Biography
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Born
18 April 1941 (age 83)
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Born In
Southampton, England, United Kingdom
Mike Vickers (born 18 April 1940 - not 1941, as is often stated - in Southampton, England), now lives in Wiltshire with his wife. He has just completed his new album 'The Complete Soprano Sessions' (due for release on November 30th 2013) A collection of improvised soprano saxophone compositions, which can be found online.
Guitarist and saxophonist with the 1960s band, Manfred Mann. He originally played flute and saxophone but with the increasing popularity of guitars in bands it was decided that Manfred Mann should have another guitarist in its line-up. Vickers volunteered for this role but he was always happiest playing the saxophone.
Much acclaimed Composer & Saxophonist, Mike Vickers began working with John Dankworth and Cleo Laine in his early 20s. He went on to work with The Beatles, Ella Fitzgerald, Cilla Black, Cliff Richard, The Hollies, Kiki Dee, Tom Jones, The Bee Gees, among many others.
Mike orchestrated, arranged and conducted All You Need Is Love for The Beatles TV performance. He also programmed and played the Moog for The Beatles' Abbey Road album as well as John Boorman's films The Exorcist 2, Deliverance and Zardoz.
He has been the composer, orchestrator and arranger of music for records, TV shows and films. One of his most familiar TV compositions is "Jet Set," the theme music first for the NBC game show, Jackpot in 1974-75; and since 1977 for the sports series This Week in Baseball.
Mike worked with the fabulous Kenny Everett in 1977 when they collaborated on the chart hit 'Captain Kremmen (Retribution)'
Mike is also known for his film scores for Dracula AD 1972 and At The Earth's Core.
2013: Mike Vicker's new album 'The Complete Soprano Sessions is due for release on November 30th 2013. Sound clips from the album can be found with a net search.
This information is incorrect: "Another familiar TV composition of his is "Gathering Crowds," composed under the pseudonym Patrick J. O'Hara Scott and used since 1977 as the closing music for This Week in Baseball." Mike Vickers did compose "Jet Set" but Gathering Crowds was actually written by John Scott.
He also contributed a whole bunch of dopeness to the KPM archive.
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