Electronic

Delia Derbyshire (5 May 1937 – 3 July 2001) was an English musician and composer of electronic music. She carried out pioneering work with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop during the 1960s, including her electronic arrangement of theme music to the British science fiction TV series Doctor Who. She has been referred to as “the unsung heroine of British electronic music” having influenced musicians including Aphex Twin, The Chemical Brothers and Paul Hartnoll of Orbital.

The BBC Radiophonic Workshop was one of the sound effects units of the BBC, created in 1958 to produce incidental sounds and new music for radio and later, television. The unit is known for its experimental and pioneering work in electronic music and music technology, as well as its popular scores for programmes such as Doctor Who and Quatermass and the Pit during the 1950s and 1960s. The original Radiophonic Workshop was based in the BBC’s Maida Vale Studios in Delaware Road, London, and closed in March 1998 (much of its traditional work had already been outsourced by 1995). Its members included Daphne Oram, Delia Derbyshire, David Cain, John Baker, Paddy Kingsland, Glynis Jones, Maddalena Fagandini and Richard Yeoman-Clark.

This disc includes music by Delia Derbyshire (as Li De La Russe), Brian Hodgson (as Nikki St George) and David Vorhaus. The recordings were used in the Thames television series The Tomorrow People (1973-1979). The mastering is by Mark Ayres.

We have more titles by her and others by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and composers associated with it.

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