 |
 |
   |
 Q:
What is your musical background. I know you were born in England. |
|
|
|
 A:
Well, originally, yes. I’m now an American citizen. I moved in 1972
and recently became an American citizen. Yeah, so I’m here. I started
as a trumpet player with big bands way back, and turned to arranging
in England, and then I wrote arrangements for a lot of bands. Then I
got into the recording industry and started making records. My Father
went to school with Tom Jones’ father, my heritage is Welsh, and Tom
was a friend. His manager at that time, and who’s long been dead,
Gordon Mills, asked me if I would do arrangements and put a whole act
together with him for Tom to travel the world, so I did. I was Tom’s
music director for two years – that was in ‘66 to ‘68. Then I quit and
went and did a lot of television shows, and I made my own albums – two
albums for Warner Brothers. One just last year was re-issued
worldwide, and they’re re-issuing the second album later this year
which features the group Yes. They guested on that album for me, and I
produced and arranged four albums for Shirley Bassey for United
Artists and got her back to the top of the charts with her rendition
of “Something”, the George Harrison song. |
|
|
|
Q:
Your Father was a musician? |
|
|
|
A:
Yes, my Dad was a musician, and so was my Grandfather. |
|
|
|
Q:
So it’s kind of a family tradition that you wanted to be a musician
yourself? |
|
|
|
A:
Oh yes, that’s all I knew in our household. My Mother was a singer, my
Father a musician and a singer, and that’s all I knew from birth I
suppose. |
|
|
|
Q:
Obviously it’s in the blood, I guess you might say? |
|
|
|
A:
Oh yeah, and it’s transferred from me to my son, to my daughter, and
yeah, it’s keeping it going. |
|
|
|
Q:
Now, how did you become involved with working with Lynda Carter? |
|
|
|
A:
Well, I did a few movies in this country. I did quite a few movies in
England. One of the movies I did in England, and it was through the
connection with movies that I met Lynda, was “Man in the Wilderness”
with Richard Harris and John Huston. It’s a classic. It’s still
showing all over the world. I did that in England, and I came to the
States with Paul Anka actually to produce a couple of albums, and we
wrote some songs together. One is called “Jubilation”, which he’s
still using. Barbra Streisand recorded it for us as well. I spent five
years with Paul when I moved over here as his music director and
toured the world with him. Through all of that, once I moved here, I
met so many people. I worked with Sammy Davis, Michael Jackson,
Engelbert Humperdinck, it goes on and on and on. |
|
|
|
Q:
It sounds almost like a history of pop music. |
|
|
|
A:
Yeah. Diana Ross…I forget, there’s so many. Lynda’s husband at that
time, the famous Ron Samuels who was her manager, this was in 1977 or
1978. . . I’d lived in Vegas at that time for four or five years. I
built a house there. Paul lived there, so after I left him I moved to
Los Angeles where I wanted to get back into my movie career in this
country. I mean, this is it – Hollywood. So I decided to get off the
road and leave Paul. I had married my second wife, I had a young
daughter, and I kinda wanted to calm it all down. I met Lynda and Ron
Samuels, her husband, probably a year prior to that when they’d come
to see |
|
Paul Anka at Caesars Palace in Vegas. They came backstage afterwards.
She was very, very friendly and a very sweet lady, and we just clicked
immediately. We really liked each other, and her husband too, so about a
year after that I was back in L.A. Ron called me, and he said, “I want
to put Lynda into Vegas at Caesars Palace”, and he said, “I want to put
an act together for her. Would you be interested?” I was right in the
middle of doing a movie at the time, scoring a picture, and I said,
“Well, it’s kinda tough”. So he said, “Well, how long do you think?” and
I said, “I’ve got another picture looming after that, they’re trying to
negotiate the deal.” It was a Rod Steiger picture, and I kinda put him
on hold to be quite honest. Later on in our relationship Lynda told me
she would say, “I know Johnny Harris is fantastic, but I want to get on
with this. Why do we have to wait for him?” And Ron Samuels said, “I
want to wait because he’s the best. He’s the best one for you.” So they
waited, and eventually I said okay and that was it. I met with Lynda
again. It was a wonderful experience, and we started working together on
the act, and the rest is kinda history, you know? I did the last season
of “Wonder Woman”. She introduced me to the producers and said, “I would
like Johnny to do the series”, which I did. Then she did 5 specials, and
I did those. And she did 3 or 4 movies of the week, which I did.
