JOHNNY HARRIS

On Tony Hatch and his first break.

I was approached by an independent record company to do a record called "Top 6". The idea was, each month I would second-guess what was going to appear on next month's top ten and emulate it. Of course, most of the time it was the Stones and the Beatles. The record company's idea was, if I could sound like these guys, we could release this single, which would have six tracks on it, but it would be the same price as a standard single. The first one we did sold enough to get into the top 40.

Tony Hatch had heard some of these and it prompted him to approach me. He said “I’ve heard your stuff, and I like it. I need somebody to conduct the orchestra on my recording sessions. I'll do the arrangements, but, as producer, I have to be in the booth listening to the playback.   I need somebody to drive the orchestra. Would you be interested?” I said “Okay. Are you kidding! Of course I was interested. (Laughter) It was the opening I was looking for."

"My first session followed two weeks later. It was an album with Petula Clark. After Pet’s album, Jackie Trent did an album and Tony asked me to do three of the arrangements for it. One was called “Little Boy Blue”. It’s a beautiful song and Jackie and the orchestra seemed to go crazy over what I'd done with it. The orchestra stood up and applauded me, which is very unusual. Tony Hatch was ecstatic and he said to me,“Johnny, I was gonna have this as a ghost arrangement but your name is going on the album. These arrangements are too good."

"So he really opened the door for me. I’ve always thanked him for that and we’ve been good friends ever since."

On working with Tom Jones.

"I toured with Tom for three years from 1967 to 1969 and we went all over the world together. To be close to that voice, it just blew me away. When I first heard him on “Top of the Pops” he had a rabbit’s foot around his neck and was singing “It’s Not Unusual”- He wasn’t as groomed as he eventually became, but that voice! I’d heard the record first on the radio and I thought he was a black performer. So much feeling - soul. Such a great style. When I met him, I learned he’s Welsh. His father went to the same school as my father in Pontypridd. So Tom and I had an immediate connection.

I was approached by his manager Gordon Mills in 1966/67 to build an orchestra around Tom; our first big engagement was the Talk of the Town in London prior to going to America. That was with a big live orchestra.   Me leaping about. Tom moving about, the way that only he can do. Everybody went nuts. They thought it was great. This was the first time Tom had appeared on stage with a big orchestra, with full arrangements. He mostly had worked with his rhythm section “The Squires”.

Tom was just great to work with, he was fun, it was exciting to hear that voice, write the arrangements and leap about the stage with him. We went to the States, opening in Miami for five days, then on to Las Vegas for a month at the Flamingo, then finally to the Cococabana in New York for ten days. They were great days, so much was happening."

On his Mum and Dad.

"My Dad was an accomplished violinist and my Mother a wonderful singer. They were a great support during the many years of my musical development and education. My childhood was filled with music; talking about it, playing it, studying it and listening to it. We had a wonderful time together. My Dad played on numerous recordings with me, including my score for the Richard Harris movie “Man in the Wilderness” and on my album “All to Bring You Morning”. As a matter of fact, he played in the "Talk of the Town" orchestra when Tom Jones and I first started working together".

On his funky 45 “Here comes the Boot.”

"I was about to record an artist for Mercury records. The musicians were all hired and everything was ready to go when, less than twenty-four hours before the recording session, I was told the singer was ill or something and was unable to make it. We couldn't cancel the musicians and the record company asked me, "Can you come up with something?". We’ve got to pay the musicians.” So I sat down and came up with the outline of a song.   When we went into the studio, I gave the music I had to the guys and we made it up as we went along. Those are my footsteps that you hear on the track. They were recorded in some sort of box. And that’s my voice saying, "Here comes the boot". We all had a lot of fun making it. I’ve always laughed at my slight handicap. I have polio in my right leg. “The Boot” is a nickname the guys gave me, which I thought would be funny to use in the title. Sort of an inside joke made public. It worked great."

On the “Happening for Lulu” BBC TV series.

"Lulu is a dynamic performer and a great lady. I had such a marvellous time with her on her television series. It ran live for 13 weeks and I had a featured spot on each show. It was revolutionary from the point of view of the way director, Stanley Dorfman, shot it. He’s a great director. It was a new approach; camera angles, etc. It was wonderful the way he did it. The show was quite popular.

