Geoffrey Love (4 September 1917 – 8 July 1991) was a prolific

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

arranger and composer of

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to the 1970s. It is related to middle of the road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit s ...

and pop versions of

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

themes, famous in the late 1950s under the

stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...

Manuel and the Music of the Mountains.

Early years

Love was born in

Todmorden Todmorden ( ; ) is a market town and civil parish in the Upper Calder Valley in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England. It is north-east of Manchester, south-east of Burnley and west of Halifax, West Yorkshire, Halifax. In 2011, it had a popul ...

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...

, England, the only son and younger of two surviving children (an elder sister Cornelia) of

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

Thomas Edward (Kidd) Love and his English wife, Frances Helen Maycock (1892–1975), an actress and singer. The Loves travelled around Britain as entertainers, but, following the death of his father, the family returned to their grandmother's house in Todmorden. Whilst at school, Love learned the

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

. After leaving school at 15, Love worked as a car mechanic and played trombone at dance halls in the evening. Having turned professional at 17, Love joined Freddie Platt's band. Later, in 1936, he joined Jan Ralfini's band playing in London and learned to play jazz. With the outbreak of the

Second World War 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 ...

, Love was called up and joined the

King's Royal Rifle Corps The King's Royal Rifle Corps was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army that was originally raised in British North America as the Royal American Regiment during the phase of the Seven Years' War in North America known in the United Sta ...

. Whilst in the armed forces, Love spent time learning orchestration by questioning musicians how best to write for their individual instruments.

Post-war career

Following his release from the army, Love became a freelance trombonist and arranger, and also played with Stanley Black's BBC orchestra. He also developed his orchestration through the tutelage of the harpist Marie Goossens. In the early 1950s, along with saxophonist Harry Gold, his brother Laurie Gold and pianist

Norrie Paramor Norman William "Norrie" Paramor (15 May 1913 – 9 September 1979) was a British record producer, composer, arranger, pianist, bandleader, and orchestral conductor. He is best known for his work with Cliff Richard and the Shadows, both togethe ...

, Love was a member of the 'Pieces of Eight', playing

Dixieland jazz Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ( ...

. Although Love continued to play trombone at recording sessions (for example with bandleader Lew Stone), he was doing more and more orchestral arrangements. His arrangements were played by the Cliff Adams Singers,

Ambrose Ambrose of Milan (; 4 April 397), venerated as Saint Ambrose, was a theologian and statesman who served as Bishop of Milan from 374 to 397. He expressed himself prominently as a public figure, fiercely promoting Roman Christianity against Ari ...

and Ken Mackintosh dance bands, as well work for television and radio orchestras. By the mid-1950s, Love was writing for several recording labels, moving from

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...

Polydor Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in ...

and PolyGram before finally settling at

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 ...

. Whilst at the

His Master's Voice His Master's Voice is an entertainment trademark featuring a dog named Nipper, curiously peering into the horn of a wind-up gramophone. Painted by Francis Barraud in 1898, the image has since become a global symbol used across consumer elect ...

label, he arranged for Frankie Vaughan and

Alma Cogan Alma Angela Cohen Cogan (19 May 1932 – 26 October 1966) was an English singer of traditional pop in the 1950s and early 1960s. Dubbed the "Girl with the Giggle in Her Voice", she was the highest paid British female entertainer of her era. Ch ...

, among others. At Columbia, Love arranged Laurie London's gospel song " He's Got the Whole World in His Hands", a 1957 chart topper in the US. In the late 1950s, playing under the pseudonym of 'Manuel and his Music of the Mountains', Love created his "Theme from Honeymoon" (1959) which proved popular in the UK. His attempt to keep his identity secret whilst playing as 'Manuel' was impossible due to his success, especially in the US in 1959 and 1960. In 1959, he and his orchestra recorded an album with British singer

Shirley Bassey Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey (; born 8 January 1937) is a Welsh singer. Known for her career longevity, powerful voice and recording the James Bond music, theme songs to three James Bond films - the only artist to officially perform more than o ...

named ''The Fabulous Shirley Bassey''. It was her first album for the Columbia label. In 1964, Geoff Love's Music backed the British rock duo

Peter and Gordon Peter and Gordon were a British pop duo, composed of Peter Asher (b. 1944) and Gordon Waller (1945–2009), who achieved international fame in 1964 with their first single, the million-selling "A World Without Love". The duo had several subseq ...

on their first two hit singles (both written by

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

), the UK and US No. 1 hit " A World Without Love" and the top 15 hit " Nobody I Know". Love also arranged and conducted most of Peter and Gordon's subsequent hit singles, including " I Go to Pieces"(US number 9 in 1964), " True Love Ways"(US number 14 and UK number 2 in 1965), and "

Lady Godiva Lady Godiva (; died between 1066 and 1086), in Old English , was a late Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who is relatively well documented as the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and a patron of various churches and monasteries. She is mainly remembere ...

