Eric Stanley Jupp (7 January 1922 – 2 January 2003) was a British-born musician, composer, arranger and conductor who gained wide popularity in Australia after settling there in the 1960s, hosting a long-running light music TV show and composing for film and TV. He is best remembered for his theme music to the TV series ''

Skippy the Bush Kangaroo ''Skippy the Bush Kangaroo'' (known commonly as ''Skippy'') is an Australian television series created by Australian actor John McCallum, Lionel (Bob) Austin, and Lee Robinson, produced from 1967 to 1969 (airing from 5 February 1968 to 4 May 1 ...

''.

Biography

Jupp was born in

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

, England, in 1922 and began to study piano at seven. He left school and started his musical career at fourteen, playing in

nightclubs A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighting displays, and ...

. He joined the R.A.F. at the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. When the war ended, he went to London, where he soon became a prominent member of several leading

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 and ...

s, working as a pianist, composer and arranger. Jupp worked as an arranger for both of Britain's top bandleaders of the period,

Stanley Black Stanley Black OBE (14 June 1913 – 27 November 2002) was an English bandleader, composer, conductor, arranger and pianist. He wrote and arranged many film scores, recording prolifically for the Decca label (including their subsidiaries ''Lond ...

and

Ted Heath Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 1916 – 17 July 2005) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975. Heath also served for 51 year ...

. Heath's all-star staff of arrangers included Jupp,

John Dankworth Sir John Phillip William Dankworth, CBE (20 September 1927 – 6 February 2010), also known as Johnny Dankworth, was an English jazz composer, saxophonist, clarinettist and writer of film scores. With his wife, jazz singer Dame Cleo Laine, he ...

George Shearing Sir George Albert Shearing (13 August 191914 February 2011) was a British jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group that recorded for Discovery Records, MGM Records and Capitol Records. Shearing was the composer of over 300 so ...

and

Wally Stott Angela Morley (10 March 192414 January 2009) was an English composer and conductor who became familiar to BBC Radio listeners in the 1950s under the name of Wally Stott. Morley provided incidental music for ''The Goon Show'' and ''Hancock's ...

(later the musical director of ''

The Goon Show ''The Goon Show'' is a British radio comedy programme, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960, with occasional repeats on the BBC Light Programme. The first series, broadcast from 28 May to 20 September ...

''). As pianist and arranger Jupp was also a long-serving member of the

Oscar Rabin Band The Oscar Rabin Band was a popular British dance band in the first half of the twentieth century. Formation Oscar Rabin formed his first band with Harry Davis, the Romany Five at the Palace Hotel in Southend in 1924 in which Rabin played viol ...

, one of Britain's most popular dance orchestras of that period. In 1951 Jupp formed his own orchestra at the request of the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

and began making regular radio broadcasts and also appeared in the

Hammer Films A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nails into wood, to shape metal (as wi ...

TV series ''Bands on Parade''. He began writing music for films in Britain, beginning with the crime drama ''The Secret Place'' (1957). Jupp first visited Australia in 1960 under short-term contract to the

Australian Broadcasting Commission The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is a ...

(ABC), and during his visit he arranged the music for the single "First Kiss" / "My Secret" (July 1960) by pop duo the Allen Brothers, which included Peter Allen. Jupp returned to England later in the year but in 1961 he was invited to join the ABC as musical director of its light entertainment department, based in Sydney. Soon after taking up his new post he formed the Eric Jupp Orchestra and launched his popular and long-running weekly ABC-TV series, '' The Magic of Music'', which was seen in 29 countries and ran from 1961 to 1974. The series featured mainly "orchestral pops" and light classical music, but it also included regular jazz segments featuring notable Australian performers such as

Don Burrows Donald Vernon Burrows (8 August 1928 – 12 March 2020) was an Australian jazz and swing musician who played clarinet, saxophone and flute. Life and career Donald Vernon Burrows was born on 8 August 1928, the only child of Vernon and Beryl an ...

and

George Golla George Golla (born 10 May 1935) is an Australian jazz guitarist. In 1959 he commenced a long-term working musical partnership with clarinetist/flautist/saxophonist Don Burrows that continued for almost 40 years. Biography Golla was born on 10 May ...

