Eric Jupp was born in Brighton, England, in 1922 and began to study piano at seven. He left school and started his musical career at fourteen, playing in nightclubs. He joined the R.A.F. at the outbreak of World War II. When the war ended, he went to London, where he soon became a prominent member of several leading big bands, working as a pianist, composer and arranger. Jupp worked as an arranger for both of Britain's top bandleaders of the period, Stanley Black and Ted Heath. Heath's all-star staff of arrangers included Jupp, John Dankworth, George Shearing and Wally Stott (later the musical director of The Goon Show). As pianist and arranger Jupp was also a long-serving member of the Oscar Rabin Band, one of Britain's most popular dance orchestras of that period.
In 1951 Jupp formed his own orchestra at the request of the BBC and began making regular radio broadcasts and also appeared in the Hammer Films TV series Bands on Parade. He began writing music for films in Britain, beginning with the crime drama The Secret Place (1957). Jupp first visited Australia in 1960 under short-term contract to the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC), and during his visit he arranged the music for the single "First Kiss" / "My Secret" (July 1960) by pop duo the Allen Brothers, which included Peter Allen.
Jupp returned to England later in the year but in 1961 he was invited to join the ABC as musical director of its light entertainment department, based in Sydney. Soon after taking up his new post he formed the Eric Jupp Orchestra and launched his popular and long-running weekly ABC-TV series, The Magic of Music, which was seen in 29 countries and ran from 1961 to 1974. The series featured mainly "orchestral pops" and light classical music, but it also included regular jazz segments featuring notable Australian performers such as Don Burrows and George Golla. Jupp soon made a name for himself as a leading composer for film and TV in Australia. Undoubtedly his best-remembered composition is the theme for the popular 1960s TV series Skippy the Bush Kangaroo. The long version (the B-side on the record) has lyrics written by Ted Roberts.
In 1951 Jupp formed his own orchestra at the request of the BBC and began making regular radio broadcasts and also appeared in the Hammer Films TV series Bands on Parade. He began writing music for films in Britain, beginning with the crime drama The Secret Place (1957). Jupp first visited Australia in 1960 under short-term contract to the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC), and during his visit he arranged the music for the single "First Kiss" / "My Secret" (July 1960) by pop duo the Allen Brothers, which included Peter Allen.
Jupp returned to England later in the year but in 1961 he was invited to join the ABC as musical director of its light entertainment department, based in Sydney. Soon after taking up his new post he formed the Eric Jupp Orchestra and launched his popular and long-running weekly ABC-TV series, The Magic of Music, which was seen in 29 countries and ran from 1961 to 1974. The series featured mainly "orchestral pops" and light classical music, but it also included regular jazz segments featuring notable Australian performers such as Don Burrows and George Golla. Jupp soon made a name for himself as a leading composer for film and TV in Australia. Undoubtedly his best-remembered composition is the theme for the popular 1960s TV series Skippy the Bush Kangaroo. The long version (the B-side on the record) has lyrics written by Ted Roberts.
In early 1968 Jupp moved to Norfolk Island, commuting by air to the mainland for his TV, radio and film work. Among his later film and television credits, Jupp was the music director for the 1971 Fauna Productions adventure series Barrier Reef. He composed music for the TV series Bailey's Bird (1977) and wrote the score for Michael Pate's 1979 film version of Colleen McCullough's first novel, Tim, starring Mel Gibson. It was Jupp who persuaded McCullough to settle on Norfolk Island after she shot to fame with her second novel, The Thorn Birds. Jupp was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 1995 for service to music. In his retirement, Jupp and his family moved to Launceston in Tasmania. He died there in January 2003, after several months' illness.
SINGLES
''Song Of Songs'' 1960 Pye Zodiac''O, Dry Those Tears'' 1960 Pye Zodiac
''Little Grey Home In The West'' 1960 Pye Zodiac
''The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise'' 1960 Pye Zodiac
''Trees'' 1960 Pye Zodiac
''Bird Songs At Eventide [From "Second Symphonic Rhapsody] 1960 Pye Zodiac
''Sleepy Lagoon'' 1960 Pye Zodiac
''I Love The Moon'' 1960 Pye Zodiac
''Always'' 1960 Pye Zodiac
''By The Waters Of Minnetonka'' 1960 Pye Zodiac
''Brown Bird Singing'' 1960 Pye Zodiac
''I'll See You Again'' 1960 Pye Zodiac
EPs
'Frenesi' 1965 Festival''Skippy The Bush Kangaroo' 1968 Festival
'Beautiful Norfolk Island' 1973 Bounty
ALBUMS
'The Magic Of Eric Jupp & His Music' 1967 Columbia'Eric Jupp Presents Shirley McDonald' 1968 Columbia
'Adventures With Skippy The Bush Kangaroo' 1968 Parlophone
' The Rhythm Of Life' 1970 Columbia
'Making It Happen' 1970 Columbia
'The Romantic Magic Of Eric Jupp & His Music' 1971 Columbia
'No Strings Attached' 1972 Columbia
'There's Magic In Music' 1972 Summit
References
Eric Jupp - Wikipedia
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