As I said, I had my own slot on the show. Lulu would say, “Now I would like to hand you over to my MD Johnny Harris.” Of course, this was live TV and I was a little nervous the first week because I wasn’t used to standing in front of the cameras. I think I did “Paint It Black” from “Movements” and the response that the BBC received from the viewing audience was surprisingly good.  Apparently they got a lot of positive letters, and so they said, “We definitely want to keep this spot in.”

So, each week I took requests for the following weeks. I would go on and say “I received a letter from Ethel and Fred in Blackpool and they’d like to hear blah blah blah” and my orchestra and I would perform it. (Laughter). I remember, one week I wrote an arrangement of "Alfie" featuring Tony Fisher on trumpet. Of course, he performed it beautifully. The response and exposure we got from the Lulu series was amazing.

It seemed that everybody was a bit taken aback by the style of both my conducting and arranging. It was very new and people were kind of excited about it, I suppose. People seemed to love it.

I also got a lot of attention when I wrote the score to a BBC documentary called “The World of Georgie Best.” He was so hot at the time, like a rock star, but playing soccer, or should I say football. Anything to do with Georgie Best had the news media going crazy in those days"!

On  ITV using “Footprints on the Moon” for their Moonshot coverage.

"Well, it was the second or third moonshot, in the late sixties, I was watching TV one day and I couldn’t believe it, they played “Footprints on the Moon” over the shot of the lunar module, coming up from the surface of the moon to the mothership, which was in orbit. The module started like a little speck over the moons surface and as you watched, it got bigger and bigger as it came closer because the guy in the mothership was actually shooting this on video or film. It looked so clear. I always thought, "Oh my god, I wish I’d had got a copy of that”. The visuals and the music worked so well together."

On the origin of “Footprints on the Moon”.

"I was on the tube one day and I saw a man reading a newspaper, and on the front page it said, “There will be footprints on the moon tomorrow”. I thought, "Footprints on the moon- Wow! There’s a title for that piece of music I’m going to record." That’s how I got it. From a newspaper. (Laughter) And it really was the perfect title for the music. If you pay attention, inspiration is everywhere you look. You just have to keep your eyes open."

On “Fragment of Fear”

"The director was Richard Sarafian. I went on to do “Man in the Wilderness” with him. When he approached me to do “Fragment of Fear” he said, “One of the things I liked about your music was on “Footprints on the Moon." You know, at the end of the middle section, the piano plays a series of octave high notes”. “I love that spiky sound. I need lots of spiky sounds in this movie, because this guy is sticking needles in his arm". (Laughter). So I said, “Okay” and was able to work very closely with Richard. He was very specific about what he wanted. It’s great to work with a director who knows what he wants. He was able to put it into musical terms, which is very rare.

When I first saw the picture I said, “Ouch”. We better get some weird sounds here”. I used the guitar player with the “wah wah”pedal.  I used Roger Coulam on organ and Johnny Dean again on percussion. The flute player who does the screaming flute was also on “Movements”. He was an American and he died not long after “Movements” was done. I think it was an overdose. What a loss. I can’t recall his name but he was an amazing player." It was a good collaboration and a great combination of talent. We got the score we wanted."

On the “Movements” LP musicians.

"I played the piano, Roger Coulam was on Organ, Harold Fisher was on drums, and Herbie Flowers was the Bass Guitar player. Herbie did a lot of my work. I can’t remember the name of the guitar player, who did the “wah-wah” stuff. He worked with the Tom Jones rhythm section when I was with Tom. He left after I left, and then I started giving him work in the studio to get him going. He was one of the first to use the “wah wah” pedal sound in England. It was the cutting edge sound at that moment.

A dear friend of mine is Johnny Dean, he was the percussion player on “Stepping Stones”, and he did all the bongo work. There was definitely some great playing by some brilliant musicians. Tony Fisher, a great trumpet player, just brilliant. Tony was always my first call for lead trumpet. Bobby Lamb on trombone, just wonderful. And so many other great trumpet players. I recall Derek Healy, who unfortunately, passed away last year. It was very sad news for me to hear that. Derek did a lot of sessions with me."

On the “covers” from “Movements.”

It was a stipulation in my deal with Warner Brothers that I do cover versions of current hits, which, at the time I was kind of opposed to. I wanted to do the entire album with my original material. But the powers that be said, “We don’t want that. The way you arrange other peoples music is very popular, everybody loves your cover arrangements and that’s what we want on the album.” I explained again that I wanted at least some of my original music on the album and so they suggested I use tracks from my original movie scores. So, that's what I did. At Warner Brothers insistence, this thinking also carried over to “All to Bring You Morning”. But I did manage to get my "Suite" on that one."

