Simon May is a Composer who was commissioned by Tony Holland and Julia Smith to write the EastEnders Theme and being impressed by his work on spy-thriller Cold Warrior.[8] Don Black put lyrics to the popular theme, and Anita Dobson (who portrayed Angie Watts in the show) reached number 4 in August 1986 with "Anyone Can Fall in Love". With Barry Rose, the theme was adapted into a hymn, "Glory Be (To God on High)", which was performed on Songs of Praise and released on single.
Another soap storyline gave May a hit in 1986. Nick Berry (Wicksy) topped the charts with "Every Loser Wins", which he co-wrote after plugging it in EastEnders (a storyline which Holland openly hated).
In 1993 the theme itself was given an unpopular 'jazzy' update, and an updated version of the original was introduced in 1994. With Johnny Griggs, he wrote another set of lyrics for the EastEnders theme. "I'll Always Believe In You" featured lead vocals by Sharon Benson. Which was based around the extended version of the 1993 theme. In 2009 he was asked to revamp the EastEnders theme again, to update the one running from 1994, making it lighter in tone and bringing back elements of the original theme missing in the previous version. However it is worth noting that one major element of all the previous themes (bar the jazzy version) is missing - the bells, which are mainly replaced with the piano.
Simon wrote "Peggy's Theme" for Barbara Windsor's exit episode from EastEnders screened on 10 September 2010. The single was released on iTunes on 4 September.
Releases[]
- EastEnders Theme
- Julia's Theme
- Anyone Can Fall in Love
- Every Loser Wins
- I'll Always Believe In You
- Kathy's Theme
- Pat's Theme
- Peggy's Theme
- New Vintage: The Best of Simon May
- The Simon May Collection
- Doof Doof - The Autobiography Collection
Videos[]
