John Raymond Arthey (24 September 1930 – 27 October 2007) was a British
conductor and
composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and Defi ...
. He was responsible for
arranging
In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...
many hit
pop records in the 1960s and 1970s.
Life and career
Johnny Arthey started his career as a pianist with a military orchestra during his
National Service
National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939.
The l ...
. He became a much sought-after arranger in the 1960s and 1970s, working with
Engelbert Humperdinck,
Petula Clark
Petula Sally Olwen Clark, CBE (born 15 November 1932) is an English singer, actress, and composer. She has one of the longest serving careers of a British singer, spanning more than seven decades.
Clark's professional career began during the ...
,
Mary Hopkin
Mary Hopkin (born 3 May 1950), credited on some recordings as Mary Visconti from her marriage to Tony Visconti, is a Welsh singer-songwriter best known for her 1968 UK number 1 single "Those Were the Days". She was one of the first artists ...
,
Clodagh Rodgers
Clodagh Rodgers (born 5 March 1947) is a retired singer and actress from Northern Ireland, best known for her hit singles including " Come Back and Shake Me", "Goodnight Midnight", and "Jack in the Box".
Career
Rodgers was born in Warrenpoint ...
,
Vince Hill
Vincent Hill (born 16 April 1934) is an English traditional pop music singer and songwriter who is best known for his recording of the Rodgers and Hammerstein show tune "Edelweiss" (1967), which reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart (staying ...
,
Jonathan King
Jonathan King (born Kenneth George King; 6 December 1944) is an English singer, songwriter and record producer. He first came to prominence in 1965 when "Everyone's Gone to the Moon", a song that he wrote and sang while still an undergraduate, ...
,
Julie Rogers
Julie Rogers (born Julie Rolls, 6 April 1943, Bermondsey, London, England) is an English pop singer. She is best known for her multi-million selling song, " The Wedding".
Career
Rogers, the youngest of five children, had piano lessons and star ...
,
Joe Dassin
Joseph Ira Dassin (; 5 November 1938 – 20 August 1980) was an American–French singer-songwriter and actor. He was the son of film director Jules Dassin.
Early life
Dassin was born in New York City to American film director Jules Dassin (1911 ...
,
Xil Ríos,
Camilo Sesto
Camilo Blanes Cortés (16 September 1946 – 8 September 2019), known professionally as Camilo Sesto "El Rey del Amor", was a Spanish singer, songwriter and music producer. There are various sales figures for him, ranging from 70 to 200 million ...
and many more. He wrote the orchestration to hit records such as "
Eloise" by
Barry Ryan, "
Young, Gifted and Black
''Young, Gifted and Black'' is the eighteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Aretha Franklin, released in early 1972, by Atlantic Records. The album climbed to #2 on ''Billboards R&B albums survey and peaked at #11 on the main ...
" by
Bob and Marcia
Bob and Marcia were a Jamaican vocal duo, that consisted of Bob Andy and Marcia Griffiths.Larkin, Colin (1998) ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae'', Virgin Books, , p. 33 They had a #5 UK hit single in 1970 with "Young, Gifted and Black". The ...
, and "
You Can Get It If You Really Want
"You Can Get It If You Really Want" is a famous rocksteady song written and performed by Jamaican reggae singer songwriter Jimmy Cliff and released as a single in July 1970. A version was recorded by Jamaican singer Desmond Dekker and released wit ...
" by
Desmond Dekker
Desmond Dekker (16 July 1941 – 25 May 2006) was a Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae singer-songwriter and musician. Together with his backing group The Aces (consisting of Wilson James and Easton Barrington Howard), he had one of the earlie ...
.
Through his string arrangements, added to Jamaican recordings, he helped reggae artists such as
The Pioneers trying to force a breakthrough on the British market. He also arranged
the Piglets
The Piglets were a British female outfit, and one of the pseudonyms Jonathan King used in the 1970s to release some of his songs. Their lead singer on Johnny Reggae was Barbara Kay. The Piglets are best remembered for " Johnny Reggae" (1971), rele ...
' hit "
Johnny Reggae
"Johnny Reggae" is a 1971 novelty song credited to The Piglets. The single cover states that it was "conceived, created, produced and directed by Jonathan King". It was released on Bell Records.
King himself has explained in comments on his YouTub ...
", and led a recording outfit called The Reggae Strings. In 1972, he formed the studio group Blue Haze with Phillip Swern; their reggae
cover version
In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...
of "
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
"Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" is a show tune written by American composer Jerome Kern and lyricist Otto Harbach for the 1933 musical '' Roberta''. The song was sung in the Broadway show by Tamara Drasin. Its first recorded performance was by Ge ...
" reached no. 27 on the U.S.
Billboard Hot 100
The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...
and no.32 on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
.
With his Johnny Arthey Orchestra, he released a string of instrumental recordings of popular titles. He conducted orchestras for various
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. ...
...
.
Arthey died on 27 October 2007, of a stomach tumour.