"(US number 6 and UK number 16 in 1966), as well as numerous album tracks. During the 1960s and into the 1970s, Love recorded many

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

s for MFP, often featuring

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

themes such as: ''Big Western Movie Themes'' (1969), ''Big War Movie Themes'' (1971), ''Big Suspense Movie Themes'' (1972), ''Your Top TV Themes'' (1972), ''Big Terror Movie Themes'' (1976) and other

instrumental An instrumental or instrumental song is music without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through Semantic change, semantic widening, a broader sense of the word s ...

and disco music. ''Big Bond Movie Themes'' (1975) featuring a selection of instrumental versions of music and songs from the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

film series from '' Dr. No'' up to '' The Man with the Golden Gun'' (including

Burt Bacharach Burt Freeman Bacharach ( ; May 12, 1928 – February 8, 2023) was an American composer, songwriter, record producer, and pianist who is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential figures of 20th-century popular music. Start ...

's '' Casino Royale'' from the 1967 spoof Bond film) has since become one of Love's most sought after MFP albums. One of these MFP sets was called ''Glad with Love'', which featured the pianist

Mrs Mills Gladys Mills (; 29 August 1918 – 24 February 1978), known as Mrs. Mills, was an English pianist who was active in the 1960s and 1970s, and who released many records. Her repertoire included many sing-along and party tunes made popular in the ...

and Love on a

sing-along Sing-along, also called community singing or group singing, is an event of singing together at gatherings or parties, less formally than choir singing, sometimes with a songbook. Common genres are folk songs, patriotic songs, kids' songs, spirit ...

together, with studio audience participation. One of Love's most recognised arrangements was "Rodrigo's Guitar Concerto De Aranjuez (Theme From 2nd Movement)" by Manuel and the Music of the Mountains (soloist

Ivor Mairants Ivor Mairants (18 July 1908 – 20 February 1998) was a Polish jazz and classical guitarist, teacher and composer. With his wife Lily Schneider in 1958 he created the Ivor Mairants Musicentre, a specialist guitar store in London. Early years ...

), which reached No. 3 on the UK charts. This was announced as the number one single in the United Kingdom in February 1976, but the chart was withdrawn four hours later, due to compilation errors, making it the shortest period that a song had been number one. He also made a very popular album of arrangements of

Christmas carols Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A liturgical feast central to Christianity, Chri ...

and songs, ''Christmas with Love ''(1972). Love appeared on television with pianist

Russ Conway Russ Conway, DSM (born Trevor Herbert Stanford; 2 September 1925 – 16 November 2000) was an English popular music pianist and composer. Conway had 20 piano instrumentals in the UK Singles Chart between 1957 and 1963, including two number ...

and became well known for working alongside singer-comedian Max Bygraves. He was also a prolific composer, writing the

theme music Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...

for the ITV

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

'' Bless This House''. Love also made some recordings as a vocalist. He was the subject of '' This Is Your Life'' in 1975, when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews. In the early 1980s, Love was the co-founder (with Bill Starling) of the Young Person's Concert Foundation. He travelled the country with this charity, promoting music to schools and other venues. In the late 1980s, Love became involved with several

brass band A brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting primarily of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands (particularl ...

s. An extract of his recording "Tico's Tune" was used as the theme tune for the long-running '' Gay Byrne Show'' on Ireland's

RTÉ Radio 1 RTÉ Radio 1 () is an Irish national radio station owned and operated by RTÉ and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926. The total budget for the station in 2010 w ...

station.

Awards

Love's prolific career garnered one platinum, fifteen gold and thirteen silver discs, and a special trophy for selling in excess of 2½ million records.

