Ivor Raymonde
Ivor Raymonde (born Ivor Pomerance, 22 October 1926 – 4 June 1990)[1] was a British musician, songwriter, arranger and actor, best known for his distinctive rock-orchestral arrangements for Dusty Springfield and others in the 1960s.
Life and career
He studied at Trinity College of Music,[2] and initially entered professional music as a jazz and classical pianist. He played in various big bands before becoming a music director at the BBC alongside Wally Stott. He worked as a session musician on occasion, playing on and arranging Johnny Duncan's UK hit "Last Train To San Fernando." He also worked as an actor, supporting comedian Tony Hancock in all of the comedian's first TV series in 1956.
He moved on to Philips Records, where he worked as producer with Frankie Vaughan, Marty Wilde and the Springfields. When Dusty Springfield went solo in 1963, he played her a tune he had written, which became her first big hit, "I Only Want To Be With You" under producer Johnny Franz.[2] It reached no.4 on the UK singles chart, and he and lyricist Mike Hawker followed it up with Dusty's second hit single, "Stay Awhile". Raymonde continued working with Dusty Springfield through the 1960s, as well as arranging and producing hits for the Walker Brothers, Billy Fury, Alan Price, Honeybus, Eternal Triangle, Los Bravos and many others. In the 1970s, he worked as an arranger and producer at DJM Records on albums by the actor Edward Woodward, and later worked with Ian Dury and Julio Iglesias.[2]
He had four children: Gail, Linda, Nicholas and Simon Raymonde of Cocteau Twins, co-founder and manager of the independent record label Bella Union.