Unfortunately, the marriage between Ron and Lynda broke up at that time,
and then we went on a world tour to the Philippines and all over the
place, and we played in Vegas and on the east coast in Atlantic City. |
|
|
|
Q:
So the very first time you performed with her was in Las Vegas at
Caesars Palace? |
|
|
|
A:
At Caesars. That was the very first time, yes. We had lasers, a laser
light show. It was quite an amazing show. It was a wonderful show, and
it went very, very well. It kind of was the launching pad for her
music career, her singing career I should say. |
|
|
|
Q:
I remember her saying she had played in Vegas when she was 17 and had
to enter through the back door because she was only 17 and couldn’t go
through the lounge. |
|
|
|
A:
Right. She used to tell that story on stage. She said, “I had to go
through the kitchen”. |
|
|
|
Q:
I think she used that on her first TV special, too? |
|
|
|
A:
She did. Yeah, that story was on there. Yes. Absolutely right. |
|
|
|
Q:
What was your primary role with Lynda? |
|
|
|
A:
Well, basically I was her musical director and arranger. That was my
primary position. We wrote songs together, and we also were very, very
involved in her act from the point of view of coming up with ideas for
songs, coming up with ideas for songs for her specials. So it was a
collaboration, a close collaboration creatively in all aspects of her
music. |
|
|
|
Q:
Was there anything in particular that you thought was something that
sort of couldn’t be done, and it turned out to be very, very well done
in the stage performance? |
|
|
|
A:
Well, we did one piece that my ex-wife helped put together. We called it
the hi-tech medley. It was done, pre-recorded with the early
synthesizers, but we took old songs like “Stepping Out With My Baby” and
things like that and made a medley of it. But it was done with all the
electronic sounds, and we’d play that track, and the orchestra would
play along with it, with me conducting them. She would perform these
songs, and also dance. We brought one of the top dancers out of
Hollywood to join her in that one particular piece. It was actually
done, when I think about it now, for one of her specials. I think it was
the last one. |
|
|
|
Q:
I think it was in “Body and Soul” where she has the Hollywood Medley. |
|
|
|
A:
That’s it. That was it with the keyboard and all the people, you know,
dancing on the keyboard. They superimposed the dancers and everything
on a big long keyboard. We were hoping it would come off, and it did.
Then when we went on the road, we took it with one dancer. |
|
|
|
Q:
Lynda and one dancer, or just Lynda? |
|
|
|
A:
Just Lynda and one dancer for that one particular segment which lasted
about 5 minutes on stage, and she would bring him out and do this
particular medley, the hi-tech medley. |
|
|
|
Q:
Besides singing on stage, did she do a lot of the dancing medleys from
her specials? |
|
|
|
A:
No, she didn’t. That was the only one as far as I can recall. I used
to, if you remember from “Street Life”, that whole section of “Loving
Feeling”? |
|
|
|
Q:
Yes. |
|
|
|
A:
Well, we adapted that. That original arrangement, that whole suite,
was originally off my second album for Warner Bros. which is called
“All to Bring You Morning” which I told you is going to be re-issued
by Warner Bros. in the fall. That piece I suggested to the director
whose name was Stan Harris, and I said, “Do you know, I think this
would make an incredible dance routine,” and he agreed and played it
to the choreographer, Walter Painter, and he said, “Oh my gosh, yes,
it would be fantastic”. So they did that like a West Side Story type,
you know, the two guys fighting off the girl, thing. She did not dance
on stage, but we used a big section of that musically for her to go
and change her costume and left me to conduct the orchestra, featuring
the orchestra and myself. |
|
|
|
Q:
That was during the “Street Life” show, right? |
|
|
|
A:
No, that was on the live show, but the music was taken from the
“Street Life” section in “Loving Feeling”. She would start singing
it, and then she would turn to me as the music continued and changed
in character, and she would say, “And now Ladies and Gentlemen, I
would like to introduce my musical director Johnny Harris”, and she
would leave the stage and I would back the orchestra in that frenzied
fast section. Then she would come back on again at the end with the
slowed down section of the final piece of “Lost That Loving Feeling”
in a new gown, so it gave her a change of costume. |
|
|
|
Q:
Oddly enough, Donna Clemens, your fan who sent the information about
you… |
|
|
|
A:
Right, Donna, yeah. |
|
|
|
Q:
She had sent me a tape of the Atlantic City performance, and I’m just
realizing that what you’re talking about is where as you say she
turned and said, “Ladies and Gentlemen, here’s Johnny Harris”, and
then you break into your medley? |
|
|
|
A:
That’s right. |
|
|
|
Q:
I was wondering how that was being worked into the live stage show.
