Keith Mansfield (born 1940 in Slough, England) is a British

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 ...

and

arranger 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 orchestrat ...

known for his creation of prominent television theme tunes, including the ''

Grandstand A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators, typically at sports stadiums and including both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium i ...

'' theme for the

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Career

Mansfield's other works include "The Young Scene" (the original 1968 theme to '' The Big Match''), "Light and Tuneful" (the opening theme for the BBC's coverage of the

Wimbledon Tennis Championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly called Wimbledon, is a tennis tournament organised by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in collaboration with the Lawn Tennis Association annually in Wimbledon, London. It is chronologically the ...

), "World Champion" (the closing theme for NBC's coverage of the same tournament), and "World Series" (used for the BBC's athletics coverage). One of his library music recordings, "Teenage Carnival", was used as the theme to the 1960s ITV children's television series '' Freewheelers''. He has also composed film scores for British films such as '' Loot'' (1970) and '' Taste of Excitement'' (1970), and the western ''Three Bullets for a Long Gun'' (1971). He also scored the start-up and shutdown themes for

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV (TV network), ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire on weekdays only, as ABC Weekend TV, ...

in 1978, which were used for ten years before it switched to 24-hour television. Mansfield is perhaps best known by American audiences as the composer of the tune "Funky Fanfare", used for underscoring in NFL Films productions and the Astro Daters series of snipes produced by the National Screen Service in the late 1960s. That song is currently used during the opening credits of the show '' Pit Boss'' on

Animal Planet Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel focusing on the animal kingdom owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1 ...

, as well as backing music for the "Quick Hits" segment on the '' Sklarbro Country'' podcast. Mansfield also composed the

brass Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...

tune "Superstar Fanfare", which was used (in several variations) by

Channel Television ITV Channel Television, previously Channel Television, is a British television station which has served as the ITV (TV network), ITV contractor for the Channel Islands since 1962. It is based in Jersey and broadcasts regional programmes for i ...

in the

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, RTL plus's news programme 7 vor 7, Worldvision Enterprises, and by the Services Sound and Vision Corporation (SSVC) as a idents jingle for British Forces TV in West Germany, Berlin, Cyprus, The Falkland Islands and Gibraltar in the 1980s and 1990s. The Astro Daters' "Our Next Attraction" was featured prominently in two films by

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American filmmaker, actor, and author. Quentin Tarantino filmography, His films are characterized by graphic violence, extended dialogue often featuring much profanity, and references to ...

, '' Kill Bill'' and ''

Death Proof ''Death Proof'' is a 2007 American slasher film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It stars Kurt Russell as a Stunt performer, stuntman who murders young women with modified cars he says are "death-proof". Rosario Dawson, Vanessa Ferlito ...

''. A vocal version of Funky Fanfare entitled "House of Jack" was also recorded by James Royal in 1969. Another Mansfield composition, "National Pride," was the opening theme to the 1980 film '' Fist of Fear, Touch of Death'', which utilizes Mansfield's library music score, and as the logo jingle for CBS/Fox Video. A song remix was also used in the game, '' Saints Row: The Third''. In the 1960s and 1970s, Mansfield was a significant figure in the UK library music scene and recorded many materials for the production music company KPM. His work has been sampled by

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

producers such as Danger Mouse ("Funky Fanfare" on the Danger Doom track "Old School Rules", "Junior Jet Set" on "Run" by

Gnarls Barkley Gnarls Barkley is an American soul music, soul duo composed of singer-songwriter CeeLo Green and producer Danger Mouse (musician), Danger Mouse. They released their debut studio album, ''St. Elsewhere (album), St. Elsewhere'', in 2006. It contai ...

, and "Morning Broadway" on the Danger Doom track "Space Ho's"),

Madlib Otis Lee Jackson Jr. (born October 24, 1973), known professionally as Madlib, is an American record producer, DJ, multi-instrumentalist, and rapper. Critically acclaimed for his eclectic, music sample, sample-heavy production style, he is rega ...

, as well as

Fatboy Slim Norman Quentin Cook (born Quentin Leo Cook, 31 July 1963), also known as Fatboy Slim, is an English musician and DJ who helped popularise the big beat genre in the 1990s. His music makes extensive use of Sampling (music), samples from eclectic ...

("Young Scene" on the track "Punk to Funk") and most recently, "Walkin" by

Denzel Curry Denzel Rae Don Curry (born February 16, 1995) is an American rapper. Born and raised in Miami Gardens, Florida, Curry started rapping while in the sixth grade and began working on his first mixtape, ''King Remembered Underground Tape 1991–1995 ...

, produced by Kal Banx. Mansfield was arranger and conductor for several tracks on

Dusty Springfield Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien (16 April 1939 – 2 March 1999), better known by her stage name Dusty Springfield, was a British singer. With her distinctive mezzo-soprano voice, she was a popular singer of blue-eyed soul, Pop mus ...

's 1968 UK album '' Dusty... Definitely'', and acted as orchestral arranger on some hits for Love Affair (" Everlasting Love") and

Marmalade Marmalade (from the Portuguese ''marmelada'') is a fruit preserves, fruit preserve made from the juice and peel of citrus fruits boiled with sugar and water. The well-known version is made from bitter orange. It also has been made from lemons ...

(" Reflections of My Life"), among others. Mansfield wrote material for and produced albums with trumpeter Maynard Ferguson: M.F. Horn, Maynard Ferguson and M.F. Horn Two.

Success in Brazil

Mansfield was one of the collaborators of ''Carnaby Street Pop Orchestra'' (1969). The album did not become famous, but his song, "Hyde Park", was used as the opening theme of the Brazilian sports program Esporte Espetacular since 1977. The song was soon associated with sports in Brazil, and it was used as the theme song of the F-1 racer Ayrton Senna. Esporte Espetacular stopped using the song in the 1980s, but it came back in 1994. Even though Hyde Park was a success, Mansfield was unknown in Brazil for many years due a printing error in the LP record that wrongly stated his name and the name of the song. The first time he heard about his popularity was in the 1990s. A friend of his was approached by a Brazilian reporter for an interview and he explained that Mansfield was the actual composer, but the story was quickly forgotten. In 2009, Mansfield was intrigued when he discovered by chance that his song was being used on a

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video about

Bruce Lee Bruce Lee (born Lee Jun-fan; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was an American-born Hong Kong martial artist, actor, filmmaker, and philosopher. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy which was formed from ...

, and he soon discovered many other videos created by the Brazilian community. In 2018, he said that it was "a great feeling" that his song was used.

References

External links

*
Go Home Productions "Grandstand Supreme" Keith Mansfield-Supremes
on

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mansfield, Keith British composers Living people People educated at Upton Court Grammar School Place of birth missing (living people) Date of birth missing (living people) 1941 births Musicians from London

Career

Success in Brazil

References

Further reading

Articles

Books

External links