Roy Budd

Roy Frederick Budd (14 March 1947, Mitcham, Surrey – 7 August 1993, London) was a British jazz musician and film composer. He is best known for his score for the 1971 British cult film Get Carter.

Although some biographies say Budd started playing aged four, he was two and a half years old when he started picking out tunes on the piano the morning after a Christmas party (verified by Roy's brother). When he was six, two German professors visited him in South Norwood, and after various tests, found that he had perfect pitch. That year, he made his public concert debut at the London Coliseum.

At eight years old he already had a vast musical repertoire. He was featured on the Caroll Levis show on radio when he was only ten. He even sang some Jerry Lee Lewis songs when he was eleven years old with his brother Peter and brother's friend Geoffrey at the Sutton Granada under the name "The Blue Devils." (verified by Roy's brother). He formed the "Roy Budd Trio" with bassist Peter McGirk and drummer Trevor Tomkins before leaving school and embarking on a career as a jazz pianist. Later Roy reformed the trio with Jeff Cline (Bass) and Chris Karan (drums). Jeff Cline was replaced by Pete Morgan, and that trio existed until his death.

His first recording was the eponymous album "Pick Yourself Up" in early 1965 with Pete McGurk on bass with the orchestra and Dave Holland on bass with the trio and Chris Karan on drums and Tony Hatch, Johnny Harris and Roy Budd as arrangers. Other solo albums include "Live at Newport" "Roy Budd" "Everything Is Coming Up Roses" and "Have a Jazzy Christmas".

His first film score was for the American western Soldier Blue in 1970, but most of his film work was on British productions. His best known score is for the 1971 Michael Caine film Get Carter, which marked the first notable use of his hallmark method of using the film's sound effects (in this case, Caine's train journey from London to Newcastle) to complement the music. He later worked on a number of films for the producer Euan Lloyd, including Paper Tiger, The Wild Geese, The Sea Wolves and Who Dares Wins. Another his work was Kidnapped 1971 soundtrack.

His last work was a new symphonic score for the 1925 silent film The Phantom of the Opera. The score was over 80 minutes long.

In 1972, as his career was peaking, he married actress/singer and divorcée Caterina Valente; they divorced just seven years later.

He died at age 47 in 1993, due to a brain haemorrhage.