Now, what was the name of the album that was from? |
|
|
|
A:
It’s called “All to Bring You Morning”, and that featured the group
Yes. They were friends of mine and also on the same label, and they
guested on it on about 7 or 8 or the pieces. |
|
|
|
Q:
Is there any particular song that Lynda identified herself with in her
live stage performances? |
|
|
|
A:
Well, yes, it was “Always”, the closing piece which was picked for the
specials as well. “I’ll Be Loving You Always”, the old Berlin song
“Always”. You notice at the end of each special she would close with
that song. Well, I think that basically “Always” was her sign-off
song, and that was associated with her because of the specials. She
closed every one with it and also closed the show with it. So I would
say that would be it. |
|
|
|
Q:
I’m curious – the sequence on “Street Life” where she had to march
down between the rows of U.S. Marines tossing their rifles back and
forth with bayonets. How did that come to be? Actually, one of the
Marines wrote into our website and said she kept speeding up and they
had to keep stopping to keep from accidently cutting her. |
|
|
|
A:
Well, actually one of the Marines cut himself. Not seriously, but we
had to stop shooting for a second. It was pretty scary. But she, the
trouper that Lynda is, she said, “Okay, I’ll do it”. Those guys were
very, very clever and very, very experienced at what they were doing,
but it was still kinda dangerous. I mean, I had to close my eyes, I
couldn’t look at it. It was an idea of the choreographer, I reckon,
and her husband at the time who was her manager, Ron Samuels, okayed
it. She had the final say and decided to go ahead and do it. It was a
very effective piece. |
|
|
|
Q:
What do you recall, was she always ready to go on with the show if
anything was wrong or if she was ill? |
|
|
|
A:
Oh God, yes. She was fabulous. She was a real trouper. I remember the
sight of her always before she went on – she’d be in the wings waiting
as I’m doing the overture section, and then the voiceover would
announce her, and she was there in her gowns and with her 4 or 5 inch
heels on she was about nine feet tall, you know. She always looked
like, ‘Get me on there, here I go’. She was like champing at the bit
to go and was always that way. It was very exciting, and she was just
a delight to work with. |
|
|
|
Q:
Do you recall any particular time when there was illness or there were
any problems with the shows? |
|
|
|
A:
No, no, no, no. No, she was always, I mean she worked very hard and
would come off and be tired like all of us, you know, and a little
sweaty. But no, she was right through to the end. She’d make that
final curtain with all the energy that she started with. There was one
interesting or funny, well it wasn’t funny at the time, incident. We
were about to open in Atlantic City, and Joel Grey was going to be
opening for her. I forget the Hotel, I think it was Harrah’s, but I’m
not sure. The day before the rehearsal, the closing night of the
previous act, about 2 o’clock in the morning we got a call to say our
music case was missing. We searched, and our road manager searched,
and then we realized what had happened. They’d put it on the truck of
the previous act. The truck had left, and we didn’t know where it was
going or what direction. Actually, we found out pretty quick where the
act was going, but nobody knew what route this truck was taking. So it
was either trying to re-write the arrangements overnight which
somebody suggested, her agent, and she said, “No, that’s ridiculous,
and it’ll never be done in time, and I’m not going to put Johnny
through that. It’s silly. There’s no way we can go on until we find
that music”. So the next day, the opening night, Joel Grey did the
entire show himself. You know, it was short, but the audience
understood. But to find the music eventually, she, through her
managers, got in touch with the Air Force. They sent out a helicopter,
and they found the truck, and they stopped it. These guys must have
been like really scared. They picked the music up, and they flew it
back to Atlantic City, and we opened the next night. But that was
pretty…like a helpless feeling. Lynda and I were looking at each
other. What are we gonna do? You know, there’s no way you can go on
with just a piano. Everything was missing, the drums, the bass, I mean
the music. That never left our sight for the rest of the tour. That
was the beginning of the World Tour. |
|
|
|
Q:
What an amazing story. I can just imagine you people standing there
tearing your hair out? |
|
|
|
A:
Oh, I mean it was awful. |
|
|
|
Q:
That was the beginning of the World Tour when she went over to
England? |
|
|
|
A:
Yes, I think so, or maybe we started in England, then here, then we
went to the Philippines. It’s a bit difficult for me to recall that
now, but the sequence doesn’t really matter. We toured England, and we
ended up at the London Palladium. That was wonderful. |
|
|
|
Q:
What was the reception from the audience like? |
|
|
|
A:
Well, she sold out everywhere she went. She sold out the London
Palladium. They’d been getting “Wonder Woman” for quite a while over
there, so they knew who she was. They weren’t quite sure how she would
sing, but she got the entire audience in Liverpool . . . at the end of
the show she started singing “Always”, and they started singing it
with her. Wonderful. Oh yeah. And the Palladium was an incredible,
wonderful moment because my Father was in the orchestra. He was a
violinist, and of course, she knew my Mum and Dad very well. My Father
also played in the orchestra on “Street Life”. He was one of the
violinists in that show. He came over here for a while and did some TV
with her. He was in the orchestra (at the Palladium). I’ll always
remember she introduced him. My Mother had just had a stroke and she
wasn’t very well, and she actually passed away about 2 weeks after
that show. But she was in the audience with a nurse watching her
husband and her son on stage at the London Palladium. Lynda introduced
him. She said, “I’m going to introduce somebody now that is more
responsible for the music than my musical director. It’s his Father,
because he helped create Johnny Harris, whose Mother is in the
audience”. And she introduced Dad, and he stood up and took a bow. It
was very sweet of her. She’s just a sweet, darling lady. She really
is. |
|
|
|
Q:
I remember you accompanying her a couple of times solo on the piano.
