Jeffrey (Jeff) Wayne (1 July 1943) is a musician/singer best known for his musical version of The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. He has also written advertising jingles broadcast in the United Kingdom. Wayne was born in Queens, New York. His father, Jerry Wayne, was an actor, singer and theatre producer. He had a great influence on his son, inspiring Wayne's love of music, his passion for tennis, and introducing him to the book The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. Wayne took classical and later jazz piano lessons.
In 1977, Wayne began work on War Of The Worlds. A year later, he completed the prestigious project. The result is a mix of rock and classical music. The album stayed at the top of the album charts in England for six years. The singles from the album also did well; the single ‘Forever Autumn’ eventually reached number 22 in the Netherlands, and ‘The Eve Of The War’ even reached third position. Later, he produced many more albums and the musical version of Spartacus, featuring Anthony Hopkins and Catherine Zeta Jones. In early July 2009, Jeff Wayne staged the musical version of his War of the Worlds at the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam.
Sunday Morning Classic: The War of the Worlds
On 27 September 2020, Jeff Wayne was the guest on Sunday Morning Classic with his The War of the Worlds. In memory of my childhood friend Jeroen van Zuuren (13-10-1964 | 13-04-2014).
Imagine Columbia Records in the mid-1970s. A man, mostly known for advertising jingles and writing lightweight pop hits, turns up one day at the office and says he wants to record a musical version of HG Wells' science fiction classic, War of the Worlds. He wants to use top session musicians, a few of his mates from musical theatre, trendy rock stars, old-school rock stars, massive orchestras and an unfeasibly large amount of studio time. The cost of all this? Over £200,000. Oh, and Richard Burton is going to narrate it.
Bringing in Richard Burton's vocal talent to narrate War of the Worlds was Jeff Wayne's first brilliant idea, as it immediately gave the whole project a weighty integrity it might otherwise have lacked. Wayne's second brilliant idea was the calibre of session musicians he recruited for the album, most notably bassist Herbie Flowers (the man who wrote the bassline for "Walk On The Wild Side") and session guitar supremo Chris Spedding, whose combined musical skills gave the album a solid musical backbone and a sense of unity.
In terms of sound, The War Of The Worlds is a marvel, and it's clear that Wayne wasn't afraid to take a risk. After Burton's classic spoken introduction, a massive string motif rises like a monolith from the speakers, only for a disco beat to pulse shortly afterwards, making the opening track one of the most thrillingly groovy moments in the history of popular songs. Much of the first disc is driven by Herbie Flowers' sinister creeping basslines, and Chris Spedding's guitar work is exemplary throughout. The sonic upgrades on later remasters of the original album have only emphasised how massive the sound of this album truly is.
The War Of The Worlds is enormous, astonishingly ambitious and the kind of project that sparks people's interest to give it a try. Fortunately for Wayne and Columbia, it sold beyond anyone's wildest dreams and remains a milestone in the progressive rock genre. Nothing has ever sounded quite like this album before or since.
Photo by MartianMFM - Own work Source: Jan Liebregts and Wikipedia
