JOHNNY PEARSON

Death of Johnny Pearson "Sleepy Shores hit": 

Composer, pianist and arranger was one of the foremost names in music for British television programmes. Among his numerous credits are the themes for 3-2-1, Owen MD, All Creatures Great And Small and News At Ten and he also served for 16 years as the arranger and conductor for Top Of The Pops. Johnny Pearson was born in Chesterfield, Derbyshire in 1925 and he studied the piano as a child and won a scholarship to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He wanted to continue his studies but the family had little money and he became an engineering apprentice. He did his national service in the Royal Artillery and he played drums in an army band. His "Cast Your Fate To The Wind" [1965] was a Christmas hit and although it only climbed to No 5, it was on the charts for four months. It made the USTop 10 and was more successful than the American original. Pearsonhad only been paid an £8 session fee for the record, and after being promised better terms, Sounds Orchestral had further chart singles with "Moonglow" in the UK and "Canadian Sunset" in the US. John Valmore Pearson, pianist, composer and arranger: born Chesterfield, Derbyshire, 18 June 1925; married; died 20 March 2011.

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Ferlin Husky...85

Ferlin Husky, a pioneering country music entertainer in the 1950s and early '60s known for hits like "Wings of a Dove" and "Gone," died Thursday. He was 85.

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GEORGE SHEARING dies...91

George Shearing, the ebullient jazz pianist who wrote the standard "Lullaby of Birdland" and had a string of hits both with and without his quintet, has died. He was 91. Shearing, blind since birth, died early Monday morning, 14 FEB 2011, in Manhattan of congestive heart failure.

WIKIPEDIA: Sir George Shearing, OBE (August 13, 1919 – February 14, 2011) was an Anglo-American jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group which recorded for MGM Records and Capitol Records. The composer of over 300 titles, he had multiple albums on the Billboard charts during the 1950s, 1960s, 1980s and 1990s. He became known for a piano technique known as Shearing's voicing, a type of double melody block chord, with an additional fifth part that doubles the melody an octave lower. George Shearing credited the Glenn Miller Orchestra's reed section of the late 1930s and early 1940s as an important influence. Shearing's interest in classical music resulted in some performances with concert orchestras in the 1950s and 1960s, and his solos frequently drew upon the music of Satie, Delius and Debussy for inspiration.
He died of heart failure in February 2011 in New York City, at the age of 91.

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Johannes Somary

Johannes Somary, the founder and music director of Amor Artis, a chorus and orchestra that for the last half-century has presented neglected choral masterpieces, primarily from the Baroque and Classical periods, died on Feb. 1 in the Bronx. He was 75 and lived in Riverdale, N Y.
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5-time Oscar-winner composer John Barry dies at 77

John Barry, who wrote music for a dozen James Bond films, including "You Only Live Twice" and "Goldfinger" and developed the twanging guitar riff in the suave spy's theme music, has died. He was 77. The English-born composer wrote a long list of scores, including "Somewhere In Time", "Midnight Cowboy," "Dances with Wolves" and "Body Heat." He was proud of writing both for big action blockbusters and smaller films. He won two Oscars for "Born Free" in 1966, for best score and best song. He also earned statuettes for the scores to "The Lion in Winter" (1968), "Out of Africa" (1985) and "Dances with Wolves" (1990).
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Margaret Whiting

Margaret Whiting (July 22, 1924 — January 10, 2011) was a singer of American popular music and country music who first made her reputation during the 1940s and 1950s. She was born in Detroit and her family moved to Los Angeles in 1929. The sweet-voiced big band singer of sentimental ballads such as "Moonlight in Vermont" and "It Might As Well Be Spring" died in New Jersey. Margaret Whiting was 86. Whiting sold millions of records in the 1940s and '50s. She died Monday, 11 January 2011, at an entertainers retirement home in Englewood, N.J. She had lived in New York City for many years before moving to the home in March. Whiting grew up with the music business. She was the daughter of Richard Whiting, a prolific composer of such hits as "My Ideal," "Sleepy Time Gal" and "Beyond the Blue Horizon." Her family's California home was a gathering place for such songwriters as George and Ira Gershwin, Frank Loesser, Jerome Kern, Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer.

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