On his favourite tracks.

"I kinda like “Stepping Stones” and “Fragment of Fear” and the little linking theme that Roger Coulam played on organ in between the tracks.  Oh, and the backwards flutes. We played them backwards and put it in between the tracks. It was very effective.  Mostly, I like my original work. Besides my stuff, I like “Norwegian Wood.” I like especially the fast section of “Paint It Black." I’ve always liked that. I can remember sitting down at the piano at my Mom and Dad's flat, in Maida Vale, and writing that arrangement. I was very happy that I managed to snatch that one out of the air, so to speak. All of these ideas are floating around. You just have to stay alert and sometimes get very quiet, to be aware of them. They're like little gifts that come to you.  I think these ideas and inspirations come from a very special place, and I’m not a terribly religious man, but I think they're out there, in the universe somewhere, just waiting for you to tune into."

On clubbing with Peter Sellers and Henry Mancini.

"It was, I believe 1970, in London. I was in a club called Tramps and I saw Hank Mancini, who I knew well. A lovely, dear  man. We said hello, and then he said, “Come on over and say hi to Peter Sellers”. I was a huge Peter Sellers fan and a Goon freak.   We were introduced and then Peter Sellers said to me,” Johnny Harris? Have you just done an album called “Movements”? I said “Yeah” and he said “Oh god! I had a call from Spike Milligan yesterday, and he said, "You’ve gotta come over to my flat and listen to this album!" I went over there and we sat up all night listening to it. We wore it out. It’s fabulous. I just wanted you to know”. It was such a compliment. Wow. We got to meet a few times more over the next month or so at the club and he'd always say, “Hello, Johnny, have you started the new album yet!” and I'd always say “Not yet!”(Laughter).

On the Johnny Harris sound.

"There’s a certain style I suppose I have, but I don’t consciously think about it.  I like to take the listener on a musical journey. I often mix different styles of music together and then develop the unique style that emerges from this blending.

I’m very lucky that what I do for a living is something I love and enjoy so much.  It’s a great reward being able to give pleasure to people and yourself at the same time."

Johnny's wife, Laura, comments on Johnny and his music:

I used to say that Johnny's personality, his nature, was reflected in his music, and that his music was a reflected in his nature. Over the years, as I’ve developed a better understanding of my Johnny, it's become clear to me that he and his music are much more interconnected than that. Johnny IS the music that he creates. He is in it as mush as it is in him. He lives and breathes it, and the music, in turn, breathes the life back into him. I've always found humour in watching Johnny putting up with the everyday functions of the world. He doesn't necessarily do well dealing with the day to day life stuff, which I think most of us take for granted and then in stride. But it doesn't come naturally to him. He would much rather be living in the music. I mean this quite literally. I've often said to family members and friends, in those awkward moments of miscommunication, that if we - meaning all the rest of us - could just speak fluent "Music", there would always be perfect and clear communication with Johnny. Because that's how, and what, he communicates with the world. As I get older and, hopefully, a bit wiser, I'm beginning to think that Johnny has had it right all along.

On recording the “Something” LP.

"This was the first time Shirley Bassey had ever recorded with just a rhythm section. We recorded the rhythm section first and then I put her voice on later in a studio in Milan. Shirley had never worked that way before. She was used to going into a studio and recording in the middle of a fifty-piece orchestra. But she fell in love with our new way of recording. Finally, I did all the arrangements and brought in the strings and the brass to complete the tracks.

Heads, Hands and Feet were the rhythm section. Their lead singer Tony Colton co-produced with me. My engineer was Bob Auger who had won awards recording classical music. He was brilliant and a pleasure to work with. He also did the remote on my “Movements” appearance at the Royal Albert Hall when I opened for Dionne Warwick. He brought in two sixteen track-mixing boards and mixed my part of the show live, the sound was fantastic."

On working with Shirley Bassey.

"Again there’s a common Welsh background, like a welsh team here. We’d worked together, off and on, for a period of at least five years prior to the “Something”. album. I did arrangements for Shirley's albums during the sixties. It was a working relationship made in heaven. We just worked perfectly together and, perhaps because of our Welsh heritage, we got on so well and are still very close friends. We have a lot of laughs. We always talk in a welsh accent to each other on the phone, and it's funny.

