Keith Mansfield Orchestra
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Keith Mansfield (born 1941 in London, England) is 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
arranger 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 orches ...
known for his creation of prominent television theme tunes, including the ''
Grandstand A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators. This includes both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium in that it does not wrap a ...
'' theme for the BBC.


Career

Other works include "The Young Scene" (the original 1968 theme to '' The Big Match''), "Light and Tuneful" (the opening theme for the BBC's coverage of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships), "World Champion" (the closing theme for NBC's coverage of the same tournament), and "World Series" (used for the BBC's athletics coverage). One of his library music recordings, "Teenage Carnival", was used as the theme to the cult 1960s
ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
children's television series '' Freewheelers''. He has also composed film scores for British movies such as ''
Loot Loot may refer to: Film *''Loot'' (1919 film), a film by William C. Dowlan * ''Loot'' (1970 film), a British film by Silvio Narizzano * ''Loot'' (2008 film), a documentary * ''Loot'' (2011 film), an Indian film * ''Loot'' (2012 film), a Nepali fil ...
'' (1970) and '' Taste of Excitement'' (1970), and the western ''Three Bullets for a Long Gun'' (1971). He also scored the start-up and shutdown themes for
Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...
in 1978, which were used for ten years before it switched to 24-hour television. Mansfield is probably best known by American audiences as the composer of the tune "Funky Fanfare", used for underscoring in the Astro Daters series of
snipes Snipes may refer to: * Snipe, a wading bird * Snipes (surname) * ''Snipes'' (film), a 2001 film * ''Snipes'' (video game), a 1983 text-mode networked computer game * Snipes Mountain AVA Snipes Mountain AVA is an American Viticultural Area l ...
produced by the National Screen Service in the late 1960s. That song is currently used during the opening credits of the show '' Pit Boss'' on Animal Planet, as well as backing music for the "Quick Hits" segment on the ''
Sklarbro Country Earwolf is an American comedy podcasting network founded by Scott Aukerman and Jeff Ullrich in August 2010. In 2011, they announced a partnership with Funny Or Die. It merged with podcast advertising network The Mid Roll in 2014, a separate compa ...
'' podcast. Mansfield also composed the brass tune "Superstar Fanfare", which was notably used (in several variations) by Channel Television in the Channel Islands, RTL plus's news programme 7 vor 7, Worldvision Enterprises, and by the Services Sound and Vision Corporation (SSVC) as a idents jingle for British Forces TV in West Germany, Berlin, Cyprus, The Falkland Islands and Gibraltar in the 1980s and 1990s. The Astro Daters' "Our Next Attraction" was featured prominently in two films by Quentin Tarantino, '' Kill Bill'' and '' Death Proof''. A vocal version of Funky Fanfare entitled "House of Jack" was also recorded by James Royal in 1969. Another Mansfield composition, "National Pride," was the opening theme to the 1980 movie '' Fist of Fear, Touch of Death'', which utilizes Mansfield's library music score, and as the logo jingle for CBS/Fox Video. A song remix was also used in the game, '' Saints Row: The Third''. In the 1960s and 1970s, Mansfield was a significant figure in the UK library music scene and recorded many materials for the production music company KPM. His work has been sampled by prominent hip-hop producers such as
Danger Mouse Danger Mouse may refer (or appear in) to: * ''Danger Mouse'' (1981 TV series), a 1981 British animated television series * ''Danger Mouse'' (2015 TV series), a 2015 reboot of the British animated television series * Danger Mouse (musician) (born ...
("Funky Fanfare" on the
DANGERDOOM DANGERDOOM was a hip hop project consisting of Danger Mouse and MF DOOM. Their first album, ''The Mouse and the Mask'', was released in 2005, and followed by the '' Occult Hymn'' EP in 2006. Background Danger Mouse and MF DOOM had previously co ...
track "Old School Rules", "Junior Jet Set" on "Run" by Gnarls Barkley, and "Morning Broadway" on DANGERDOOM track "Space Ho's"), Madlib, as well as
Fatboy Slim Norman Quentin Cook (born Quentin Leo Cook, 31 July 1963), also known by his stage name Fatboy Slim, is an English musician, DJ, and record producer who helped to popularise the big beat genre in the 1990s. In the 1980s, Cook was the bassist f ...
("Young Scene" on the track "Punk to Funk") and most recently, "Walkin" by Denzel Curry, produced by Kal Banx. American sports fans will find a lot of Mansfield's and other KPM composers' music used on NFL Films team highlights and
Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...
documentaries. American sports journalist Jon Bois uses Mansfield's work ("Love De Luxe") in his videos. Mansfield was arranger and conductor for several tracks on Dusty Springfield's 1968 UK album '' Dusty... Definitely'', and acted as orchestral arranger on some hits for Love Affair ("
Everlasting Love "Everlasting Love" is a song written by Buzz Cason and Mac Gayden, originally a 1967 hit for Robert Knight and since remade numerous times, most successfully by Love Affair, as well as Town Criers, Carl Carlton, Sandra Cretu, and Gloria Estef ...
") and Marmalade (" Reflections of My Life"), among others. He also produced some work with
Maynard Ferguson Walter Maynard Ferguson CM (May 4, 1928 – August 23, 2006) was a Canadian jazz trumpeter and bandleader. He came to prominence in Stan Kenton's orchestra before forming his own big band in 1957. He was noted for his bands, which often served ...
.


References


Further reading


Articles

*Jonze, Tim (23 August 2016)
"Grandstand, Countdown, Ski Sunday: the unsung heroes behind TV's greatest tunes"
''The Guardian''.


Books

* Hollander, David; Masi, Dominic (2018)
''Unusual Sounds: The Hidden History of Library Music''
Anthology Editions. . * Kerridge, Adrian (2021)
''Tape's Rolling, Take One!''
UK: M-Y Books. .


External links

*
Go Home Productions "Grandstand Supreme" Keith Mansfield-Supremes
on YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:Mansfield, Keith British composers Living people People educated at Upton Court Grammar School Place of birth missing (living people) Date of birth missing (living people) 1941 births People from London