Alan Tew

Starting out in the '50s as the arranger and pianist for the Len Turner Band, library music composer Alan Tew created TV's most memorable theme tunes throughout the '70s and '80s. He is famous for composing the themes for iconic British TV shows Van Der Walk, The Two Ronnies, and The Sweeney. Tew's prolific nature and deft creative hand -- as ably demonstrated on his score for the 1975 Yorkshire TV series The Hanged Man -- proved he was of the caliber of fellow library music composers such as Alan Parker, Alan Hawkshaw, and Barry Morgan. He also had his own Alan Tew Orchestra, which provided intelligent and bombastic scores during the '70s. Tew's arrangements were exposed to a new audience with the release of the Black Dynamite score in 2009. Reissued by Wax Poetics, the soundtrack showed off Tew's incredible and effortless funk leanings and this, alongside his other funky library instrumentals, saw his work appreciated and sampled by a whole array of hip-hop artists, including Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, and Ice Cube, amongst many others.
© Aneet Nijjar /TiVo