Pete Moore (20 August 1924 – 1 December 2013) was a British composer and arranger for a string of famous artists from the 1950s onwards.

Early life

Born in

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, Moore studied composition and arranging privately for approximately ten years with three teachers. These were

Alfred Nieman Alfred Nieman (1914 – 7 March 1997) was a British pianist and composer. Personal life Alfred Nieman was born in the East End of London in 1914 to Polish and Russian immigrant parents. He started playing piano at the age of seven, and sta ...

(who was on the staff at the

Guildhall School of Music The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a music and drama school located in the City of London, England. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz along with dram ...

, London), Henry Geehl and a certain "Dr. Cook" who was probably another staff member at one of the London music colleges.

Career

His first job was playing piano in a pub. In 1949 he joined Teddy Foster's band, and then played with

Ken Macintosh Kenneth Donald Macintosh (born 15 January 1962) is a Scottish politician who served as the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament from 2016 to 2021. Elected as a member of Scottish Labour, he suspended his party membership on becoming Pr ...

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and

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 ...

.Sheila Tracey. ''Who's Who in Popular Music in Britain'' (1984), pp. 144-5 By 1958, he worked with such greats as

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, comedian, entertainer and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwi ...

Fred Astaire Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz, May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, actor, singer, musician, choreographer, and presenter, whose career in stage, film, and television spanned 76 years. He is widely regarded as the "g ...

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Gene Kelly Eugene Curran Kelly (August 23, 1912 – February 2, 1996) was an American dancer, actor, singer, director and choreographer. He was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style and sought to create a new form of American dance accessibl ...

Peggy Lee Norma Deloris Egstrom (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002), known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, and actress whose career spanned seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local r ...

Frankie Laine Frankie Laine (born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio; March 30, 1913 – February 6, 2007) was an American singer and songwriter whose career spanned nearly 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to his final performa ...

Connie Francis Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero ( ; born December 12, 1937), known as Connie Francis, is a retired American Pop music, pop singer, actress, and top-charting female vocalist of the late 1950s and early 1960s. She is estimated to have sold more th ...

and

Peter Sellers Peter Sellers (born Richard Henry Sellers; 8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980) was an English actor and comedian. He first came to prominence performing in the BBC Radio comedy series ''The Goon Show''. Sellers featured on a number of hit comi ...

, amongst others, on all manner of broadcasts and recordings. He frequently collaborated with record producer Ken Barnes. In the 1960s and the 1970s he made several easy listening records under his name or the name of Pete Moore and His Orchestra, usually recording covers of the pop hits of the day. He recorded for

Pye Records PYE or Pye Records is an independent British record label. It was first established in 1955 and played a major role in shaping rock 'n' roll and pop music history. The Pye name was dropped in 1980 due to trademark issues, after which it produced ...

and

Rediffusion Rediffusion was a business that distributed radio and TV signals through wired relay networks. The business gave rise to a number of other companies, including Associated-Rediffusion, later known as Rediffusion London, the first ITV (TV network ...

. As a composer, he wrote themes for many TV commercials, including such famous brands as

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

and Lux Toilet Soap, in addition to numerous songs recorded by such artists as Crosby, Lee, Laine and Astaire. However, it is his composition "

Asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

" – the famous theme for

Pearl & Dean Pearl & Dean is a British cinema advertising company, founded in 1953. Pearl & Dean is now owned by Willowbrook Investments Ltd, and controls advertising at many UK cinema sites including multiplex operators Empire, Showcase and AMC; the company ...

's cinema advertisements – that remains his most familiar and most successful composition. Apart from being heard every day on cinema screens in the UK, it is constantly featured around the world in commercials and documentaries. It has also been sampled by modern-day pop artists and enjoyed chart success on more than one occasion.

's signature tune is one of the most famous tracks played in British movie houses.discogs.com
/ref> The Pearl & Dean anthem "

" is just 28 seconds long. The original screen titles featured graphics intended to emulate advertising panels flashing past as if the viewer was being sucked into the very screen. By the early 1990s, commercials and trailers were given the full stereo treatment, but the original "Asteroid" was only ever produced purely as a mono track. Remarkably, not only was the original composer/producer tracked down, but Moore was also able to locate two of the three original male singers who could still replicate their vocal parts three decades on. In 1995, Goldbug (fronted by ex-Beatmasters man, Richard Walmsley) sampled the Pearl & Dean anthem and made No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart with their version of "

Whole Lotta Love "Whole Lotta Love" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. It is the opening track on the band's second album, '' Led Zeppelin II'', and was released as a single in 1969 in several countries; as with other Led Zeppelin songs, no singl ...

". A new 2mins 10secs digital version was recorded at the

Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a music recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, London, Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of ...

by Moore and a 30-piece orchestra. In retirement, Moore would travel by motorcycle from his home in

Ealing Ealing () is a district in west London (sub-region), west London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. It is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Pl ...

Waterloo Waterloo most commonly refers to: * Battle of Waterloo, 1815 battle where Napoleon's French army was defeated by Anglo-allied and Prussian forces * Waterloo, Belgium Waterloo may also refer to: Other places Australia * Waterloo, New South Wale ...

each Saturday to assist in directing the famous

Morley College Morley College is a specialist adult education and further education college in London, England. The college has three main campuses, one in Waterloo on the South Bank, and two in West London namely in North Kensington and in Chelsea, the ...

Jazz Orchestra. He would bring his own handwritten transcriptions of modern big band repertoire, most often by

Rob McConnell Robert Murray Gordon McConnell (14 February 1935 – 1 May 2010) was a Canadian jazz trombonist, composer, and arranger.Jeff Sultanof. Experiencing Big Band Jazz: A Listener's Companion'. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers; 8 November 2017. . p ...

. Moore remarked in 2003, "Many people in the UK music profession have accused me of writing music for the future, and well ahead of its time. Having regard to the longevity of this piece I can only thoroughly agree with that sentiment!" Ken Barnes gave Moore the following appraisal: "A quiet, soft-spoken and unassuming man, cockney-raised and academy-trained, Pete Moore usually declined to do interviews because he was always 'too busy.' In fact, it would seem that he never actively sought work, it just came to him. Which is why he was often referred to as 'The Invisible Genius.' As a person and as a musician, he was liked and admired by everyone who knew him. While he may not be a household name, Pete Moore's music remains alive and well. As it has for the past half-century."

Achievements

Throughout his career Pete Moore: * Released 5 albums and 1 single * Appeared on 5 albums, 15 compilations and 1 mix * And was credited for 232 contributions, including the above mentioned and others such a
The Golden Orchestra And Chorus – Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory And Other Sweet Songs

Personal life

He married in May 1954.''Streatham News'' Friday 27 January 1961, page 1 After divorcing his wife Moore lived in Middlesex. There were two daughters and a son. He died in London on 1 December 2013, aged 89.

References

External links

Pearl & Dean
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Pete British composers 2013 deaths 1924 births no:Pete Moore