Jeff Wayne
Encyclopedia
Jeffry "Jeff" Wayne, born in Forest Hills, Queens
Forest Hills, Queens
Forest Hills is a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York, United States.-Neighborhood:The neighborhood is home to upper-middle class residents, of whom the wealthier residents often live in the neighborhood's Forest Hills Gardens area...

, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, is a musician best known for Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds
Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds
Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds is a 1978 concept album by Jeff Wayne, retelling the story of The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells. Its format is progressive rock and string orchestra, using narration and leitmotifs to carry the story via rhyming melodic lyrics that express...

, his musical version of H. G. Wells
H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books and rules for war games...

' The War of the Worlds
The War of the Worlds
The War of the Worlds is an 1898 science fiction novel written by H. G. Wells.The War of the Worlds may also refer to:- Radio broadcasts :* The War of the Worlds , the 1938 radio broadcast by Orson Welles...

. Wayne has written approximately 3,000 advertising jingles in the 1970s which appeared on television in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, notably a Gordon's Gin
Gordon's Gin
Gordon's is a brand of London Dry gin produced in the United Kingdom and under licence in New Zealand, Canada and several other former British territories. The top markets for Gordon's are the UK, US, Greece and Africa...

 commercial which was covered by The Human League
The Human League
The Human League are an English electronic New Wave band formed in Sheffield in 1977. They achieved popularity after a key change in line-up in the early 1980s and have continued recording and performing with moderate commercial success throughout the 1980s up to the present day.The only constant...

. Wayne also composed numerous well-known television themes, including Good Morning Britain
Good Morning Britain
Good Morning Britain was TV-am's flagship breakfast television show throughout TV-am's time on air, broadcasting five days a week, initially from 7am until 9am. By 1985 the programme started at the earlier time of 6.15am and by 1988 the programme started at 6am. It had many different presenters...

(TV-am
TV-am
TV-am was a breakfast television station that broadcast to the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 to 31 December 1992. It made history by being the first national operator of a commercial television franchise at breakfast-time , and broadcast every day of the week for most or all of the period...

), ITV's The Big Match and The World of Sport, BBC's 60 Minutes, and for 24 years, the UK's first news radio station, LBC
LBC
LBC Radio operates two London-based radio stations, with news and talk formats. LBC was Britain's first legal commercial Independent Local Radio station, providing a service of news and information to London. It began broadcasting on 8 October 1973, a week ahead of Capital Radio...

. Wayne wrote feature film and documentary film scores and was musical director for various artists. Wayne published a book called The Book of Tennis and created, produced and scored eight thirty-minute episodes of The Book of Tennis Chronicles that was distributed by Fox Sports
Fox Sports (USA)
Fox Sports is a division of the Fox Broadcasting Company . It was formed in 1994 with Fox's acquisition of broadcast rights to National Football League games...

 in approximately twenty countries, and was broadcast in the US on The Tennis Channel
The Tennis Channel
Tennis Channel is an American speciality channel with programming devoted to the game of tennis. Founded in 2003, the network is owned by a group of investors including sports marketing firm IMG. Well known tennis professionals Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi are two of the many investors in this...

 between 2005 and 2008.

Early life

Jeff Wayne was born on 1 July 1943 in Forest Hills, Queens
Forest Hills, Queens
Forest Hills is a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York, United States.-Neighborhood:The neighborhood is home to upper-middle class residents, of whom the wealthier residents often live in the neighborhood's Forest Hills Gardens area...

. His father, Jerry Wayne, was an actor, singer and theatre producer who had a profound influence on Jeff's life, inspiring his love of music and tennis, and introducing him to H. G. Wells
H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books and rules for war games...

' book The War of the Worlds. Wayne studied classical piano from the age of five, learnt jazz piano and was taught tennis by his father. He spent four years of his childhood in the UK when his father played romantic gambler Sky Masterson in the original West End musical production of Guys and Dolls.

