William Alan Hawkshaw was a British composer and performer, particularly of library music used as themes for films and television programs.
14 Facts About Alan Hawkshaw
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Alan Hawkshaw was the composer of a number of theme tunes including Grange Hill and Countdown.
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Alan Hawkshaw was the father of singer-songwriter Kirsty Hawkshaw, who worked with artists such as Tiesto, Delerium, BT, Seba and Paradox.
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Alan Hawkshaw formed the Mohawks band and Rumplestiltskin with some session musicians.
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At that time, Alan Hawkshaw was an exponent of the Hammond organ, heard in the Mohawks' music, and on the UK recording of the musical Hair.
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Alan Hawkshaw was featured playing with David Bowie on the Bowie at the Beeb album, in a performance recorded for the "John Peel in Top Gear" show on 13 May 1968, in which he played a longer than expected solo on "In The Heat of the Morning".
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In 1970, Alan Hawkshaw recorded one more studio album with The Shadows, Shades of Rock before leaving this band.
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Alan Hawkshaw played keyboards on Donna Summer's 1977 double album Once Upon a Time.
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Also, during the late 1970s, music by Alan Hawkshaw appeared in several films by Radley Metzger, including Barbara Broadcast and Maraschino Cherry.
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Alan Hawkshaw performed the music The Night Rider, which was composed by another prolific creator of advertising themes, Cliff Adams.
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Alan Hawkshaw composed "Best Endeavours", which has been the theme for Channel 4 News since 1982, and was used for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's The National news and current affairs programme from 1984 to 1987.
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Alan Hawkshaw composed all the music for the Arthur C Clarke's Mysterious World series, and the theme "Technicolour", which was used for the BBC Midlands Today programme from 1984 to 1988, following which it was replaced with a remix of this tune from 1989 to 1991.
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Alan Hawkshaw suffered his fourth stroke in July 2021, and died from pneumonia on 16 October, at the age of 84.
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Alan Hawkshaw was awarded the British Empire Medal in the 2021 Birthday Honours for services to music and composing.