Derrick Martin "Del" Newman (5 October 1930 – 10 August 2020) was a British conductor, orchestral arranger and music producer. His orchestral arrangements appeared on songs by many rock and pop artists from the 1960s to the 1990s, including

Cat Stevens Yusuf Islam (born Steven Demetre Georgiou; ), commonly known by his stage names Cat Stevens, Yusuf, and Yusuf / Cat Stevens, is a British singer-songwriter and musician. He has sold more than 100 million records and has more than two billion st ...

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...

Carly Simon Carly Elisabeth Simon (born June 25, 1943) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records; her 13 Billboard Hot 100, top 40 U.S. hits include "Anticipation (song), Anticipatio ...

and

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British singer and songwriter. Known for his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists of all time, having sold ...

. His work also encompassed Hollywood film scores and West End musicals.

Early life

Newman was born Derrick Martin Morrow in London. His father was a doctor of West African descent, and his mother was an Irish nurse. He was adopted by the Newman family when he was a few months old. At the age of seven, he began learning to play the cello and the piano. After serving with the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, he studied music at university in Exeter and London and then at

Trinity College of Music Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance is a music, dance, and musical theatre conservatoire based in South East London. It was formed in 2005 as a merger of two older institutions – Trinity College of Music and Laban Dance Centre. Trini ...

, where he chose to specialise in musical composition and conducting. He received tuition from composer

Elisabeth Lutyens Agnes Elisabeth Lutyens, CBE (9 July 190614 April 1983) was an English composer. Early life and education Elisabeth Lutyens was born in London on 9 July 1906. She was one of the five children of Lady Emily Bulwer-Lytton (1874–1964), a me ...

and conductor

Antal Doráti Antal Doráti (, , ; 9 April 1906 – 13 November 1988) was a Hungarian-born conductor and composer who became a naturalized American citizen in 1943. Biography Antal Doráti was born in Budapest to a Jewish family. His father Alexander Do ...

, among others.

Career

Newman worked on guitarist Gordon Giltrap's self-titled 1968 album and subsequently provided string arrangements for Cat Stevens' '' Tea for the Tillerman'' (1970). In addition to working with Elton John, Carly Simon and Rod Stewart, Newman contributed orchestral arrangements to albums by Asha Puthli,

Peter Frampton Peter Kenneth Frampton (born 22 April 1950) is an English-American guitarist, singer, and songwriter who rose to prominence as a member of the rock bands the Herd and Humble Pie. Later in his career, Frampton found significant success as a s ...

Harry Nilsson Harry Edward Nilsson III (June 15, 1941 – January 15, 1994), sometimes credited as Nilsson, was an American singer-songwriter who reached the peak of his success in the early 1970s. His work is characterized by pioneering vocal overdub experi ...

Paul Simon Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter known for his solo work and his collaborations with Art Garfunkel. He and Garfunkel, whom he met in elementary school in 1953, came to prominence in the 1960s as Sim ...

, Scott Walker,

Donovan Donovan Phillips Leitch (born 10 May 1946), known mononymously as Donovan, is a Scottish musician, songwriter and record producer. He emerged from the British folk scene in early 1965 and subsequently scored multiple international hit singles ...

10cc 10cc are an English rock music, rock band formed in Stockport, southeast of Manchester, in 1972. The group initially consisted of four musicians, Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme, who had written and recorded togethe ...

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...

, Brian Protheroe and many other artists throughout the 1970s. Referring to Newman's sympathetic work on John's ''

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road ''Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'' is the seventh studio album by English singer, pianist, and composer Elton John. A double album, it was released on 5 October 1973, by DJM Records. Recorded at the Château d'Hérouville in France, the album became ...

'' album, author James E. Perone likens the "fully integrated" aspect of their collaborations to that of

George Martin Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the "fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the Beatle ...

's musical arrangements for

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

. Newman conducted George Martin's orchestral score for

Paul McCartney and Wings Paul McCartney and Wings, often billed simply as Wings, was a British-American Rock music, rock band formed in 1971 in London by former The Beatles, Beatle Paul McCartney; his wife Linda McCartney on keyboards; session drummer Denny Seiwell; a ...

' theme song for the 1973 James Bond film '' Live and Let Die''. He also conducted the orchestra for McCartney's 1974 '' One Hand Clapping'' documentary and the live album released in 2024. Among his projects as a record producer, Newman produced Scott Walker's 1973 album '' Stretch'', which included his composition "Someone Who Cared". He also produced Asha Puthli's debut, self-titled solo album in 1973. In 1980, Newman wrote the orchestration to and conducted the Italian entry in that year's Eurovision Song Contest, "Non So Che Darei", performed and written by Alan Sorrenti. The song finished in 7th place. In the 2000s, Newman withdrew from recording to focus on teaching. His autobiography, ''A Touch from God: It's Only Rock & Roll'', was published in 2010. In October 2015, he received a Gold Badge Award from the

British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors The Ivors Academy (formerly known as British Academy of Songwriters Composers and Authors – BASCA) is one of the largest professional associations for music writers in Europe. The academy works to protect and support and also campaigns the int ...

for his contribution to music in the United Kingdom. He died at the age of 89 on 10 August 2020 in Carmarthen, Wales.

References

External links

* British music arrangers English conductors (music) British male conductors (music) Musicians from London English people of African descent English people of Irish descent 20th-century Royal Navy personnel British record producers 1930 births 2020 deaths British autobiographers Alumni of the University of Exeter Alumni of Trinity College of Music 21st-century British conductors (music) 21st-century British male musicians English adoptees Royal Navy sailors Military personnel from London {{UK-conductor-stub