Four years later they returned to New York. Wayne graduated from Stephen Halsey Jr. High and attended Forest Hills High School
Forest Hills High School
Forest Hills High School , dedicated in 1937, is a public secondary school in Queens, New York City. It educates students in grades 9–12 and is operated by the New York City Department of Education.- Location :...

 for one year, and played for its tennis team, before moving to California. Wayne graduated from Grant High School
Grant High School
Grant High School may refer to:*Grant County High School in Dry Ridge, Kentucky*Grant Community High School in Fox Lake, Illinois*Grant High School , in Mount Gambier, South Australia...

, then from Los Angeles Valley College
Los Angeles Valley College
Los Angeles Valley College is a community college located in the Valley Glen district of Los Angeles, California in the east-central San Fernando Valley. The school is a part of the Los Angeles Community College District....

 with a journalism degree. He played keyboards in local bands and coached tennis to support himself. After completing his journalism degree he switched to music, playing keyboards briefly with The Sandpipers
The Sandpipers
The Sandpipers were an American easy listening trio/quartet, who carved a niche in 1960s folk rock. They are best remembered for their cover version of "Guantanamera", which became a transatlantic Top 10 hit in 1966, and their Top 20 hit "Come Saturday Morning" from the soundtrack of the film The...

.

Musical career

In 1966, Wayne composed the score for his father's West End musical Two Cities based on Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...

' A Tale of Two Cities
A Tale of Two Cities
A Tale of Two Cities is a novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. With well over 200 million copies sold, it ranks among the most famous works in the history of fictional literature....

which ran at London's Palace Theatre. The musical was successful, winning for Edward Woodward
Edward Woodward
Edward Albert Arthur Woodward, OBE was an English stage and screen actor and singer. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art , Woodward began his career on stage, and throughout his career he appeared in productions in both the West End in London and on Broadway in New York...

 the Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...

Award for Best Male Performance in a Musical for 1968-69. Returning to the UK, Wayne became a record producer and helped produce David Essex
David Essex
David Essex OBE is an English musician, singer-songwriter and actor. Since the 1970s, Essex has attained nineteen Top 40 singles in the UK , and sixteen Top 40 albums...

's album Rock On
Rock On (David Essex album)
Rock On is the debut album of singer/songwriter David Essex. Its lead single and title track, "Rock On", is still Essex's best known song in the US...

. Essex was a voice actor in The War of the Worlds, playing the part of The Artilleryman.

The War of the Worlds

In 1978, Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds
Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds
Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds is a 1978 concept album by Jeff Wayne, retelling the story of The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells. Its format is progressive rock and string orchestra, using narration and leitmotifs to carry the story via rhyming melodic lyrics that express...

was released and achieved international success, including worldwide hit singles "The Eve of the War" and "Forever Autumn
Forever Autumn (song)
"Forever Autumn" is a song by Jeff Wayne, Gary Osborne and Paul Vigrass. The original melody was written by Wayne in 1969 as a jingle for a Lego commercial. Vigrass and Osborne, the performers of the original jingle, added lyrics to the song and recorded it for inclusion on their 1972 album Queues...

", with vocals performed by Justin Hayward
Justin Hayward
Justin Hayward is an English musician, best known as singer, songwriter and guitarist in the rock band The Moody Blues.Hayward was born in Dean Street, Swindon, Wiltshire, England...

 in both. It won two Ivor Novello Awards and The Best Recording in Science Fiction and Fantasy, (the judges included Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...

, George Lucas
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...

, and Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...

)."The Eve of the War" was used by the offshore radio station Radio Delmare
Radio Delmare
decided to restore a Dutch radioship on the high seas, about 3 years after Veronica and RNI went off the air. A lot of work went into getting money on the table for this project and with a very low budget, in May 1977 they bought MV "Aegir." They worked to make it sea worthy and broadcast ready...

 as its theme tune. The record was re-released in 1995 on audio CD
Super Audio CD
Super Audio CD is a high-resolution, read-only optical disc for audio storage. Sony and Philips Electronics jointly developed the technology, and publicized it in 1999. It is designated as the Scarlet Book standard. Sony and Philips previously collaborated to define the Compact Disc standard...

; five tracks were remastered and placed on the second disc, mostly without Wayne's input.

