Sharing the day with a whole raft of famous names including Keanu Reeves, Marge Champion, Salma Hayek, Lennox Lewis, Billy Preston, Moira Stuart, footballer Joey Barton, Daniel arap Moi, PM Sir Keir Starmer, Jimmy Connors, Victor Spinetti, Francis Matthews, Bill Shankly, Mark Harmon, the ill-fated astronaut Christa McAuliffe and - erm - Google Chrome, we have a centenary to celebrate - that of Mr Hugo Montenegro!
Who? I hear you ask...
Well, he got to #1 in the UK charts for three weeks in 1968 - holding off strong challengers including Eloise by Barry Ryan and This Old Heart of Mine by the Isley Brothers - with this:
Although he did score some films in his own right, he really made his name in the estimable company of the likes of Ron Goodwin, Henry Mancini, LeRoy Holmes, Stanley Black et al, whose orchestrated "easy listening" compilations of film music became extremely popular in the 60s and 70s. He was nicknamed "The Quadfather" in the early 1970s as a pioneering composer for quadrasonic recording, and was renowned as an early pioneer of musical arrangements using the Moog synthesizer.
There is one composition by Mr Montenegro, however, for which he really is best known - this!
All hail, Hugo Mario Montenegro (2nd September 1925 – 6th February 1981)
Isn’t it amazing that the same talented man could produce both those themes?!?
ReplyDeleteAdmittedly, he only orchestrated and arranged the former, but the latter is indeed all his...
DeleteJx
Oh I loved I Dream of Jeanie!!!! Though I wanted it to be a cartoon all the way through and not just the opening credits!!
ReplyDeleteSx
I remember thinking much the same thing! Jx
Delete+ Maestro Hugo Mario Montenegro, un genio della musica moderna.
ReplyDeleteRequiem aeternam dona ei Domine et lux perpetua luceat ei ,
come scritto sulla sua lapide.
A maestro, indeed! Jx
DeleteHe along with Ron Goodwin, Henry Mancini, LeRoy Holmes, Stanley Black are pure Lounge heaven. Cocktails please.
ReplyDeleteShaken or stirred? Jx
Delete