John Raymond Arthey (24 September 1930 – 27 October 2007) was a British

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

and

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 ...

. He was responsible for

arranging In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestratio ...

many hit

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

records in the 1960s and 1970s.

Life and career

Johnny Arthey started his career as a pianist with a military orchestra during his

National Service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

. He became a much sought-after arranger in the 1960s and 1970s, working with Engelbert Humperdinck,

Petula Clark Sally "Petula" Clark (born 15 November 1932) is a British singer, actress, and songwriter. She started her professional career as a child actor, child performer and has had the longest career of any British entertainer, spanning more than 85 y ...

Mary Hopkin Mary Hopkin (born 3 May 1950), credited on some recordings as Mary Visconti from her marriage to Tony Visconti, is a Welsh singer best known for her 1968 UK number 1 single " Those Were the Days". She was one of the first artists to be sign ...

Clodagh Rodgers Clodagh Rodgers (5 March 1947 – 18 April 2025) was a Northern Irish singer, best known for her hit singles including " Come Back and Shake Me", "Goodnight Midnight" and "Jack in the Box" and albums including '' You Are My Music'', ''It's Diff ...

Vince Hill Vincent Brian Hill (16 April 1934 – 22 July 2023) was an English traditional pop singer, best known for his cover version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein show tune " Edelweiss" (1967), which reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart. He record ...

Jonathan King Jonathan King (born Kenneth George King; 6 December 1944) is an English singer, songwriter and record producer. He first came to prominence in 1965 when "Everyone's Gone to the Moon", a song that he wrote and sang while still an undergraduate, ...

, Julie Rogers,

Joe Dassin Joseph Ira Dassin (; November 5, 1938 – August 20, 1980) was an American–French singer-songwriter. In his career spanning sixteen years (1964–1980), he enjoyed numerous successes in France and the French-speaking world, as well as singing ...

, and

Camilo Sesto Camilo Blanes Cortés (16 September 1946 – 8 September 2019), known professionally as Camilo Sesto, was a Spanish singer, songwriter and music producer. There are various sales figures for him, ranging from 70 to 200 million records sold, and ...

, among others. He wrote the orchestration to hit records such as " Eloise" by Barry Ryan, "

Young, Gifted and Black ''Young, Gifted and Black'' is the eighteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Aretha Franklin, released in early 1972, by Atlantic Records. The album climbed to number 2 on ''Billboards R&B albums survey and peaked at Number 11 ...

" by

Bob and Marcia Bob and Marcia were a Jamaican vocal duo, that consisted of Bob Andy and Marcia Griffiths.Larkin, Colin (1998) ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae'', Virgin Books, , p. 33 They had a #5 UK hit single in 1970 with " Young, Gifted and Black". T ...

, and "

You Can Get It If You Really Want "You Can Get It If You Really Want" is a reggae song written and originally recorded by Jamaican singer songwriter Jimmy Cliff and released as a single in July 1970. Another version, recorded by Jamaican singer Desmond Dekker and released within a ...

" by

Desmond Dekker Desmond Dekker (born Desmond Adolphus Dacres; 16 July 1941 – 25 May 2006) was a Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae singer-songwriter and musician. Together with his backing group the Aces (consisting of Wilson James and Easton Barrington Ho ...

. Through his string arrangements, added to Jamaican recordings, he helped reggae artists such as The Pioneers trying to force a breakthrough on the British market. He also arranged

the Piglets The Piglets were a United Kingdom, British female outfit, and one of the pseudonyms Jonathan King used in the 1970s to release some of his songs. Their lead singer on Johnny Reggae was Barbara Kay. The Piglets are best remembered for "Johnny Regga ...

' hit "

Johnny Reggae "Johnny Reggae" is a 1971 novelty song credited to The Piglets. The single cover states that it was "conceived, created, produced and directed by Jonathan King". It was released on Bell Records#Bell Records UK, Bell Records. King himself has expla ...

", and led a recording outfit called The Reggae Strings. In 1972, he formed the studio group Blue Haze with

Phil Swern Anthony Philip Swern (30 June 1948 – 31 August 2024) was an English radio producer, record producer and collector. Career Born in Ealing, London, Swern was a record producer and songwriter, and also wrote for television. He earned the nick ...

; their reggae

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of "

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" is a show tune written by American composer Jerome Kern and lyricist Otto Harbach for the 1933 musical comedy ''Roberta (musical), Roberta''. The song was sung in the Broadway show by Tamara Drasin. It was first recor ...

" reached no. 27 on the U.S.

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), ...

and no. 32 on the UK Singles Chart. With his Johnny Arthey Orchestra, he released a string of instrumental recordings of popular titles. He conducted orchestras for various

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 ...

broadcasts, and conducted three

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

entries: two for the UK in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

and

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

and one for Luxembourg in

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

. Arthey died on 27 October 2007 of a stomach tumour.

References

External links

Johnny Arthey at Discogs.com
1930 births 2007 deaths English bandleaders English composers English conductors (music) British male conductors (music) British music arrangers 20th-century British male musicians 20th-century British musicians Deaths from stomach cancer Place of death missing {{UK-conductor-stub