Later work

After The War of the Worlds, Wayne continued to compose and produce music, such as the music for The Who's movie McVicar
McVicar (film)
McVicar is a British drama film released in 1980 by The Who Films, Ltd., starring Roger Daltrey of The Who in the title role of John McVicar...

, released in 1980. Wayne composed music for the Fry's Turkish Delight
Fry's Turkish Delight
Fry's Turkish Delight is a chocolate sweet made by Cadbury, and formerly by J. S. Fry & Sons. It was launched in 1914 and consists of a rose-flavoured Turkish delight surrounded by milk chocolate....

 advertisement in 1981, the theme for Good Morning Britain
Good Morning Britain
Good Morning Britain was TV-am's flagship breakfast television show throughout TV-am's time on air, broadcasting five days a week, initially from 7am until 9am. By 1985 the programme started at the earlier time of 6.15am and by 1988 the programme started at 6am. It had many different presenters...

in 1982 on TV-am
TV-am
TV-am was a breakfast television station that broadcast to the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 to 31 December 1992. It made history by being the first national operator of a commercial television franchise at breakfast-time , and broadcast every day of the week for most or all of the period...

, and music for the 1984 album Beyond the Planets, Kevin Peek and Rick Wakeman
Rick Wakeman
Richard Christopher Wakeman is an English keyboard player, composer and songwriter best known for being the former keyboardist in the progressive rock band Yes...

's progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...

 recording of Holst's orchestral suite.

In 1992 Jeff Wayne released Spartacus
Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of Spartacus
Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of Spartacus was a 1992 concept album by Jeff Wayne and others, telling the story of Roman gladiator, Spartacus....

, his first major release since The War of the Worlds. Its cast included Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Hopkins
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...

, Catherine Zeta Jones, Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Ladysmith Black Mambazo is a male choral group from South Africa that sings in the vocal styles of isicathamiya and mbube. They rose to worldwide prominence as a result of singing with Paul Simon on his album, Graceland and have won multiple awards, including three Grammy Awards...

, and Marillion
Marillion
Marillion are a British rock band, formed in Aylesbury, England in 1979. Their recorded studio output comprises sixteen albums generally regarded in two distinct eras, delineated by the departure of original vocalist & frontman Fish in late 1988, and the subsequent arrival of replacement Steve...

's Fish
Fish (singer)
Derek William Dick, better known as Fish, is a Scottish progressive rock singer, lyricist and occasional actor, best known as the former lead singer of Marillion.-Biography:...

. It featured a libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...

 by Gary Osborne
Gary Osborne
Gary Osborne is an English singer and songwriter from the United Kingdom.-Career:Osborne was born in London, educated in Switzerland, and followed his father into the music industry at the age of fifteen....

 and a story combining powerful themes of oppression, desperation, love and death

In 1998, Jeff Wayne was involved in producing Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds
Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds
Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds is a title used for two 1998 video games published by GT Interactive. The first is a real-time strategy game developed by Rage Software Limited for the PC...

, a computer game that included 45 minutes of music from his Musical Version of The War of the Worlds which was re-scored and remix
Remix
A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....

ed in an electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...

 style with techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...

 beats.

In 2004, Jeff Wayne and Ollie Record Productions began work on a feature-length animated
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...

 CGI
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...

 film version of his musical version of The War of the Worlds, with a planned release date in 2007. The $48 million project used CGI and motion capture technology.

In the summer of 2005, The War of The Worlds was re-released. It spent ten consecutive weeks in the Top 10 of the UK Album charts. Including this re-release, the album achieved sales to 3 million in the UK, and approximately 14 million worldwide.

Also in 2005, it was announced that the musical would be going on a UK tour in April 2006. The live show was taken to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 and returned the UK during December 2007. The show, produced by Damian Collier
Damian Collier
Damian Collier is a British producer, entrepreneur and business consultant for film, TV, music and stage.-Career and success:Collier has produced both independently and has collaborated with major film and TV studios such as Paramount Pictures, Fox, Universal Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation, and...

 used a ten-piece band and a 48-piece string orchestra, voice actors, screen projected images and animatronics
Animatronics
Animatronics is the use of mechatronics to create machines which seem animate rather than robotic. Animatronic creations include animals , plants and even mythical creatures...

. Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...

 released a DVD of the show, filmed at Wembley Arena
Wembley Arena
Wembley Arena is an indoor arena, at Wembley, in the London Borough of Brent. The building is opposite Wembley Stadium.-History:...

 using 23 high definition
High-definition video
High-definition video or HD video refers to any video system of higher resolution than standard-definition video, and most commonly involves display resolutions of 1,280×720 pixels or 1,920×1,080 pixels...

 cameras and directed by David Mallet
David Mallet (director)
David Mallet is a British director particularly noted for his work on music videos, including David Bowie's innovative "Ashes to Ashes", Rush's "Distant Early Warning, and Queen's "Radio Ga Ga" and "I Want to Break Free" videos. He has also served as a producer on television programmes including...

.

Wayne's first television series, The Book of Tennis Chronicles, was broadcast worldwide in 2005 and distributed by Fox Sports. It features well-known tennis players and events, set against events in world history from 1877 to 2005. Wayne created and produced eight half-hour episodes and scored its music. The series' executive producer was Damian Collier
Damian Collier
Damian Collier is a British producer, entrepreneur and business consultant for film, TV, music and stage.-Career and success:Collier has produced both independently and has collaborated with major film and TV studios such as Paramount Pictures, Fox, Universal Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation, and...

.

Wayne is currently working on a musical adaptation of Jack London
Jack London
John Griffith "Jack" London was an American author, journalist, and social activist. He was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone...

's novel, The Call of the Wild
The Call of the Wild
The Call of the Wild is a novel by American writer Jack London. The plot concerns a previously domesticated dog named Buck, whose primordial instincts return after a series of events leads to his serving as a sled dog in the Yukon during the 19th-century Klondike Gold Rush, in which sled dogs...

, but has said that it is unlikely that he will complete it until the War of the Worlds live stage production has finished. .

Tennis

Wayne has remained involved with tennis; he has won the British National Indoor Veterans singles and doubles titles, and the National Clay Court doubles. In 1992 he partnered former Great Britain No. 1 and Davis Cup
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation and is contested between teams of players from competing countries in a knock-out format. The competition began in 1900 as a challenge between Britain and the United States. By...

 captain Roger Taylor
Roger Taylor (tennis player)
Roger Taylor is a British former tennis player. Born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, he won six singles titles and 10 doubles titles during his career...

 at the European Veteran Championships. In 1999, Wayne represented Great Britain in the Austria Cup in Spain, and achieved an ITF world ranking in his age group. In 2008 Wayne was elected into the International Lawn Tennis Club of Great Britain. Wayne has also played many fundraising pro-am tournaments including for: Muscular Dystrophy
Muscular dystrophy
Muscular dystrophy is a group of muscle diseases that weaken the musculoskeletal system and hamper locomotion. Muscular dystrophies are characterized by progressive skeletal muscle weakness, defects in muscle proteins, and the death of muscle cells and tissue.In the 1860s, descriptions of boys who...

, Olympic Games
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

 and Save the Children
Save the Children
Save the Children is an internationally active non-governmental organization that enforces children's rights, provides relief and helps support children in developing countries...

.

Personal life

Jeff and Geraldine live in Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

, England, and have two daughters - Anna-Marie (an actress) and Jemma, and two sons - Zeb (a DJ) and Joab (a junior tennis player).

Discography

  • Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds
    Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds
    Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds is a 1978 concept album by Jeff Wayne, retelling the story of The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells. Its format is progressive rock and string orchestra, using narration and leitmotifs to carry the story via rhyming melodic lyrics that express...

    (1978)
  • Highlights from Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds
    Highlights from Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds
    Highlights from Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds is a compilation album by Jeff Wayne. It was released by Columbia Records.-About the album:...

    (1981)
  • Jeff Wayne's Musical Version Of Spartacus
    Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of Spartacus
    Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of Spartacus was a 1992 concept album by Jeff Wayne and others, telling the story of Roman gladiator, Spartacus....

    (1992)
  • Jubilation (1978 Television theme for Big Match)
  • Matador (1982 World Cup theme for Television)

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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