Eric Stanley Jupp was a British-born musician, composer, arranger and conductor who gained wide popularity in Australia after settling there in the 1960s, hosting a long-running light music TV show and composing for film and TV.
12 Facts About Eric Jupp
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Eric Jupp is best remembered for his theme music to the TV series Skippy the Bush Kangaroo.
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Eric Jupp left school and started his musical career at fourteen, playing in nightclubs.
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Eric Jupp worked as an arranger for both of Britain's top bandleaders of the period, Stanley Black and Ted Heath.
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In 1951 Eric Jupp formed his own orchestra at the request of the BBC and began making regular radio broadcasts and appeared in the Hammer Films TV series Bands on Parade.
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Eric Jupp began writing music for films in Britain, beginning with the crime drama The Secret Place.
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Eric Jupp returned to England later in the year but in 1961 he was invited to join the ABC as musical director of its light entertainment department, based in Sydney.
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Eric Jupp soon made a name for himself as a leading composer for film and TV in Australia.
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In early 1968 Eric Jupp moved to Norfolk Island, commuting by air to the mainland for his TV, radio and film work.
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Eric Jupp was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 1995 for service to music.
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Eric Jupp composed music for the TV series Bailey's Bird and wrote the score for Michael Pate's 1979 film version of Colleen McCullough's first novel, Tim, starring the then unknown Mel Gibson.
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Eric Jupp died there in January 2003, after several months' illness, survived by his third wife Anita, his two daughters Linda and Catherine, six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.