Personal life

Love married Cicely Joyce Peters (known as Joy, 1923/4–1993) on 4 April 1942. She worked alongside Love, organising his recording sessions and accounts. They had two sons,

Adrian Adrian is a form of the Latin given name Adrianus or Hadrianus. Its ultimate origin is most likely via the former river Adria from the Venetic and Illyrian word ''adur'', meaning "sea" or "water". The Adria was until the 8th century BC the ma ...

(1944–1999), who became a well-known radio presenter, and Nigel (1948–2013).

Death

Love died at the

University College Hospital University College Hospital (UCH) is a teaching hospital in the Fitzrovia area of the London Borough of Camden, England. The hospital, which was founded as the North London Hospital in 1834, is closely associated with University College Lo ...

, Camden, London, on 8 July 1991, at the age of 73.

Albums and compilations

* ''The Music of the Mountains'' (1960) * ''Mountain Carnival'' (1961) * ''Ecstasy'' (1963) * ''Mountain Fiesta'' (1964) * ''Exotica'' (1965) * ''Blue Waters'' (1966) * ''Sunrise, Sunset'' (1967) * ''Beyond the Mountains'' (1967) * ''Mirage'' (1968) * ''Magic Fountains'' (1968) * ''Reflections'' (1969) * ''Manuel and the Music of the Masters'' (1969) * ''Manuel and the Music of the Movies'' (1970) * ''Cascade'' (1971) * ''Carnival'' (1971) * ''Manuel Meets Pepe Jaramillo'' (1971) * ''Mardi Gras'' (1972) * ''The Sun, the Sea and the Sky'' (1972) * ''Horizons'' (1973) * ''Shangri-La'' (1973) * ''Latin with Love in the Mood for Dancing'' (1973) * ''Y Viva España'' (1974) * ''El Bimbo'' (1975) * ''Big Bond Movie Themes'' (1975) * ''Masquerade'' (1976) * ''Mountain Fire'' (1977) * ''The Music of Manuel'' (1978) * ''The Magic of Manuel'' (1978) * ''Star Wars and Other Space Themes'' (1978) * ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Other Disco Galactic Themes'' (1978) * ''Super Natural'' (1979) * ''Viva Manuel'' (1979) * ''Fiesta'' (1980) * ''Fantasy'' (1981) * ''Great Western Themes'' (1988) * ''In the mood for Love'' (1989) * ''Mountain Fiesta'' (1990) * ''Magic of Manuel & the Music of the Mountains'' (1991) (2-CD set) * ''With Love'' (1992) * ''Instrumental love songs'' (1994) (3-CD set) * ''Golden sounds of Manuel & the Music of the Mountains'' (1996) * ''Reflections/Carnival'' (1998) (2-CD set) * ''Music & Romance'' (1999) * ''50 Sing Along Wartime Hits'' (2005) * ''Very Best of'' (2008) * ''Latin with Love & Dreaming with Love'' (2011) * ''Big Suspense Movie Themes & Big Band Movie Themes'' (2011) * ''Mountain Fire & Beyond the Mountains'' (2012) * ''Star Wars & Other Space Themes/Close Encounters & Other Discos'' (2012) * ''Mountain Carnival'' (2013) * ''Viva Manuel!/Music of Manuel'' (2013) * ''Big Western Movie Themes & Great TV Western Band Themes'' (2013) * ''Waltzes with Love & More Waltzes with Love'' (2013) * ''Music of Michel Legrand & Music of Ennio Morricone'' (2013) * ''Masquerade/Y Viva España'' (2013) * ''Heat Wave'' (2017)

Albums (as Mandingo)

* ''The Primeval Rhythm of Life'' (1972) * ''Sacrifice'' (1973) * ''Mandingo III (A Story of Survival)'' (1974) * ''Savage Rite'' (1975)

Hit singles

* "Honeymoon Song" (UK number 22, 1959) * "Never on Sunday" (UK number 29, 1960) * "Somewhere My Love" (UK number 42, 1966) * "Rodrigo's Guitar Concerto de Aranjuez" (UK number 3, 1976)

References

External links

The Geoff Love Appreciation Website

Photograph of Geoff Love – The National Portrait Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Love, Geoff 1917 births 1991 deaths British easy listening musicians People from Todmorden King's Royal Rifle Corps soldiers Black British musicians English people of American descent English people of African-American descent English bandleaders English male composers English music arrangers 20th-century English musicians 20th-century British male musicians British Army personnel of World War II