Lake. The album was recorded at Long View Farm Studios with additional recording at Mediasound Studios, New York and produced by Rupert Holmes. In his 1986 biography, Justin de Villeneuve, de Paul's manager at the time wrote "I gave Rupert Holmes a call in New York. He agreed to see me if I flew to America. Polydor, with the prospect of the involvement with Holmes, agreed to up the budget". The collaboration between de Paul and Holmes on Tigers and Fireflies was mentioned on the Ray Shasho Show, when Shasho interviewed Holmes on his BBS radio show on 7 August 2018. The story behind the recording of the album was also discussed in the book Dervish Dust: The Life and Words of James Coburn. Speaking to Music Week about the album, Jim Cook said "Throw away all of your preconceived ideas about Lynsey de Paul" and the Scottish press reported "Nifty production by Rupert Holmes has the petit blonde back on form Not a weak song on the album".
Into My Music - Anthology 1975-1979 is a digitally remastered double album, featuring songs written and performed by Lynsey de Paul, that was released on 18 March 2013 on Cherry Red's RPM Retrodisc label. All recordings have been remastered by de Paul and Simon Murphy from original tape sources and co-produced by de Paul and Mark Stratford. The album is packaged with photographs and memorabilia from de Paul's personal archive and text by Michael Robson.
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