John Fox (composer, Arranger, Conductor) on:
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John Fox (30 April 1924 - 10 February 2015) was a British
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 ...
and
conductor of
light music.
Fox was born in
Sutton, Surrey
Sutton is the principal town in the London Borough of Sutton in South London, England. It lies on the lower slopes of the North Downs, and is the administrative headquarters of the Outer London borough. It is south-south west of Charing Cross ...
and was educated at Sutton West School for Boys. He also took piano lessons and by his teens had formed his own group. This then led to him playing in an
RAF
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
band towards the end of the war, and upon being demobbed, he began his musical career, initially teaching during the day and playing ‘gigs’ at night. He then went on to study at the
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...
(RCM), studying composition, piano and violin.
After leaving the RCM, Fox began to play in big bands, as well as arranging and accompanying singers. He then formed the resident band at the
Grand Hotel, Eastbourne
The Grand Hotel is a Victorian hotel, also known as the 'White Palace', located on King Edwards Parade, Eastbourne in East Sussex, England. The 5 star hotel is part of an independent UK based hotel group, Elite Hotels, who also own Tylney Hal ...
. He would spend the day arranging and composing and then drive to Eastbourne each night. It was at this time that he met the singer Joy Devon, who was to join the band and eventually become his wife. She played an important role co-producing recording projects and running their music publishing company, Coniston Music.
While initially maintaining the residency at Eastbourne, he became a staff arranger for 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. ...
...
, writing for the BBC Variety and BBC Revue Orchestras. In the 1960s, these two orchestras were amalgamated to form the
BBC Radio Orchestra
The BBC Radio Orchestra was a broadcasting orchestra based in London, maintained by the British Broadcasting Corporation from 1964 until 1991.
The BBC Radio Orchestra was formed in 1964 as a large, flexible studio orchestra on the Nelson Riddle/H ...
. Fox became one of the regular conductors of the Radio Orchestra, writing thousands of arrangements for them, as well as producing original compositions. His close association with the orchestra carried on until it was disbanded in 1991. The John Fox Singers, made up of London session singers, were often added to the BBC Radio Orchestra sessions, as well as broadcasting in their own right in BBC programmes including ''
Friday Night Is Music Night''.
John Fox was a regular contributor to the main BBC Radio Orchestra Show and also to ''String Sound'', showcasing the strings of the Radio Orchestra, for which he wrote the signature tune, "String Magic". He also recorded numerous productions for the BBC with the John Fox Orchestra, led by George French, as well as with the other BBC Orchestras, particularly the BBC Midland Radio Orchestra, with him providing a large number of arrangements for their library. The John Fox Orchestra were heard in numerous programmes on Radio 2.
As well as his work for the BBC, Fox also achieved success in the USA through his recordings for the American
Beautiful Music
Beautiful music (sometimes abbreviated as BM, B/EZ or BM/EZ for "beautiful music/easy listening") is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in North American radio from the late 1950s through the 1980s. Easy listening, elevator musi ...
Radio Stations that were active during the 1970s and 1980s. For these productions, particularly for the Bonneville Corporation, Fox would record selections with his orchestra at CTS or Lansdowne Studios. Commercial Records include ''George Gershwin'' BBC Records REB 156 (Reissued under title ''Gershwin's Greatest Hits'', BBC Records REC 32) and ''Here There and Everywhere'' BBC Records REB 168.
As a composer, John Fox was a prolific writer of library music, particularly for
Sonoton
Sonoton Music claims to be the world's largest independently owned Production Music Library. Formed 1965 by Rotheide and Gerhard Narholz in Munich (Germany), the company owns the copyrights of over 130,000 compositions and musical recordings of al ...
Production Music, for who he would record his original compositions with orchestras in Leipzig, Budapest and London. These recording made his compositions available to a worldwide market, for use in television, radio, film and advertising productions, gaining additional wide exposure from usage on SpongeBob SquarePants. In 1994, Fox won a STEMRA Music Award for the best film music in the Netherlands.
Throughout his career, Fox composed concert music, including ''Countryside Suite'', ''Characters from the Fairy Tales'', ''Strings in 3/4'', ''A Surrey Rhapsody'', ''Jovial Knights Overture'', ''A Pastoral Reflection'', ''Summer Overture''
[''British Light Overtures'', White Line CD WHL2140 (2003)] and ''The Love of Joy'' Suite (composed in tribute to his late wife, Joy Devon). He continued to compose until near the end of his life.
John Fox died on 10 February 2015, aged 90,
in hospital near his home in Banstead Village, Surrey, and was survived by his wife, Perpetua.
References
*Tracy, Sheila ''Who's Who In Popular Music'' (World's Work, 1984)
*Gregory Andy ''[International Who's Who In Popular Music'' (Europa Publications, 2002)
*Fox, John ''My Musical World'' (Eloquent Books, 2009)
*Musiker, Rueben; Musiker, Naomi ''Composers and Conductors of Popular Orchestral Music: a Biographical and Discographical Sourcebook'' (Greenwood Press, 1998)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, John
1924 births
2015 deaths
People from Sutton, London
English composers
English conductors (music)
British male conductors (music)
Light music composers
Easy listening musicians