- Composer, musician and music arranger.
- Father of Gary Osborne.
- In the 1950's Tony Osborne was musical director, with his band the Brass Hats, for Britain's first pop music television show, the BBC's Six-Five Special. . When this was superceded by Juke Box Jury in 1959, he wrote and recorded its theme song "Juke Box Fury" as Ozzie Warlock and the Wizards.
- Aged 74 and the baby of the band, he came out of retirement to lead the last genuine Glenn Miller Orchestra on a tour of Australia, featuring the six surviving members of the bands led by Miller himself.
- Amongst the many artists he worked with, Tony Osborne wrote and arranged for Shirley Bassey, was musical director for Judy Garland's final concerts in 1969, made two albums with Eartha Kitt in 1984, and in the mid-1990's.
- He was a member of the British Academy of Composers & Songwriters.
- His son is songwriter Gary Osborne, his daughter Jan was married to Kenny Jones of the Small Faces and The Who.
- He was born into a musical family and took up double-bass, cello and composing in his teens, going on to study composition and double-bass at the Royal Academy of Music. From the outset he was surrounded by jazz, light/continental, and classical music.
- Melavano, Sordo Gomez and Laszlo Tabor are other noms de plume he sometimes used.
- He was elected Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in 2001. In 2003 and 2006 he was on the panel of judges for the British Composer Awards.
- He composed for various forces, including for brass ensemble and a community opera, but was particularly known for a broad range of double bass works. They include a concerto for double bass and string orchestra from 1997 and a concerto for four basses and string orchestra from the next year. He also wrote many bass ensemble works which proved popular in summer schools and workshops.
- First called "Little Teddy" in honor of his father and grandfather, with whom he shared the same name, Osborne requested that people address him as "Tony" by the time he entered the Royal Air Force in 1942.
- In 1969, Osborne also conducted Judy Garland's three final concert appearances.
- In 1957, he arranged Gracie Fields' final hit "Around the World," and in 1960 he collaborated with American pop star Connie Francis on the million-selling "Mama.".
- Notable hits arranged by Osborne include the Beverley Sisters' "Sisters," Max Bygraves' "Out of Town," Alma Cogan's "Love Is," Nina & Frederik's "Little Donkey," Jimmy Young's "Miss You" and the Dorothy Squires/Russ Conway duet "Say It with Flowers.
- Describing his own style, he wrote: 'I was born into a musical family and took up double-bass, cello and composing in my teens ... from the outset I was surrounded by jazz, light/continental, and classical music. 'My subsequent career as composer, performer and teacher has brought me into close contact with an even greater array of musical and cultural diversity. As a listener I am continually fascinated by further exploration of the great "wheel" of music and its expression of its origins - ever turning. 'For these reasons I find it a satisfying experience to "paint scenes" or "cook with different flavours" in music, whilst retaining individuality of style. Much of my music is lighthearted, jazzy, even "funk-rocky" but even in more serious and reflective works I like to feel that there is something uplifting and "healing" for the spirit.'.
- Osborne also formed his own band, the Brass Hats, for weekly appearances on the BBC teen showcase Six-Five Special, Britain's first-ever pop music television show, which premiered in 1957; when the series was superseded two years later by the long-running Juke Box Jury, Osborne also wrote and recorded its original theme song "Juke Box Fury," credited to Ozzie Warlock & the Wizards. In addition, his ties to the program directly resulted in studio pairings with up-and-coming British Invasion acts like Freddie & the Dreamers and Peter & Gordon.
- Following his wife's sudden death in 1997, Osborne signed on as the resident pianist at the Sydney Yacht Club, a weekend gig he maintained until just prior to his death on March 1, 2009.
- Irish session-bassist Bernard O'Neill wrote: 'The double bass community owes him a huge debt. He was a great player and teacher but as a composer for bass he gave countless pupils the chance to perform well written music dedicated to bass. He was a great supporter of bass teachers and would give advice freely and generously.'.
- In 1973 Osborne charted with "The Shepherd's Song," and during the mid-'70s he signed to Decca for a string of Mantovani-inspired orchestral recordings credited to the alias Lazlo Tabor, most notable among them Gypsy Romance.
- Osborne is best remembered for his efforts with notoriously prickly divas like Eartha Kitt and Shirley Bassey. For the latter, he wrote the songs "Gone" and "You," and arranged the 1963 blockbuster "I (Who Have Nothing).".
