Johnny Pearson
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Johnny Pearson (born June 18, 1925, Chesterfield, Derbyshire) is a British composer and pianist. He has written a vast catalogue of library music, and has had many of his pieces used as the theme music to television series, including 3-2-1, All Creatures Great and Small, Captain Pugwash, Mary Mungo & Midge and ITN's News at Ten. He also wrote the Grampian Television startup music "Sounds On" and the ATV startup theme "Midlands Montage", as well as music used during intervals between schools programmes on ITV.
He was pianist in the group Sounds Orchestral, who had a number 5 hit in early 1965 with "Cast Your Fate To The Wind". As leader of the Johnny Pearson Orchestra, he reached number 8 in early 1972 with "Sleepy Shores", theme from the TV series Owen MD. He was also musical director of Top of the Pops for many years until the early 1980s, conducting the programme's orchestra which provided backing for live performances of current hits. In some cases, notably Althia and Donna's "Uptown Top Ranking", Pearson's versions sounded rather different from the original records. Pearson is also known to have composed under the pseudonym 'Oscar Brandenburg', a name he shared with Neil Richardson and Alan Moorhouse.
In the United States, Pearson's best known composition is "Heavy Action", originally used as the theme to the cult BBC sports show Superstars, and subsequently adopted by ABC's Monday Night Football (the NFL's weekly nationally televised showcase) and the SFM Holiday Network. In 1987, Edd Kalehoff composed and recorded a new arrangement of this music for later seasons of Monday Night Football.
