Pete Moore (20 August 1924 – 1 December 2013) was a British composer and arranger for a string of famous artistes from the 1950s onwards. Born in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, Moore studied composition and arranging privately for approximately ten years with three teachers. These were

Alfred Nieman Alfred Nieman (1914 – 7 March 1997) was a British pianist and composer. Born in the East End of London in 1914 to Polish immigrant parents, Alfred Nieman was playing piano for the silent cinema by the age of fourteen. His talent as a pia ...

(who was on the staff at the

Guildhall School of Music The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...

, London),

Henry Geehl Henry Ernest Geehl ronounced 'Gale'(28 September 188114 January 1961) was an English pianist, conductor, composer and arranger. Born in London in 1881, Geehl studied piano with Benno Schönberger and R. O. Morgan in London, and with Anton Sch ...

and a certain "Dr. Cook" who was probably another staff member at one of the London music colleges. His first job was playing piano in a pub. In 1949 he joined Teddy Foster's band, and then played with

Ken Macintosh Kenneth Donald Macintosh (born 15 January 1962) is a Scottish politician who served as the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament from 2016 to 2021. Elected as a member of Scottish Labour, he suspended his party membership on becoming ...

Vic Lewis Victor Lewis MBE (29 July 1919 – 9 February 2009) was a British jazz guitarist and bandleader. He also enjoyed success as an artists' agent and manager. Biography He was born in London, England. Lewis began playing the guitar at the age o ...

Frank Cordell Frank Cordell (1 June 1918 – 6 July 1980) was a British composer, arranger and conductor, who was active with the Institute of Contemporary Arts. He also composed music under the name Frank Meilleur or Meillear (Meillear being his mother's ma ...

and

Norrie Paramor Norman William Paramor (15 May 1914 – 9 September 1979), known professionally as Norrie Paramor, was a British record producer, composer, arranger, pianist, bandleader, and orchestral conductor. He is best known for his work with Cliff Ri ...

.Sheila Tracey. ''Who's Who in Popular Music in Britain'' (1984), pp. 144-5 By 1958, he worked with such greats as

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...

Fred Astaire Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz; May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, choreographer, actor, and singer. He is often called the greatest dancer in Hollywood film history. Astaire's career in stage, film, and tele ...

Johnny Mercer John Herndon Mercer (November 18, 1909 – June 25, 1976) was an American lyricist, songwriter, and singer, as well as a record label executive who co-founded Capitol Records with music industry businessmen Buddy DeSylva and Glenn E. Wallich ...

Gene Kelly Eugene Curran Kelly (August 23, 1912 – February 2, 1996) was an American actor, dancer, singer, filmmaker, and choreographer. He was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style and sought to create a new form of American dance accessibl ...

Peggy Lee Norma Deloris Egstrom (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002), known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress, over a career spanning seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalis ...

Frankie Laine Frankie Laine (born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio; March 30, 1913 – February 6, 2007) was an American Singing, singer, songwriter, and actor whose career spanned nearly 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to hi ...

Connie Francis Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero (born December 12, 1937), known professionally as Connie Francis, is an American pop singer, actress, and top-charting female vocalist of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Called the “First Lady of Rock & Roll” ...

and

Peter Sellers Peter Sellers (born Richard Henry Sellers; 8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980) was an English actor and comedian. He first came to prominence performing in the BBC Radio comedy series ''The Goon Show'', featured on a number of hit comic songs ...

, amongst others, on all manner of broadcasts and recordings. He frequently collaborated with record producer Ken Barnes. In the 1960s and the 1970s he made several easy listening records under his name or the name of Pete Moore and His Orchestra, usually recording covers of the pop hits of the day. He recorded for

Pye Records Pye Records was a British record label. Its best known artists were Lonnie Donegan (1956–1969), Petula Clark (1957–1971), the Searchers (1963–1967), the Kinks (1964–1971), Sandie Shaw (1964–1971), Status Quo (1968–1971) and Brotherhoo ...

and

Rediffusion Rediffusion was a business that distributed radio and TV signals through wired relay networks. The business gave rise to a number of other companies, including Associated-Rediffusion, later known as Rediffusion London, the first ITV (commercia ...

. As a composer, he wrote themes for many TV commercials, including such famous brands as

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

and

Lux Toilet Soap LUX is a global brand developed by Unilever. Lux is marketed primarily in Brazil, India, Thailand and South Africa. History Origins and history The brand was founded by the firm Lever Brothers, now known as Unilever Unilever plc is a ...

, in addition to numerous songs recorded by such artists as Crosby, Lee, Laine and Astaire. However, it is his composition "

Asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere. ...

" – the famous theme for

Pearl & Dean Pearl & Dean is a British cinema advertising company, founded in 1953. Pearl & Dean is now owned by Willowbrook Investments Ltd, and controls advertising at many UK cinema sites including multiplex operators Empire, Showcase and AMC; the company ...

's cinema advertisements – that remains his most familiar and most successful composition. Apart from being heard every day on cinema screens in the UK, it is constantly featured around the world in commercials and documentaries. For many people, the very sound of its "pa-papa-pa" fanfare spells "cinema". It has also been sampled by modern-day pop artists and enjoyed chart success on more than one occasion.

's signature tune is one of the most famous tracks played in British movie houses. The Pearl & Dean anthem "

" is just 28 seconds long. The original screen titles featured graphics intended to emulate advertising panels flashing past as if the viewer was being sucked into the very screen. By the early 1990s, commercials and trailers were given the full stereo treatment, but the original "Asteroid" was only ever produced purely as a mono track. Remarkably, not only was the original composer/producer tracked down, but Moore was also able to locate two of the three original male singers who could still replicate their vocal parts three decades on. In 1995, Goldbug (fronted by ex-Beatmasters man, Richard Walmsley) sampled the Pearl & Dean anthem and made No. 2 in 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 their 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 r ...

". A new 2mins 10secs digital version was recently recorded at the

Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music c ...

by Moore and a 30-piece orchestra. In retirement, Moore would travel by motorcycle from his home in

Ealing Ealing () is a district in West London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. Ealing is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Ealing was histor ...

to Waterloo each Saturday to assist in directing the famous

Morley College Morley College is a specialist adult education and further education college in London, England. The college has three main campuses, one in Waterloo on the South Bank, and two in West London namely in North Kensington and in Chelsea, the lat ...

Jazz Orchestra. He would bring his own handwritten transcriptions of modern big band repertoire, most often by

Rob McConnell Robert Murray Gordon "Rob" McConnell, (14 February 1935 – 1 May 2010) was a Canadian jazz trombonist, composer, and arranger.Jeff Sultanof. Experiencing Big Band Jazz: A Listener's Companion'. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers; 8 November 20 ...

. Moore remarked in 2003, "Many people in the UK music profession have accused me of writing music for the future, and well ahead of its time. Having regard to the longevity of this piece I can only thoroughly agree with that sentiment!" Ken Barnes gave Moore the following appraisal: "A quiet, soft-spoken and unassuming man, cockney-raised and academy-trained, Pete Moore usually declined to do interviews because he was always 'too busy.' In fact, it would seem that he never actively sought work, it just came to him. Which is why he was often referred to as 'The Invisible Genius.' As a person and as a musician, he was liked and admired by everyone who knew him. While he may not be a household name, Pete Moore's music remains alive and well. As it has for the past half-century." After divorcing his wife Moore lived in Middlesex. There were two daughters and a son. He died in London on 1 December 2013, aged 89.

References

External links

Pearl & Dean
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Pete British composers 2013 deaths 1924 births no:Pete Moore