Laurie Johnson

Laurence Reginald Ward ('Laurie') Johnson (born 7 February 1927, in Hampstead, England) is a British film and television composer, and bandleader. Johnson studied at the Royal College of Music in London, and spent four years in the Coldstream Guards moving to the entertainment industry in the 1950s. One of his first major projects was as composer and music director in a musical adaptation of Henry Fielding's Rape Upon Rape entitled Lock Up Your D... more

Laurence Reginald Ward ('Laurie') Johnson (born 7 February 1927, in Hampstead, England) is a British film and television composer, and bandleader. Johnson studied at the Royal College of Music in London, and spent four years in the Coldstream Guards moving to the entertainment industry in the 1950s. One of his first major projects was as composer and music director in a musical adaptation of Henry Fielding's Rape Upon Rape entitled Lock Up Your Daughters (1959), which opened in Bernard Miles' Mermaid Theatre. The score, with lyrics by Lionel Bart, won an Ivor Novello Award. Johnson's stage work included music for the Peter Cook revue Pieces Of Eight (1959), and The Four Musketeers (1967), starring Harry Secombe. In 1961 Johnson entered the UK music charts with Sucu Sucu, the theme from the UK television series Top Secret. It was in this area of television scoring that he was to be most prolific. From the 1960s to the 1980s he composed over 50 themes and scores including the theme used... less