Anyway, when we were routining “Something” in Milan, she told me she had heard my album “Movements” and said “Oh I loved what you did with "Light My Fire" I’d love to do that song”. So we included it on the album. By the way. There are two versions of my arrangement of "Light My Fire" on her new EMI "Remix" album."

On his own sixties TV show “Uptight with Johnny Harris”.

"Oh, my special, yes. It was called "Up Tight!" Johnny Harris plays The Talk of the Town.” I’m looking at an old press release I have up here in my studio. It says “ Johnny Harris one of the countries most brilliant young arranger/conductors presents for the first time his own television show together with some of the artists who have appeared with him. Guest stars Lulu, Georgie Fame, Una Stubbs and Douglas Squires”. Not bad.

It was a one hour recorded special, and you know what? I never saw it! (Laughter). The day it was shown I was doing a series for Mike and Bernie Winters, as Music Director at ATV.   I only saw part of it in a tea break up in the canteen. It was being shown whilst I was on stage recording this ATV show with all of my musicians. They were the same guys. I always used the same people. So I scheduled the tea break a little earlier, and said, “Come on guys we're all on TV!” We all watched for about fifteen minutes. Then we had to go back to work.   Many years later my family approached the BBC and explained that we were willing to pay for a copy of the tape. But it had been destroyed. They didn't keep it.   It was such a shame."

On working with Paul Anka.

"I had met Paul when I was working with Tom Jones in Vegas. He was familiar with my work. He had heard the albums I was producing with Shirley Bassey and loved my arrangements. So when he came over to England in 1970 he got in touch and asked me to produce his next album on Buddha Records. So the next day I went to his suite at the Dorchester hotel and we discussed the project. That night we wrote a song, right there and then, which eventually became the six and a half minute hit single “Jubilation”. Two years later, in 1972, I moved to the states permanently to work with Paul as his conductor and arranger. And during the four and a half years I was with Paul, I must have done about twenty-two arrangements of that song. (Laughter). He still performs it to this day.

I can remember my first recording session with Paul in Los Angeles. I was approached by the contractor who hires the musicians and he asked me who I’d like to have on the date. I mentioned a few names, including Conte Condoli and Bill Perkins, and the contractor said “Oh, sure. You can have them. They're available.” And I said, “Oh my god, they are!” (Laughter). You have to understand that I had been listening to big band albums featuring these great musicians for many years. So, when I arrived at the recording session, all these guys, these great musicians, were sitting there and I felt like some sort of teenager. I went over to introduce myself and they were all so charming. It was so amazing to be working with them. I still keep in touch with Conte and several of the others to this day."

On moving to America.

"When I came to America with Tom, for the first time I thought, "Oh boy, I like this country and I love the weather”. I had always wanted to come to America. So once I got back to England I made the decision that eventually I would move here. I wanted to concentrate on scoring films, and Hollywood was where it all happened. I’d already done some movies in England with some great mates like Richard Harris, but, at that time, the movie industry was not flourishing. So that was one of the reasons I thought it necessary to make the move."

On Lynda Carter and “Wonder Woman."

"Well, Lynda was "Wonder Woman" when I met her. What more is there to say?   Our friendship was immediate. We really took to each other. She’s lovely and she’s still a very dear close friend of mine. She lives in Washington D.C. now, and is very busy with her family, which includes two beautiful kids. I don't believe she is doing much live performing right now; you know, singing or touring. But she is still working.  It's great fun to turn on the TV and see her in a movie or a show. We spent a good ten years together on the road. We did five TV specials and four movies, as well as two TV series and commercial/infomercials.

With respect to “Wonder Woman”. The show was in its last season and Lynda said to me, “I want you to score the series for me. Let me introduce you to the producers.” We met on the Warner Brothers lot and that was it. I had to score an episode every week. So I would compose straight to the picture and actually orchestrate as I went along. It was a hair-raising schedule."

On his Disco track “Odyssey.”

"That track came from an episode of the television series I was scoring at the time, called “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century”. It was picked up by K.C. and the Sunshine Band’s record company. They saw the episode and they liked that piece. It was supposed to be a space type rock band. It really was quite stupid, I suppose (Laughter). It looked silly. Anyway, the director said, “We need some music for these people”, meaning the space type rock band. In the original scene, they were just messing around, supposed to be playing music.   I had to score it so that the music sort of went along with their arm movements. Well anyway, I talked to KC and his partner and they asked for the 24-track master.  The people at Universal were very nice about it, and they made a copy of it. The band added a few things like handclaps, a few shouts and another drum, in their own Miami studios. Then it was released as a 12-inch club record. It was a big hit in the Miami disco clubs and so on."

