David Arch

David Arch is a British musician, composer, arranger, and musical director.

He grew up in Sonning, near Henley on Thames and attended Chiltern Edge School and King James College before graduating from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Career

Television career

Arch is best known for his role as Musical Director and arranger for BBC Television’s Strictly Come Dancing,[1] a role he took over in 2006 after working as Musical Director on two series of the spin off Strictly Dance Fever, and its vocal equivalent Just the Two of Us (TV series).[2] He has just embarked on his 11th series of the hit show and in 2014, he and the rest of the production team were recipients of a collective special Bafta Craft Award. In 2016, the programme won the Bafta award for the Best Entertainment Programme. He was also Musical Director for ITV for the last five productions of the Royal Variety Performance, including its hundredth anniversary at the Royal Albert Hall in 2012,[3] and for ITV's series Stepping Out (UK TV series)[4] and Popstar to Operastar.[5]

In 2013, Arch was musical director and band leader for the television special When Miranda Met Bruce.[6]

Studio career

Arch has been active in the recording studio for his whole career. As a keyboardist, he has worked on over 200 motion pictures including: The Imitation Game, Interstellar, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Gravity, The Danish Girl, Philomena, Five films from the Harry Potter franchise (Philosopher’s Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azcaban, Deathly Hallows parts 1 & 2), Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, The Dark Knight, Goldeneye, Notting Hill, The Hours, Calendar Girls, Chocolat, Leon, Enemy at the Gates, The Queen, The Talented Mr Ripley, Bridget Jones Diary, The Beach, This is it, My Week with Marilyn, and The Fisher King.

In 2010, he performed piano solos for the award winning film, The King's Speech, and continues to work extensively with its composer Alexandre Desplat as a soloist on many film projects. He has also recorded with/for a wide range of artists including: Joni Mitchell, Diana Ross, Paul McCartney, Tina Turner, Elton John, Robbie Williams, Gary Barlow, Jess Glynne, Kelly Clarkson, Ronan Keating, Westlife, Il Divo, Cliff Richard, Leona Lewis, Lily Allen, Eurythmics, Andrea Bocelli, Josh Groban, Natalie Cole, Alanis Morissette, Sheryl Crow, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Ennio Morricone, Susan Boyle, JLS, Alexandra Burke, The Wanted, Republica, Philip Glass, Laura Pausini, Union J, Toni Braxton, Jon Bon Jovi, Greg Lake, Jose Carreras, Russell Watson, Spice Girls, and S Club 7.

Compositions

Arch was commissioned to produce the original themes and stings for the British television broadcaster GMTV (broadcast between 1993 and 2010). Subsequent themes were all based on his original melody. Arch co-wrote, with Andy Todd, the song "Always & Forever" sung by Kylie Minogue for the ITV Soap "Night and Day" (broadcast between 2001-3), as well as composing the music for "Lost Property" (2014), an award winning short film by Asa Lucander. He also wrote the logos for London Weekend Television (1996-1998), and arranged the theme music for "Emmerdale" (broadcast between 1998 and 2011). He composed a host of Production music between 1986 and 1995 for assorted library companies, and he continues to compose and arrange music extensively for television and commercials including the memorable ‘British Airways Island’.

In 1986, Arch recorded a series of LPs on red vinyl for UK-based Cavendish Music Library, which also featured Ray Russell on guitar. In 2005, Arch played keyboards for the Greg Lake Band.[7]

Live career

Arch toured with Paul McCartney in support of his Memory Almost Full album in the US in 2007. He was also featured as a member of Greg Lake’s Band on tour in 2005 and in July 2016 played with Louise Goffin in Hyde Park as part of the British Summertime Festival. He has played with Freddie Mercury, Annie Lennox, Meatloaf, Tony Bennett, Elton John, Rod Stewart, Natalie Cole and many more. His early career saw him playing the piano in the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. Annually he plays at Ronnie Scott’s club with Madeline Bell, with whom he has a long association and he is often to be heard with various line-ups and members of his Strictly band in jazz clubs and other venues around the London area.

Eurovision

Arch served as the chairperson of the British jury panel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 in Vienna, Austria following a 60th Anniversary Greatest Hits Television broadcast for which he was the Musical Director.

References

  1. ↑ "The Band". Strictly Come Dancing Band. Retrieved 7 November 2009.
  2. ↑ "David Arch Interview". RTÉ Entertainment. Raidió Teilifís Éirean. 13 November 2008. Retrieved 7 November 2009.
  3. ↑ "Royal Variety Performance". Musical Director. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
  4. ↑ "Strictly Dance Fever". Musical Director. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
  5. ↑ "Popstar to Operastar". Musical Director. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
  6. ↑ "When Miranda met Bruce". Musical Director. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
  7. ↑ "David Arch Interview". The Official Greg Lake Web Site. 2005. Retrieved 3 October 2010.

External links

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