Alan Frederick Parker (born 26 August 1944) is an English
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
ist and composer.
Parker was born in
Matlock, Derbyshire
Matlock is the county town of Derbyshire, England. It is situated in the south-eastern part of the Peak District, with the National Park directly to the west. The town is twinned with the French town of Eaubonne. The former spa resort of Matloc ...
, and was trained by
Julian Bream at London’s
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...
. He had a successful career as
session guitarist
Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...
starting in the late 1960s, and played with
Blue Mink
Blue Mink were a British six-piece pop group that existed from 1969 to 1977. Over that period they had six Top 20 hit singles in the UK Singles Chart, and released five studio based albums. According to AllMusic: "they have been immortalised on ...
,
[Larkin, Colin (2002) ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of 70s Music'', Virgin Books, , p. 43] The Congregation,
CCS and
Serge Gainsbourg
Serge Gainsbourg (; born Lucien Ginsburg; 2 April 1928 – 2 March 1991) was a French musician, singer-songwriter, actor, author and filmmaker. Regarded as one of the most important figures in French pop, he was renowned for often provoca ...
, together with his own studio session bands Hungry Wolf and Ugly Custard.
Much of his session work has gone uncredited, but he has been named as the electric guitarist on
Donovan
Donovan Phillips Leitch (born 10 May 1946), known mononymously as Donovan, is a Scottish musician, songwriter, and record producer. He developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelic rock and world mus ...
's "
Hurdy Gurdy Man
"Hurdy Gurdy Man" is a song by the Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan. It was recorded in April 1968 and released the following month as a single. The song gave its name to the album ''The Hurdy Gurdy Man'', which was released in October of that ...
",
the Walker Brothers
The Walker Brothers were an United States, American pop music, pop musical ensemble, group of the 1960s and 1970s which included Noel Scott Engel (eventually known professionally as Scott Walker (singer), Scott Walker), John Walker (musician), Jo ...
' "
No Regrets",
[Reynolds, Anthony (2009) ''The Impossible Dream: The Story of Scott Walker and the Walker Brothers'', Jawbone, , p. 83] David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
's "
1984",
[Sandford, Christopher (2005) ''Bowie: Loving the Alien'', Da Capo Press, , p. 121] Mike Batt
Michael Philip Batt, LVO (born 6 February 1949) is an English singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, record producer, director and conductor. He was formerly the Deputy Chairman of the British Phonographic Industry.
Having achieved substantia ...
's "The Ride to Agadir" and the ''
Top of the Pops
''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...
'' theme music version of "
Whole Lotta Love
"Whole Lotta Love" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin. It is the opening track on the band's second album, '' Led Zeppelin II'', and was released as a single in 1969 in several countries; as with other Led Zeppelin songs, no single was ...
".
Parker's later work comprised compositions for film and television. His television work includes ''
Angels
In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God.
Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles incl ...
'', ''
Minder
A minder is the person assigned to guide or escort a visitor, or to provide protection to somebody, or to otherwise assist or take care of something, i.e. a person who " minds".
Government-appointed persons to accompany foreign visitors are of ...
'', ''
One Summer
''One Summer'' is a 1983 British television drama serial written by Willy Russell and directed by Gordon Flemyng. It stars David Morrissey and Spencer Leigh as two 16-year-old Liverpool boys from broken homes who escape from their grim lives ...
'', ''
The Glory Boys
''The Glory Boys'' is a 1984 British three-part television thriller miniseries made for Yorkshire Television and first broadcast on the ITV network between 1 and 3 October 1984, starring Rod Steiger and Anthony Perkins. It is about two terrori ...
'', ''
Dempsey and Makepeace
''Dempsey and Makepeace'' is a British television crime drama made by LWT for ITV, created and produced by Ranald Graham. Lead roles were played by Michael Brandon (Lieutenant Dempsey) and Glynis Barber (Detective Makepeace), who later married ...
'', ''
French Fields
''French Fields'' is a British television sitcom. It is a sequel/continuation of the series ''Fresh Fields'' and ran for 19 episodes from 5 September 1989 to 8 October 1991. It was written by John T. Chapman (who created and wrote all the episo ...
'', ''
Room at the Bottom'', ''
Red Fox
The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the Order (biology), order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe ...
'',
ITN's ''
News At Ten'', and the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
''. His film scores include ''
'' (2006). He also contributed music for two children's series; ''
, which was given to him by Hendrix in March 1970.