Ronnie Aldrich, born Ronald Frank Aldrich (15 February 1916, Erith, Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 – 30 September 1993, Isle of Man

Isle of Man

The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...

) was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 easy listening

Easy listening

Easy listening is a broad style of popular music and radio format that emerged in the 1950s, evolving out of big band music, and related to MOR music as played on many AM radio stations. It encompasses the exotica, beautiful music, light music, lounge music, ambient music, and space age pop genres...

 and jazz pianist

Pianist

A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...

, arranger

Arrangement

The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...

, conductor

Conducting

Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...

, and composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

. The only son af a store manager, he was three years old when he started playing the piano. He was educated at The Harvey Grammar School

The Harvey Grammar School

The Harvey Grammar School is located in Folkestone, Kent, England. It is a Community Grammar School and was founded by Sir Eliab Harvey in 1674.-Admissions:It is a selective school for boys and had around 940 pupils on its roll in 2007-8...

, Folkestone, and taught violin at the Guildhall School. Before World War II, Aldrich went to India to play jazz and first gained fame in the 1940s as leader of The Squadronaires

The Squadronaires

The Squadronaires is a Royal Air Force band which began and performed in England during and after World War II. The official title of the band was 'The Royal Air Force Dance Orchestra', but it was always known by the more popular title "The Squadronaires"....

, up until their disbanding in 1964.

He was noteworthy for the recording development of playing two piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

s in his recordings (the Decca Phase 4 Stereo series). He recorded for The Decca

Decca Records

Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....

 Record Company Ltd in the 1960s and 1970s, moving to Seaward Ltd (his own company) licensed to EMI

EMI

The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...

 in the 1980s. He also regularly broadcast on BBC Radio 2

BBC Radio 2

BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...

 with his own orchestra

Orchestra

An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...

 as well as with the BBC Radio

BBC Radio

BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...

 Orchestra and the BBC Scottish Radio Orchestra, based in BBC Glasgow. He also recorded special tracks that were released by Reader's Digest.

He was appointed musical director at Thames Television

Thames Television

Thames Television was a licensee of the British ITV television network, covering London and parts of the surrounding counties on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until 31 December 1992....

 and thus was widely known as the musical director

Music director

A music director may be the director of an orchestra, the director of music for a film, the director of music at a radio station, the head of the music department in a school, the co-ordinator of the musical ensembles in a university or college , the head bandmaster of a military band, the head...

 for the television programme The Benny Hill Show

The Benny Hill Show

The Benny Hill Show is a British comedy television show starring Benny Hill.There were various incarnations of the show between 1951 and 1991, and it aired in over 140 countries. The show is generally sketch-based with heavy use of slapstick, mime, parody and double-entendre...

. He died of prostate cancer

Prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is a form of cancer that develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. Most prostate cancers are slow growing; however, there are cases of aggressive prostate cancers. The cancer cells may metastasize from the prostate to other parts of the body, particularly...

at age 77.

Decca Discography "Ronnie Aldrich And His Two Pianos"

• Melody and Percussion for Two Pianos, Decca Phase 4 PFS34007 (SP-44007) 1961
• Ronnie Aldrich and His Two Pianos, Decca Phase 4 PFS4019 (SP-44018) 1962
• The Magnificent Pianos of Ronnie Aldrich, London Phase 4 SP-44029 1963
• The Romantic Pianos of Ronnie Aldrich, London Phase 4 SP-44042 1964
• Christmas with Ronnie Aldrich, London Phase 4 SP-44051 1964
• The Magic Mood of Ronnie Aldrich, Decca Phase 4 PFS4064 (SP-44062) 1965
• That Aldrich Feeling, Decca Phase 4 PFS4076 (SP-44070) 1965
• All Time Piano Hits, London Phase 4 SP-44081 1966
• Where The Sun Is, Decca Phase 4 PFS4106 1966
• Two Pianos in Hollywood, Decca Phase 4 PFS4108 (SP-44092) 1967
• Two Pianos Today!, Decca Phase 4 PFS4132 (SP-44100) 1967
• For Young Lovers, Decca Phase 4 PFS4141 (SP 44108) 1968
• This Way "In", Decca Phase 4 PFS4152 (SP-44116) 1968
• It's Happening Now, Decca Phase 4 PFS 4159 (SP-44127) 1969
• Destination Love, Decca Phase 4 PFS4179 (SP 44135) 1969
• Togetherness, Decca Phase 4 DDS 2, 1970
  • Here Come the Hits!, London Phase 4 SP-44143 1970 (**)
  • Close to You, London H-17156 1970 (**)
• Love Story, Decca Phase 4 PFS4222 (SP-44162) 1971
• Great Themes To Remember, Decca Phase 4 1971
• Invitation To Love, Decca Phase 4 PFS4242 (SP-44176) 1972
• Come to Where the Love Is, Decca Phase 4 PFS4264 (SP 44190) 1972
• The Phase 4 Stereo World of Burt Bacharach, Decca Phase 4 SPA193, 1972
• Soft And Wicked, Decca Phase 4 PFS4268 (SP-44195 H-17195) 1973
• Top of the World, London Phase 4 SP-44203, 1973
• The Way We Were, Decca Phase 4 PFS4300 (SP 44209) 1974
• In the Gentle Hours, Decca Phase 4 PFS 4329 (SP-44221), 1975
• Love, Decca Phase 4 PFS4361 (SP 44253) 1975
• Reflections, Decca Phase 4 PFS4377 (SP-44264) 1976
• Webb Country, Decca Phase 4 PFS4397 (SP-44278) 1977
• With Love & Understanding, Decca Phase 4 PFS4406 (SP-44286) 1977 (Evergreen USA)
• Melodies from the Classics, Decca Phase 4 PFS 4424(SP-44300) 1978
• Emotions, Decca Phase 4 PFS4436 (SP-44310) 1978

(PFS is the Decca (UK) original catalogue number; SP is the London label (USA) version)
(**) Togetherness (UK double-disc set) was issued as two separate albums in the USA

Decca (Polygram) Discography (One Piano)

• Tomorrow's Yesterdays, Decca PFS4436 1979
• For The One You Love, Decca SKL5319 1980

Amberjack Discography (One Piano)

• One Fine Day, Amberjack 902, 1981
• Imagine, Amberjack 1981
• Beautiful Music, Amberjack 1982

Seaward Music recordings licenced to EMI (One Piano)

• Nights Birds, EMI MFP 1982
• Sea Dreams, EMI MFP 1984
• For All Seasons, EMI MFP 6016 1987
• Ronnie Aldrich, his Piano and Orchestra, EMI CC220 1988

Seaward also issued a vinyl LP, The Wonderful World of Man, which contained recordings of the sounds of the Isle of Man, where Ronnie Aldrich lived from the 1960s onwards. This record was sold in the island to tourists.