- Long-time colleague and friend David Heyes, who published much of Osborne's bass music on the Recital Music imprint, wrote: 'I have written extensively about him as a composer and about his music and am sure I will continue to do so and, although he may no longer be with us, his music and legacy remain and there is so much Bass Love, admiration and respect for him from across the world. 'He was a class act, even if he didn't know it, and I am certain his name will survive in the double bass world for ever.'.
- Born Edward Benjamin Osborne outside of Cambridge on June 29, 1922, as a teen he won several local honors for his prowess on the accordion, and made his professional debut at age 14, later proving a formidable presence on the piano as well.
- As the decade of the 70's drew to a close Osborne began working for several months each year on the cruise ship circuit -- during one such stint at sea he met costume designer Faye Morgan, who later became his second wife, and together they settled in her native Australia.
- Tony Osborne reigned as one of the most in-demand arrangers in postwar British pop, enjoying his greatest success in tandem with a series of divas that spanned from Shirley Bassey to Eartha Kitt to Judy Garland.
- Osborne's session credits span such legendary singers as Mel Tormé, Johnny Mathis, Vera Lynn, Johnnie Ray, and Dakota Staton.
- After more than a decade in retirement Osborne returned to music in the mid-'90s to lead the surviving members of the original Glenn Miller Orchestra -- trumpeters John Best, Steve Lipkins, and Zeke Zarchy, saxophonists Hank Freeman and Freddie Guerra, and singer Beryl Davis -- on an Australian tour.
- In 1964 he served as conductor during Bassey's stint at New York City's Carnegie Hall, doubling as the opening act - a flashy-, over the top solo piano set à la Liberace.
- Osborne recorded sporadically as a solo act throughout his career, issuing a series of instrumental light music efforts including "The Lights of Lisbon," "The Man of Lisbon, "The Windows of Paris," and "The Man from Madrid." ("There was a simple reason for all those place names," he later explained. "I thought somebody might be making a documentary about Spain or somewhere and the music would get recycled.").
- He had come home from the war with such great technique and 'chops' as a trumpet player that he was often called in to augment the various BBC orchestras on their bigger programmes like 'The Goon Show' and 'Take It From Here' but, realising that he was never going to be the best trumpet player in England while Kenny Baker was alive, Tony began concentrating more on his piano.
- Tony's brother-in-law was Bob Adams, a 'Geraldo' stalwart and top session sax player in London's 50s and 60s. Bob worked closely with Tony, often acting as the 'booker" who ensured the presence on Tony's sessions of such master musicians as Kenny Baker, Ray Davies, Stan Roderick, Kenny Clare, Ronnie Verrell, Roy Willox, Keith Bird, Ike Isacs, Joe Mudelle, and Frank Clark who incidentally turns out to be the virtuoso bassist son of none other than Josephine (she of the Gypsy Orchestra). A great reed man and Tony's closest friend (and biggest fan) for over half a century, Bob Adams went on to become the foremost musical director in the South Africa of the late 60s and 70s.
- He also provided the music for dozens of cinema and TV commercials.
- In the recording studio Tony's credits were beginning to read like a Hall of Fame, including: Buddy Greco, Alma Cogan, Larry Adler, Gary Miller, Dakota Staton, Dennis Lotis, Eve Boswell, Hildegard Knef, Joni James, Russ Conway, Millicent Martin, Cleo Laine, Stanley Holloway, Max Miller, Bud Flannigan, Nina and Frederick, Edmund Hockridge, Johnnie Ray and Gracie Fields.
- He became a staff arranger for various top publishing companies and this led to increasing interest from the record companies who soon noticed that he was not only talented but rather handsome as well. Osborne eventually had major deals with Pye, E.M.I and Decca (the big three of their day).
- During World War II he served in Cairo and the Middle East, playing the trumpet on social occasions and emerging as a gifted horn player by the time the war ended. Osborne returned to civilian life to pursue a career as a professional musician, signing on as a trumpeter and relief pianist with bandleader Cyril Stapleton -- stints behind Frank Weir, Carroll Gibbons, and Ambrose followed, and he also played with the BBC Orchestra on the hit comedy series The Goon Show and Take It from Here.
- In 1948 Tony had married lovely Lancashire lass Joan Mason; they produced two children and separated amicably after 20 years.
