Colin William Towns (born 13 May 1948 in

West Ham West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham. The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancient ...

, London) is an English

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Def ...

and keyboardist. He was noted for playing in bands formed by ex-

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Originally formed as ...

singer

Ian Gillan Ian Gillan (born 19 August 1945) is a British singer who is best known as the lead singer and lyricist for the rock band Deep Purple. He is known for his powerful and wide-ranging singing voice. Initially influenced by Elvis Presley, Gillan ...

, and later worked extensively in composing

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrac ...

s for

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

and

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. Learning piano as a child, by the age of 13 he was earning money playing at weddings and birthdays in his neighbourhood of the East End of London. He went on to play in numerous dance bands, jazz ensembles and also became a

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

. His main musical passion is jazz and he has made several well-received albums together with his

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...

, the Mask Orchestra. He has also founded an independent record label, Provocateur.

Career

In 1976 he was recruited as keyboardist to replace Mickey Lee Soule in the Ian Gillan Band. Over the time he developed an increasing interest in composing, and Gillan credits the Towns-penned 'Fighting Man' as pointing the direction in which Gillan should go. Gillan dissolved the band, with its jazz-rock leanings, and retained only Towns, putting together the rockier Gillan. Encouraged by Gillan, Towns co-wrote many of the songs for the new band. Whilst with the band he used his free time to seek opportunities to compose music beyond the heavy metal direction of Gillan. His 1980 solo album remains unreleased, although one track was reworked for the 'For Gillan Fans Only' LP, and ''Making Faces'' was released in 1982. He submitted a demo soundtrack for the 1977

Mia Farrow Maria de Lourdes Villiers "Mia" Farrow ( ; born February 9, 1945) is an American actress. She first gained notice for her role as Allison MacKenzie in the television soap opera '' Peyton Place'' and gained further recognition for her subsequent ...

-starring film '' Full Circle'', which received reviews praising the music. With bassist John McCoy, Towns guested on Samson's 1979 album 'Survivors'. In 1982, Towns played with the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

rock band Barón Rojo, when they recorded ''Volumen Brutal''. In 1982, Ian Gillan dissolved the band, and Towns decided to pursue soundtrack composing full-time. In that year he won the commission to write the score for the film '' Slayground''. From then on he was in constant demand, particularly in British television, where his body of work is extensive, and includes ''

Chiller A chiller is a machine that removes heat from a liquid coolant via a vapor-compression, adsorption refrigeration, or absorption refrigeration cycles. This liquid can then be circulated through a heat exchanger to cool equipment, or another p ...

'', '' An Unsuitable Job for a Woman'', '' The Buccaneers'', '' The Crow Road'', '' Dalziel and Pascoe'', '' Ghostboat'', ''

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'', ''Into the Blue'', ''

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'', ''

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'', '' Cadfael'', ''

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'', ''

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'', ''

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'', ''

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'', ''

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'', '' Our Friends in the North'', '' Between the Lines'', '' Mobile'', '' Cold Blood'', ''

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'', '' Doc Martin'', ''

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'', ''

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'', ''

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'', '' Hot Money'', ''

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'' and ''Imogen's Face''. He also composed the music for the popular children's animation series '' Angelina Ballerina'' as well as several other animation series and films for children including ''

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'', ''The Story Store'', ''

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'', '' The Wind in the Willows'', ''The Willows in Winter'' ''The Tale of Jack Frost'', ''Oi! Get Off our Train'', ''

Toot and Puddle Denise Holly Hobbie (née Ulinskas; 1944) is an American writer, watercolorist and illustrator. Holly Hobbie is also the name of a fictional character whom she created. Personal life Hobbie is from Connecticut. She married Douglas Hobbie in 1964 ...

'', '' Fungus the Bogeyman'', '' The Sandman'' and ''

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''. His other film credits include '' Rawhead Rex'' (1986), ''

Bellman and True ''Bellman and True'' is a 1987 film based on the novel of the same name by Desmond Lowden. The film was written and directed by Richard Loncraine. It stars Bernard Hill, Derek Newark and Richard Hope. The title comes from an old Cumberland son ...

'' (1987), ''

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'' (1988, starring

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), '' Getting It Right'' (1989), ''

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'' (1989), ''

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'' (1990, starring

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), '' The Puppet Masters'' (1994, featuring

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), '' Captives'' (1994, featuring

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), ''

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'' (1996, featuring

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), ''

Guest House Paradiso ''Guest House Paradiso'' is a 1999 British slapstick black comedy film written by and starring comic duo Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson, who also directed in his film directorial debut. The film is a spin-off of their BBC comedy television ser ...

'' (1999), ''

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'' (2000), '' Man Dancin''' (2003), '' Crimson Rivers II: Angels of the Apocalypse'' (2004), and ''

Red Mercury Red mercury is purportedly a substance of uncertain composition used in the creation of nuclear weapons, as well as other weapons systems. Because of the great secrecy surrounding the development and manufacturing of nuclear weapons, there is no ...

'' (2005). Several times he has worked for the German director Claudia Garde for the TV-series

Tatort ''Tatort'' ("Crime scene") is a German language police procedural television series that has been running continuously since 1970 with some 30 feature-length episodes per year, which makes it the longest-running German TV drama. Developed b ...

. Towns' principal musical passion is

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

and has released several albums with the

he founded, the Mask Orchestra. A long-term collaboration with the Italian-born jazz singer

Maria Pia De Vito Maria Pia De Vito is an Italian jazz singer, composer, and arranger. Career A native of Naples, Italy, she studied classical music, opera, and Italian folk music. In 1976 she performed folk songs as a singer, guitarist, and pianist. In 1980 she ...

began in 1996. In 2010 Towns formed Blue Touch Paper with German and UK musicians. Alongside Towns were Mark Lockheart (Polar Bear, Loose Tubes), Chris Montague (Troyka, Kit Downes), Benny Greb (Stoppok, Ron Spielman), Stephan Maass (Randy Brecker, Kruder & Dorfmeister), and Edward Maclean (Peter Fox, Nils Wülker). Blue Touch Paper released their debut album 'Stand Well Back' in May 2011. Their second album 'Drawing Breath' was released in October 2013.

References

External links

Colin Town's official websiteColin Towns
at Provocateur Records
Behind the Mask
Unofficial Colin Towns Website * *
Colin Towns
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the ...

Blue Touch Paper
{{DEFAULTSORT:Towns, Colin 1948 births Living people English keyboardists English film score composers English male film score composers People from West Ham English television composers English male composers Musicians from London Gillan (band) members Ian Gillan Band members ACT Music artists Virgin Records artists