01 Apr

Composer and arranger Roy Douglas dies

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The composer and arranger Roy Douglas died on March 23rd 2015, at the great age of 107. Almost totally self-taught, he worked extensively with Ralph Vaughan Williams and William Walton. He is probably best known for his collaboration with Richard Addinsell, especially on the Warsaw Concerto, (written for the WWII film "Dangerous Moonlight"), in the composition of which he almost certainly played the greater part. He only received £100 for his efforts - whilst Addinsell reputedly made millions - and he never even received 'proper' recognition for his indispensable contribution to that work.

His reputation, and fortunately his finances, fared much better as a result of his re-orchestration, in  1936, of Frederic Chopin's music for the ballet "Les Sylphides". For this opus he was fully credited and he continued to  receive a substantial royalty income for the rest of his life.  

Tony Clayden

March 2015

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Read 4192 times Last modified on Wednesday, 01 April 2015 15:40

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About Geoff 123
Geoff Leonard was born in Bristol. He spent much of his working career in banking but became an independent record producer in the early nineties, specialising in the works of John Barry and British TV theme compilations.
He also wrote liner notes for many soundtrack albums, including those by John Barry, Roy Budd, Ron Grainer, Maurice Jarre and Johnny Harris. He co-wrote two biographies of John Barry in 1998 and 2008, and is currently working on a biography of singer, actor, producer Adam Faith.
He joined the Internet Movie Data-base (www.imdb.com) as a data-manager in 2001 and looked after biographies, composers and the music-department, amongst other tasks. He retired after nine years loyal service in order to continue writing.