. The success of the series led to a contract with

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

's Columbia label and a string of popular "Magic of Music" LPs that continued to the mid-1970s. The LPs (and the show) often featured vocalists Shirley McDonald (whom Jupp married in the 1960s) and Neil Williams. Around the same time in 1961, Jupp and his Orchestra performed on

Dickie Pride Dickie Pride (born Richard Charles Kneller; 21 October 1941 – 26 March 1969) was an English singer. He was one of Larry Parnes' stable of pop music stars, who didn't achieve the same successful career as some of his contemporaries. Early li ...

's only studio album, ''Pride Without Prejudice''. Jupp soon made a name for himself as a leading composer for film and TV in Australia. Undoubtedly his best-remembered composition is the theme for the popular 1960s TV series ''

''. The long version (the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

on the record) has

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, ...

written by

Ted Roberts Edwin Dudley Roberts (17 April 1931 – 23 February 2015) was an Australian television screenwriter and supervising producer. Early life and education Roberts was born to Lesley Roberts and Louise Kearney in Strathfield, New South Wales. Aft ...

. In early 1968 Jupp moved to

Norfolk Island Norfolk Island ( , ; ) is an States and territories of Australia, external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head, New South Wales, Evans Head and a ...

, commuting by air to the mainland for his TV, radio and film work. Jupp was awarded the

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of then ...

in 1995 for service to music.

Credits

Among his later film and television credits, Jupp was the music director for the 1971

Fauna Productions Fauna Productions is an Australian TV and film production company established by Lee Robinson, Lionel ('Bob') Austin and John McCallum who met during the making of the film '' They're a Weird Mob'' (1966). Robinson, Austin and McCallum had a vi ...

adventure series ''

Barrier Reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. C ...

''. He composed music for the TV series ''Bailey's Bird'' (1977) and wrote the score for

Michael Pate Michael Pate Order of Australia, OAM (born Edward John Pate; 26 February 1920 – 1 September 2008) was an Australian actor, writer, director, and producer, who also worked prolifically as a supporting actor in Hollywood films and Ameri ...

's 1979 film version of

Colleen McCullough Colleen Margaretta McCullough (; married name Robinson, previously Ion-Robinson; 1 June 193729 January 2015) was an Australian author known for her novels, her most well-known being '' The Thorn Birds'' and '' The Ladies of Missalonghi''. Lif ...

's first novel, '' Tim'', starring the then unknown

Mel Gibson Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson (born January 3, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. The recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Mel Gibson, multiple accolades, he is known for directing historical films as well for his act ...

. It was Jupp who persuaded McCullough to settle on Norfolk Island after she shot to fame with her second novel, ''

The Thorn Birds ''The Thorn Birds'' is a 1977 novel by Australian author Colleen McCullough. Set primarily on Drogheda—a fictional sheep station in the Australian Outback named after Drogheda, Ireland—the story focuses on the Cleary family and spans 1915 ...

''. His last major TV credit was the score for the early 1990s remake of ''Skippy''. In his retirement, Jupp and his family moved to Launceston in Tasmania. He died there in January 2003, after several months' illness, survived by his third wife Anita, his two daughters Linda and Catherine, six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Charting discography

Albums

45 rpm

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

45-DB 3875: 1957 : 'Follow Me'-'Steady as a Rock' - Clyde Ray on vocal.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jupp, Eric 1922 births 2003 deaths English male composers English pianists English television composers English film score composers English male film score composers 20th-century British pianists 20th-century English musicians British male pianists 20th-century British male musicians British music arrangers Australian male composers Australian pianists Australian television composers Male television composers Australian film score composers Australian music arrangers Musicians from Brighton British emigrants to Australia Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Oscar Rabin Band members Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia