Kenny Clayton on the cover of his Petula Clark/Matt Monro tribute CD

Kenny Clayton is a British music producer, arranger, conductor and jazz pianist.

Clayton studied piano at the Trinity College of Music in London. By the age of twenty-one, he was a professional musician.

In the late 1950s, Clayton firmly established himself as a working pianist and accompanied Alma Cogan and Terry Dene on a tour of the Empire Theatres, as well as working in cabaret with Shani Wallis, Jeannie Carson, Libby Morris, and Joan Turner.

Having achieved success on the popular UK variety circuit, Clayton was quickly signed to EMI/Parlophone and released his first single, "Tenerife," which he introduced on the British TV music series Thank Your Lucky Stars.

Throughout the 1960s and 70s he was musical director and arranger for a number of popular singers, including Dick Haymes, Shirley Bassey, Matt Monro, Robin Gibb, Cilla Black, Charles Aznavour, Sacha Distel, and Roger Whittaker. He has been Petula Clark's musical director and arranger since 1962, and also performs with his jazz group, The Kenny Clayton Trio.

As a composer, Clayton has scored the films Ragman’s Daughter, The Pied Piper, The 14, Brother Sun, Sister Moon, The Savage Hunt, and the final Morecambe and Wise project, Night Train To Murder.

Clayton's stage credits include the scores for Bertie (with Mike Margolis), Oedipus, Ring Your Mother, Box, and The Mistress (with Bruce Montague).

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra commissioned him to write the nine-minute tone poem, Il Palio Di Siena.

Clayton's theatre credits as musical director and arranger include The Sound of Music and Someone Like You (both with Petula Clark), No Strings, Privates On Parade, Billy, Song & Dance, and Nightingale.

Clayton has composed, scored and recorded incidental music for spoken word albums including such titles as The Secret Garden (read by Glenda Jackson), Journey To The Center Of The Earth (read by Tom Baker), Puckoon (read by Spike Milligan), and Black Beauty (read by Angela Rippon). For Peter O'Toole, he composed incidental music to accompany his readings of Shakespearean ballads and sonnets.

In television, Clayton has worked as a musical director and accompanist on several series and specials, including Shirley Bassey and Count Basie's Something Special (for NBC), Petula Clark's Traces Of Love (for ATV), The Vocal Touch - Anita Harris (for BBC2), and the original series Company & CO (for BBC2), Coming Next (for Channel 4), and Lilly Live (for LWT).

Clayton's most recent CD, Kenny Clayton Plays Tribute To Petula Clark & Matt Monro, was released on November 21, 2005.

The Kenny Clayton Trio has released two albums of songs associated with Frank Sinatra, Nice 'n Easy and All The Way.

External link

Official website