Alan Braden

Alan Braden is an English composer and musical director who composed the theme tunes for several British sitcoms and light entertainment shows of the 1970s and 1980s.

Braden was born Robert Alan Braden February 6, 1927. Together with his elder brother, Edwin Braden, he started performing on the stage as young as 5 years old. He became a session clarinetist and saxophonist and one of his earliest television appearances was in Stars and Garters, a show about a working class pub of the same name featuring Braden as the bandleader and starring Kathy Kirby, Clinton Ford and Vince Hill. He served in the Royal Air Force as a Navigator, but did not see active service before the end of the European war and was transferred to the Royal Signals Corps before being demobbed in 1946.

Braden was married to Margaret Braden and had two sons, Stephen Alan Braden (born May 16 1955) and Philip Robert Braden (born May 14, 1960). He has three grandchildren, Rhianna Margaret Braden and Lily Christine Braden from Philip and Debbie Braden, and Alistair Braden from Stephen and Karen Braden. Margaret Braden died in 2000 and he married Susan Braden in 2003.

His work for television has included; London Night Out, The Sooty Show, Night Out at the London Casino, The Two Ronnies, The Chipperfields Circus Specials, Get Some In!, Armchair Theatre, Up Pompeii, Give Us A Clue, The Ken Dodd Laughter Show, Mike Yarwood in Persons, Billy Dainty Esq., The Ken Dodd Laughter Show, The Tommy Cooper Hour, Name That Tune and the 1979 version of the classic comedy short film The Plank. In the early Sooty Shows the puppet characters were see to ‘play’ various musical instruments at the end of the show with his Sooty-Braden Showband. Throughout the course of his career, Braden worked with most of the big names of the time, Including Nat King Cole, The Beatles, Elton John, Petula Clarke, Tom Jones, Tom O'Connor, Lionel Blair, Cilla Black, Roy Hudd, Danny La Rue and many more.

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