John Cameron (musician)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

John Cameron
Born (1944-03-20) 20 March 1944 (age 80)
Woodford, Essex, England
Occupation(s)Composer, arranger, conductor, record producer
Years active1966–present

John Cameron (born 20 March 1944)

Hot Chocolate. Cameron's instrumental version of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love", became a hit for his group CCS and, for many years, a version of Cameron's arrangement was used as the theme music for the BBC TV show Top of the Pops
.

Biography

Cameron was born in Woodford, Essex, England. By the age of 12, he had started performing in talent shows, and at 14 played jazz piano in pubs in Croydon.[2] He was educated at Wallington County Grammar School and at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he was a contemporary of Daryl Runswick.[3] Aside from performing on the local jazz scene, Cameron also became Vice-President of the Cambridge Footlights comedy club, where he collaborated on lyrics and performed with Eric Idle.[2]

After leaving Cambridge, he played in jazz groups, often performing satirical material, and recorded an album, Cover Lover, in 1966. He also began working as an arranger for pop and rock artists, including

Warner Bros Records, filed a lawsuit when they found out that Donovan had signed an American recording deal with rival label Epic Records. The legal proceedings held up the UK release of the album, and prevented Donovan from touring or recording for several months in early 1966. In the interim Cameron was obliged to go back to conducting pantomime at his local Watford Palace Theatre.[4]

From mid-1966, with the lawsuit resolved, Cameron began touring and recording regularly with Donovan, and he arranged and played on many of his hit singles "Jennifer Juniper" and "Epistle to Dippy", the albums Sunshine Superman and Mellow Yellow, as well as Donovan's music for the 1967 Ken Loach film, Poor Cow.[5]

Cameron also began working in television; one of his first major credits in this area was as music director and arranger for three seasons of the TV variety series

In Concert series for the BBC, which featured artists including James Taylor, Joni Mitchell and Randy Newman.[5]

Cameron also scored two British hits as a songwriter with "If I Thought You'd Ever Change Your Mind", a number 20 UK hit for Cilla Black (which was also a number 11 UK hit for Agnetha Fältskog in 2004) and "Sweet Inspiration", a Top 10 single for Johnny Johnson and the Bandwagon.[6]

Cameron's first venture in film composition was for director

library music.[2]

In the early 1970s, Cameron formed CCS, a jazz-rock big band that included Cameron, Mickie Most, Alexis Korner and Herbie Flowers; they scored four UK hits—a mainly instrumental version of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" (UK number 13), a version of which was also used as the theme music for Top of the Pops from 1970 to 1981; the Donovan songs "Walkin'" (UK number 7); and "Tap Turns on the Water" (UK number 5) and "Brother" (UK number 25), both written by Cameron and Korner.[5]

Cameron had further success as pop arranger with UK soul-funk band

Hot Chocolate, working on all their hit singles including "Emma", "Heaven Is in the Back Seat of My Cadillac", "You Sexy Thing" and "Every 1's a Winner". Similarly, he worked as arranger with Heatwave on three albums, including the singles "Boogie Nights", "Always and Forever", "The Groove Line" and "Gangsters of the Groove".[5] He is also credited for the score on the 1974 UK hit single "Central Park Arrest" by vocal trio Thunderthighs, working alongside Steve Rowland (record producer) and songwriter Lynsey de Paul.[8]

In the late 1970s, Cameron was approached by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg to arrange and conduct a concept album based on Victor Hugo's Les Misérables. Initially staged in Paris, France, by Robert Hossein, it was then produced in the UK by Cameron Mackintosh and the Royal Shakespeare Company, directed by Trevor Nunn and John Caird. Les Misérables became one of the most successful musicals of all time, winning Cameron the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations and a National Broadway Theatre Award.[5] He also orchestrated the 1991 London Palladium revival of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Honk! and Spend Spend Spend.

Cameron's numerous TV credits include

Little House on the Prairie, To End All Wars and The Path to 9/11, for which Cameron was nominated for an Emmy Award.[5]

Cameron has also worked with artists such as

Elgar’s Nimrod, and conducted his own composition, Missa Celtica, recorded with the English Chamber Orchestra and the Choir of New College Oxford.[9]

The song "Paper Habits" by Jet Life (Currensy's rap group), sampled Cameron's "Liquid Sunshine", and is from the group's collaboration album Jet World Order (2011).

Filmography

Selected discography

References

  1. ^ "John Cameron". IMDb.com. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  2. ^ a b c d Johnnie Johnstone, "Just Say Yes!", Shindig!, #119, September 2021, pp. 56-61
  3. ^ 'Tripos Examination Results', The Times, 11 June 1965.
  4. ^ "John Cameron on Harold McNair", JazzWax.com. Retrieved 15 September 2022
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h "BIOGRAPHY :: John Cameron". Johncameronmusic.com. Archived from the original on 13 July 2011. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  6. ^ "CREDIT LIST :: John Cameron". Johncameronmusic.com. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  7. ^ "Kes". IMDb.com. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  8. ^ "Thunderthighs - Central Park Arrest". Discogs.com. 20 June 1974. Retrieved 20 May 2023.
  9. ^ "John Cameron", Zorro.com. Retrieved 16 April 2022

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Cameron_(musician)&oldid=1200946488"