On one of her Maybelline commercials you were sitting at the piano
kind of on a sound stage? Then when she was on “The Joan Rivers Show”
in 1986 or ‘87 you accompanied her on “Out Here On My Own”, and on the
Michael Parkinson BBC TV show when she was interviewed in 1980 when
you just got over there, you were playing the piano and conducting the
little orchestra there. Did you do a lot with just you and her? |
|
|
|
A:
No. No, it was always with an orchestra. That one exception was the
commercial. I very rarely played the piano. I think on those 2 or 3
occasions I did for specific reasons which I can’t recall any more,
but basically we had our own piano player, and I would conduct the
orchestra. |
|
|
|
Q:
Did you have a chance to work your own music into the program besides
the “Street Life” one? |
|
|
|
A:
My music? No, not really. It was basically all my arrangements. Lynda
and I wrote a song which opened the second show. That’s the one where
they’re building a big sign of her. It fades to the band, and she
walks out of a huge letter L. That opening song Lynda and I wrote. We
wrote 4 or 5 songs together. So it was mostly the arrangements. |
|
|
|
Q:
Have you and Lynda kept in touch? |
|
|
|
A:
Yes, she came to visit, to my house here ( in California), to meet my
wife and my little boy she’d met before. She was doing a movie. It was
the last movie she did. It was about 6 months ago. She was in town, so
she popped in, and we had lunch and saw her for a couple of hours. It
was lovely to re-visit with her. We stay in touch all the time on the
phone, and we e-mail each other. She has a wonderful family, and her
daughter and her son are growing up so wonderfully. So yeah, it’s
wonderful to stay in touch. We had a marvelous working relationship
for, my God, it must be 10 years, 10, 11, 12 years. It was a long time
we worked together. It was a lot of fun. We covered a lot of bases and
did some things. |
|
|
|
Q:
It’s been several years. If she wanted to go back on stage again and
perform live, would you like to do
something with her again? |
|
|
|
A:
Oh yes, I would. I’d love to work with Lynda again. It would depend on
both our schedules. If she approached me and I was available, I would
be delighted. |
|
|
|
Q:
I think the grueling performance would take its toll on both you and
her. Do you think you could do it again? |
|
|
|
A:
Oh, yes. It would depend. I have a young son, and I’m also going into
business with my eldest son who’s just moved over here and got
married, a musical product called Musical Names which is in Borders
Books now, and we’re going to go nationwide with it. There’s a lot of
things happening in my life. I finished the “Star Search” series that
just closed. I don’t know if you saw any of those episodes at all? One
of the finalists, a little black girl called Tiffany Evans – I did all
her music for her, and she won the final blow-out and has just closed
Vegas, opening for the Smothers Brothers. She’s 10. She’s the youngest
performer to ever work Vegas. The child is an absolute phenomenon as a
singer. Just incredible. In a nutshell, my life is very, very busy,
and I know Lynda’s got a lot of things going on in her life. If she
ever found the time and decided to do it, and I had the time, it would
be fine. I don’t think it would be for very long. It would be short,
maybe a couple of appearances, but it would be fun. That would be
cool. |
|
|
|
Q:
Thank you so very, very much for letting us interview you. We’ve
learned so much about her live performances from your anecdotes. |
|
|
|
A:
You’re more than welcome, let me know when it goes out. I’ll
put it up there, and I’ll take a look. And it was nice talking to you,
and I hope you have a lot of success with the website. It looks very
good. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Special
Thanks to DONNA
CLEMENS
and
JOHNNY HARRIS. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
