A British composer during the zeitgeist of the 1960s, Laurie Johnson was best known as composer of the theme song for The Avengers (the television series). Born in Hampstead, North London, on February 7, 1927, Laurence Reginald Ward Johnson studied at the Royal College of Music, where his teachers included Herbert Howells and Ralph Vaughan Williams. He played horn with the Coldstream Guards, before working as an arranger for Ted Heath and Jack Parnell. Awarded an Ivor Novello Award for composing the musical Look Up Your Daughters (1959), which featured lyrics by Lionel Bart. Laurie Johnson recorded library music for the KPM label and orchestral jazz albums for Pye Records including The New Big Sound of Laurie Johnson (1963). However, it was his film and TV collaborations that brought Laurie Johnson public recognition, beginning with the film scores for The Good Companions (1957), The Moonraker (1959), Tiger Bay (1959), Dr. Strangelove (1964), First Men on the Moon (1964), You Must Be Joking! (1965), And Soon the Darkness (1970) and Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter (1974). In 1965, Laurie Johnson was asked to revamp the musical score for the TV series The Avengers and created a now-famous theme for the credits, which he reused for the sequel, The New Avengers (1976). He also composed for the TV movie Mister Jerico (1971), Jason King (1971) and The Professionals (1977). Laurie Johnson also wrote works for the stage - including the musical The Four Musketeers (1967) - and for radio, composing the theme to Sounds of Jazz. He recorded several albums of jazz and symphonic music, linking the two in Symphony: Synthesis (1969), which included contributions from Tubby Hayes, Joe Harriott, Kenny Wheeler, Stan Tracey, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1997, he toured with his own orchestra, the London Big Band, which was conducted by Jack Parnell. Awarded a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2014, Laurie Johnson died on January 16, 2024, at the age of 96.
