Peter Taylor (composer)

Peter Taylor
Born	Manchester, England
Years active	1960s – Current

Peter Taylor is a musician and composer born in Manchester, England. He has worked with the BBC and Granada Television, and together with Cliff Twemlow formed one half of the composition partnership Peter Reno.

Taylor began his music career studying pianoforte at Ardwicke Central High School in Manchester. Inspired and entranced by the virtuosity of alto saxophonist Freddie Gardener, Peter went on to study at the Regional School of Music in Manchester as a saxophone and clarinet student under John Roadhouse, lead saxophonist with the Northern Variety Orchestra of the BBC. Soon, Peter became involved with the Northern Dance Orchestra of the BBC, where all the Regional School of Music's tutors were members in various disciplines.

In 1956 Peter became a pupil of Professor Fred Dickinson of the Royal Northern College of Music, studying clarinet. During his time there he founded his vast knowledge of the classical repertoire and became associated with members of the Halle Orchestra, which included Martin Milner as band leader, Jean Bell on Harp and Rayson Whalley on percussion.

In those early days of his musical career Peter played in many Northern 'Palais-De-Danse' orchestras, or 'dance bands', with which he regularly performed at the Ritz and Plaza ballrooms in Manchester. Peter's career developed further when he began playing for the Raymond Woodhead Band at the Ashton Palais, which was a famous band at the time. As Peter became a more accomplished baritone saxophone player it attracted more gigs for him, although he was also working as a music copyist for the BBC orchestras at the time.

His work with the BBC soon led to him joining Granada Television as a Music Librarian, Advisor, Supervisor, Head of Copyright and a Contractor.

During his time at Granada Television, Peter commissioned high-profile theme tunes and incidental music, including 'Façade Suite' by William Walton for 'Northern News', Ravel -Mussorgsky's 'Pictures at an Exhibition' for 'The Verdict Is Yours', 'English Dances' by Malcolm Arnold for 'What the Papers Say' and many other highly successful and recognisable soundtracks. Probably the most famous piece he commissioned was called 'Lancashire Blues' by Eric Spear for a new soap opera with the working title of 'Florizel Street'. The story goes that a tea lady named Agnes remarked that 'Florizel' sounded like a brand of disinfectant, so the name of the soap opera was changed. Since it first aired in 1960, the 'Lancashire Blues' chosen by Peter has become one of the Twentieth Century's most iconic theme tunes to what we now know as Coronation Street.

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