- Tony Osborne has also written the music for half a dozen feature films (which his son Gary describes as great music for lousy movies!) Films include 'Every Day's a Holiday', 'The Fiend' and 'The Secret Door'.
- Of a week he did with Bassey in a big club in Majorca, Tony recalls "Shirley was eight months' pregnant at the time and I honestly thought she was going to have the baby right there on stage. For her opening number she used to come on, point to the massive bulge in her dress, and sing 'I should have danced all night' ... it brought the house down." That gig in Majorca was at a club called Tito's, where Tony was to play again with the next 'Diva' to avail herself of his services on stage... Eartha Kitt.
- Tony's first professional gig was as a 14 year-old accordionist in Josephine's Gypsy Orchestra, having been junior accordion champion of East Anglia. Eventually he escaped from those Gypsies for long enough to form his own band which became popular in the Cambridge area.
- On television, as well as 'Six Five Special' he was associated with the long-running 'Open House', a 2-hour live show every Saturday afternoon on the newly launched BBC-2.
- He's had four Ivor Novello nominations, winning the Award twice. One of these was for 'Windows of Paris' a catchy number which for many years was the popular signature tune for the BBC drive time radio show 'Roundabout'. The great Johnny Mercer liked 'Windows' so much he wrote a lyric for it.
- Tony has had compositions recorded by the likes of Duke Ellington and Shirley Bassey. He was also asked in 1969 to become Musical Director for Judy Garland. He conducted three fantastic concerts for her in Scandinavia, but tragically a month later the great Diva was dead.
- He also worked extensively on radio in the UK including a couple of years fronting the band on 'Listen to this space' a comedy show starring Nicholas Parsons and Barry Cryer.
- He was particularly proud of a special symphonic arrangement he once did for Louis Armstrong to perform at the Albert Hall of his signature tune 'Sleepy Time Down South'.
- He was a consummate professional able to cope with prima donna antics from the likes of Shirley Bassey, Eartha Kitt and Dorothy Squires. "There's no problem," he remarked. "You just talk back to them in the same language.".
- About Judy Garland he said: "So much has been said about Judy's troubled life and the booze and drugs which played such a destructive part in it. All I can say is that even at the very end of her career, as depressed and confused as she was, Judy was still the ultimate professional. Before the shows she was distant and, obviously high on uppers, she inhabited a planet of her own. After the shows she seemed lucid but lonely and would often ask me up to her suite to chat for hours about music, until the downers took effect and she could sleep at last. But between the uppers and the downers.... out there on the stage she was magic! .... Alert and alive, as much a part of the orchestra as she was a part of the audience, she never missed a cue and she never hit an unmusical note. To cut a tragic story short ... even at her very last concert Judy Garland was still quite simply The Greatest. It turned out that we were born just 10 days apart and we got on so well that I was really thrilled at the prospect of a long association with Judy. Sadly it was not to be, but those are three concerts that I will never forget".
- During the second World War Tony joined the Royal Air Force in 1942, and spent three years in Cairo and the Middle East. Like many other musically talented conscripts his talents were soon put to good use. His weapon of choice was the trumpet and he played his way through the war helping the likes of 'Monty' and Ralph Reader to entertain our troops to victory ...... At least that's his story.
- "When we were recording Gracie'Fields last ever hit 'Around the World', producer Norman Newell was bothered by a clicking sound on the vocal track. Eventually we worked out what it was and I was given the unenviable task of asking 'Our Gracie' to take out her false teeth whilst doing her vocals. I'm relieved to say that she was happy to oblige.".
- As Osborne's profile as a musician grew, so did his renown as an arranger, and in due time he landed staff positions with Pye, EMI, and Decca, populating his sessions with a who's-who of British virtuoso's including Kenny Baker, Ray Davies, Stan Roderick, Kenny Clare, and Ronnie Verrell.
- Towards the end of the 1970s Tony started working for several months each year on P&O cruise liners. Initially he fronted a small band which he then reduced to a trio, until finally he entertained on his own at the piano. Always a reluctant disciplinarian, Tony had grown tired of having to keep an eye on the other guys' amorous and alcoholic adventures on those long cruises. "I loved playing, but hated having to worry whether the drummer would turn up drunk, or the bass player might get it into his head to chat to the Captain's wife!" he recalls. "So I decided to go solo, which gave me just as much pleasure with far less pressure".
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