Laurence Reginald Ward Johnson MBE (7 February 1927 – 16 January 2024) was an English composer and bandleader who wrote scores for dozens of film and television series,[1] described as "one of the most highly regarded arrangers of big-band swing and pop music" in England.
He studied at the Royal College of Music, where his tutors included Herbert Howells and Ralph Vaughan Williams.
[3] He spent four years in the Coldstream Guards (playing French horn) before moving to the entertainment industry in the 1950s, arranging for Ted Heath, Jack Parnell and others.
Johnson's other stage work included music for the Peter Cook revue, Pieces of Eight (1959), and The Four Musketeers (1967), starring Harry Secombe.
[5] Johnson began writing and recording for the KPM Music Library in 1960, holding orchestral sessions at the Friends House on Euston Road and at Denis Preston's Lansdowne Studios, where he was aided by engineer Adrian Kerridge.
[6] His library music has been used more recently in a number of animation series, including SpongeBob SquarePants and Ren And Stimpy.
[12] Originally released by EMI Records in 1969, Symphony featured several famous jazz names including Tubby Hayes, Don Lusher, Joe Harriott, Kenny Wheeler and Stan Tracey, as well as the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
In 1962 the family moved into Priory House, Clamp Hill in Stanmore, North London, where they stayed until retiring to the West Country in 2015.