On writing for film.

One of the things about scoring films is, your completely locked to the picture timings.  That’s always a challenge.  If the film is cut and edited very well there’s a flow about a good movie and that makes my workflow alot easier.  I’ve been told many times in my career, “We don’t like this scene, we really need music to save it.” Now there’s no way music can save a bad scene. It can help a bit. The score can and should enhance a great scene and do wonders for the film in general.It should become part of the film. The score is there to enhance, reflect, and embellish a mood or a scene. And, sometimes, it is used to gently guide, lead, or inform the audience of something. It is definitely one of the performers. But more like a secondary performer. It should never try to steal the show. Even if a score is good enough to stand on it's own as a great composition, it should still only be a great supporting character to the film. Writing a good score, really getting it right, is a great thrill."

On his electronic scores

I did a two-hour television movie of the week in 1982, with Lynda Carter, called “Hotline.” It was the first fully electronic score done for television over here.  I performed it all in my studio, with the best that technology had to offer at the time. Technology really fascinates me. In fact, I was toying with electronic instruments, like the Mellotron, even when I was with Paul Anka. I can remember thinking then, that "this is the way of the future, this is what’s going to happen, and I'd better get on the bandwagon". Technology was starting to move fast at that time and there was no stopping it. So I jumped on and stayed with it.

The technology today is unbelievable. The music I am able to produce is unbelievably realistic. Of course, staying on top of all of the new advancements is the greatest challenge. Keeping the studio at a "state of the art" level requires almost constant changes and updates. The truth is, no matter how good it gets, my greatest satisfaction comes from being able to use real players; actual, live musicians. I do that whenever I can. It doesn't matter how advanced the technology gets, or how good I get at it. It still can't beat the real thing, for so many indescribable reasons.

On Levi’s use of Stepping Stones for their European ad campaign.

"It was very exciting, the fact that they picked that particular piece, which now seems to be getting so much attention. I had a lot of fun reproducing the original. I brought in guitarist, Paul Jackson and jazz artist Tom Scott, to do all of the really hot solos for it."

"The reason I did not use the original was that Warner Brothers wanted $100,000 for the use of that one track, so the company that was making the commercial came to me and asked if I would be able to reproduce it. I said yes, of course I could. I especially had to listen very carefully to what the drummer (Harold Fisher) had originally played and try and get as close as I could to that seventies "retro" sound, as it's called. I brought in a great young player, Andy Fraga, and sons, Alex and Adam, to achieve the exact effect. It was a great experience."

"Originally, Stepping Stones was featured in the film “Fragment Of Fear” and then on my album “Movements” where I had no restrictions and was able to turn it into that long driving track."

On the future

I’m excited about plans to record “Movements II-2001”. We are in the process of reviewing material for the album. Several of my kids are involved in this process, as well as some respected colleagues. My son, Richard, has a fabulous, state of the art, recording studio of his own, in London. He's an accomplished and talented musician and songwriter. He really has his finger on the pulse and invaluable input. Also my daughter, Katie, who's in an all girl rock band here in L.A. She has written some great songs that I've included in a number of my movie scores. She's got a gorgeous voice and great ideas. My three middle boys, Alex, Adam and Vincent, are all talented musicians as well. The first two, while they still find time to perform their music, are studying and actively pursuing acting careers in L.A. And it looks like Vincent is on his way to NYU this fall. Between them all, you can bet I'm getting cutting edge input and feedback.But, no matter what, I'm planning on including lots of original compositions on this one!

Also, we are working on an idea for a TV special in the UK, featuring many of the artists I've worked with over the years.

The other thing I’m excited about is an Internet gift idea that I’ve invented and created. It's called “Musical Names.” In a nutshell, I've composed pieces of music from the letters of women's names and created a melody for each name. Each melody is a fully orchestrated musical theme and they're all quite lovely. I've been working on them in my spare time over the past several years. We have a bank of about three hundred names at the moment and are in the process of finalizing our web site and marketing plan. The product should be launched and on the market by the end of spring.

Once all of that's done, my wife and my manager already have a long list of new projects lined up for me.

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