Des Champ (9 July 1928 – 7 June 2006 in London, England) was a musician, bandleader, producer, and arranger. In a musical career lasting over 35 years, Des gained notoriety in the British music business for his ground-breaking production and arrangement work in collaboration with partner Roger Easterby. Des first achieved chart success with

Vanity Fare Vanity Fare (often misspelled ''Vanity Fair'', due to the similarity of the novel and magazine title) are an English pop/rock group formed in 1966. They had the million-selling song, " Hitchin' a Ride", which became a worldwide hit in 1970. ...

, whose " Hitchin' a Ride" sold a million copies in the US alone, but his most notable pop achievement was with

glam-rock Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was performed by musicians who wore outrageous costumes, makeup, and hairstyles, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists drew on diver ...

band

Chicory Tip Chicory Tip are an English pop group, formed in 1967 in Maidstone, Kent. The band originally comprised vocalist Peter Hewson (born 1 September 1945, in Gillingham); guitarist Richard "Rick" Foster (born 7 July 1946); bass guitarist Barry Mayg ...

, whose "

Son of My Father "Son of My Father" is a song popularised in 1972 by Chicory Tip. The song was originally published in German as "Nachts scheint die Sonne" (''In the Night Shines the Sun''), written by Giorgio Moroder with German lyrics by Michael Holm in 197 ...

" featured a

Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer is a modular synthesizer developed by the American engineer Robert Moog. Moog debuted it in 1964, and Moog's company R. A. Moog Co. (later known as Moog Music) produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 2014 ...

(a relatively obscure instrument at the time). "

" went on to top the UK pop music charts for three weeks in early 1972 and was a seminal influence on 80s synthesizer bands like

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

. Later in his career, Des worked as musical director for

Shirley Bassey Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey (; born 8 January 1937) is a Welsh singer. Best known for her career longevity, powerful voice and recording the theme songs to three James Bond films, Bassey is widely regarded as one of the most popular vocalist ...

5000 Volts 5000 Volts is the name of a British disco recording act that achieved success throughout Europe during the 1970s. The group consisted of vocalists Tina Charles and Martin Jay, with a changing group of session musicians. Career They release ...

, and

Tony Monopoly Tony Monopoly (3 December 1944 – 21 March 1995) was an Australian-born cabaret singer and actor who enjoyed success in the United Kingdom. Born Antonio Rosario Monopoli in Adelaide, he was a regular on the national radio show, ''Kangaroos on P ...

, before finally taking a regular day job with the Orchestration Department at

BBC Radio Two BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

. He died of cancer on 7 June 2006 in London.

Discography

External links

Des Champ
discography 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 la ...

Shirley and Johnny website

1928 births English record producers 2006 deaths 20th-century British businesspeople {{England-musician-stub