Syd Dale (20 May 1924 – 15 August 1994) was an English self-taught composer and arranger of funk, easy listening and library music. His music played an important role on TV, radio and advertising media of the 1960s and 1970s and is still used. It is very likely you will have heard his work on radio or TV and not been aware of the composer.
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THE SQUADRONAIRES IN DUBLIN, 1953 (SYD FRONT-CENTRE) |
Yorkshire born Sydney Dale started as an apprentice technician at Rowntree's chocolate factory at 16. Soon big band music, very popular in the 1940s, became his passion. He was enthralled by the Big Band sounds that were popular at the time and, deciding that he wanted to make music his career, he left the factory and spent as much time as possible studying arrangements and listening closely to the Big Bands. In 1945, with the war over, he became a member of various local bands including The Squadronaires and played in the style of the famous Ted Heath Big Band. Syd’s role was as pianist and arranger.
Playing with the bands allowed him to travel, when they were engaged to play on cruises aboard the Queen Mary liner. This meant he was able to visit the US, where he heard firsthand the major American Big Bands of the era. These activities helped Syd to establish himself as one of the most talented up-and-coming composers and arrangers of his generation.
Through the 1970s and 1980s his "The Hellraisers" composition was used as the theme music to the BBC World Service Outlook topical programme. It was also used as the theme music to Orlando, a children's television thriller serial starring Sam Kydd which ran for 76 episodes from 1965 to 1968.
In 1971 Syd founded Amphonic Music, to provide the TV, film, radio and advertising media with music that covered all bases, produced to the highest possible standards. The company’s reputation as one of Britain’s major suppliers of ‘library’ music was quickly established with the release of Big Band Sounds Of Today, the first LP Amphonic issued. Its success was helped in no small way by Syd’s contributions as composer.This musical attitude was reflected in the work of the leading British composers and arrangers Syd invited to write for his company. Prestigious names such as Alan Hawkshaw, Keith Mansfield, Nick Ingman, Ronnie Hazlehurst, Les Reed and Tony Hatch, to mention only a few, all have credits within Amphonic’s
library. Lesser-known (but equally gifted) composers such as Dick Doerschuck and James Clarke (a musical associate of Syd’s for some time) also made outstanding contributions.
library. Lesser-known (but equally gifted) composers such as Dick Doerschuck and James Clarke (a musical associate of Syd’s for some time) also made outstanding contributions.
Amphonic’s sound had a bias towards the large, orchestral style favoured by Syd, he and the other composers often expertly fusing this sound with the funk rhythms prevalent in the 1970s. LPs such as Sounds 80, Special Assignment, The All Electric Steam Radio Band and Super Sounds Unlimited feature excellent examples of this particular fusion, giving them their status as highly desirable items for collectors of funky library records.After the company’s third move, during the latter part of the 1970s, to the Kerchesters Building in Surrey, Syd launched the successful Sound Stage series of albums that took the company into the 1980s. His music is still used in productions today. For example, his "Beauty Parade" was used in the SpongeBob Square Pants episode "Spy Buddies". In the TV comedy series Episodes, Matt LeBlanc uses the tune "Two Time" as his iPhone's ringtone. The composition known either as "Man Friday" or "The Penthouse Suite" was used as the theme tune to LWT's Tarrant on TV and was also used extensively in the episode "Speed 3" of Father Ted to introduce libidinous milkman Pat Mustard.
Although Syd died on 15 August 1994, in Surrey, England.at the age of 70, the resurgence of interest in 1960s and 1970s library music during recent years means his musical legacy has been discovered by a new generation of listeners, eager to hear the beautifully realised sounds produced by Syd and his colleagues during this golden era. (Edited from syddale.co & Wikipedia)