Steve Race
 | This article is currently being heavily edited because its subject has recently died. Information about their death and related events may change significantly and initial news reports may be unreliable. The most recent updates to this article may not reflect the most current information. |
Stephen Russell Race[1] OBE (1 April 1921, Lincoln – 22 June 2009[2]) was a British composer, pianist and radio and television presenter.
Race learned the piano from the age of five[3] was educated (1932–39) at Lincoln School, where he formed his first jazz band, which included a young Neville Marriner, later a major figure in the world of classical music. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music, specialising in composition as a pupil of Harry Farjeon and William Alwyn.
He joined the Royal Air Force in 1941, and formed a jazz/dance band quintet. After World War II he began a long and productive career with the BBC, where his ready wit, musicianship and broad musical knowledge made him much sought after as a musical accompanist for panel games and magazine shows, such as Whirligig and Many a Slip. In 1949 his jazz group recorded the first British bebop records.
From the 1950s to the 1980s he presented countless music programmes on radio and television. Additionally, in 1955, he was appointed the first Light Music Advisor to the early independent television company Associated-Rediffusion. He is probably best known as the chairman of the long-running radio and TV panel game My Music from 1967 to 1994. He presented and wrote most of the questions for all 520 episodes broadcast. Away from music, for two years from 1970 Race co-presented (with William Hardcastle) the BBC Radio 4 "drive-time" news magazine PM.
As a composer, he produced a number of pieces in the classical, jazz and popular idioms. One of his better-known compositions is the short piano instrumental "Nicola" (named after his daughter), which enjoyed some chart success in the 1960s (as did his catchy "Pied Piper"), but his best-known and, according to his autobiography, his most lucrative composition is his music for the Birds Eye frozen peas jingle "Sweet as the moment when the pod went pop".
His autobiography, Musician at Large, was published in 1979.
References
- ^
"Berkshire Life". Berkshire Life. Retrieved 2008-09-15.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ "Steve Race - Telegraph". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2009-06-22.
- ^ >Spencer Leigh "Steve Race: Musician and broadcaster best known for his association with the programme 'My Music'", The Independent, 24 June 2009
- Race, Steve (June 1979). Musician at Large. Methuen. ISBN 0413397408.
Publications
- Piano-Style: A Complete Guide for the Modern Dance Band Pianist by Steve Race (sheet music – 1949)
- Musician at Large by Steve Race (1979)
- The King's Singers: A Self Portrait by Steve Race, Nigel Perrin and The King's Singers (1980)
- My Music by Steve Race (1980)
- Music Quiz by Steve Race, Weidenfeld quiz books (1983)
- Dear Music Lover by Steve Race (hardcover – 1981)
External links
- Steve Race at IMDb
- Steve Race – Daily Telegraph obituary
- Lasting Tribute – Online obituary UK
- Recent deaths
- 1921 births
- 2009 deaths
- Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music
- Classical music radio personnel
- English game show hosts
- English pianists
- English radio presenters
- English television presenters
- Officers of the Order of the British Empire
- People from Lincoln, Lincolnshire
- Royal Air Force personnel of World War II