William "Junior" Campbell (born in Glasgow, Scotland on 31 May 1947) is a Scottish composer, singer-songwriter and musician. He was the co-composer for Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends with Mike O'Donnell, from its debut in 1984 until 2003, and TUGS. He was also a founder member, lead guitarist, piano player and singer the Scottish band "Marmalade", formerly "Dean Ford and the Gaylords", from 1961 to 1971.
Biography
As a youngster in Glasgow, Campbell had a unique style of guitar playing, whereby he played left-handed, with the strings upside down, right hand strung - tuned to "open E".
He joined Pat Fairley to form "Dean Ford and the Gaylords" later to become "The Marmalade", on his fourteenth birthday in May 1961. With "The Marmalade" he co-wrote and produced the multi-million selling hits "Reflections of My Life", "Rainbow" and "I See the Rain", amongst others, in a long line of world chart hits from 1967 to 1971. Campbell's guitar solos on "Reflections of My Life" and "I See the Rain" are particularly outstanding; the latter was named Jimi Hendrix's favourite cut of 1967.
Tired of touring, Campbell left "The Marmalade" in March 1971.
During the 1970's, Campbell released two solo records, "Hallelujah Freedom", and "Sweet Illusion", both of which made top-10 chart appearances in the UK Singles Chart. He studied orchestration and composition with Eric Guilder and Max Saunders at the RCM, and became an arranger and producer for many artists, including Barbara Dickson.
At some point Campbell and Mike O'Donnell signed to the same publisher, and their partnership sparked. They have collaborated on writing television jingles, which continued even after leaving their bands. In the 1980s, O'Donnell approached Campbell to co-compose the soundtrack to Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends. Campbell accepted the offer. O'Donnell and Campbell worked together on Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends for seven series from 1984 to 2003. After HiT Entertainment bought the franchise, the two left the show along with many other long-time collaborators.
Campbell has composed music for television and film, including the 1994 BAFTA-winner "Taking Over the Asylum", starring David Tennant and Ken Stott, and the 1998 adaptation of the highly acclaimed BBC Worldwide Minette Walters murder mystery "The Scolds Bridle".
Campbell currently lives in Sussex with his wife Susie, and has three children and three grandchildren.
Voices
- Troublesome Trucks (second to seventh series; laughing and singing voices)
Songs Performed
Series 2
- Pop Goes the Diesel (performed)
Series 4
- Pop Goes Old Ollie (performed)
- Gone Fishing (Rusty to the Rescue version) (performed)
Series 6
- Never, Never, Never Give Up (backing vocals)
- James the Really Splendid Engine (performed)
Series 7
- Salty (performed)
- There Once Was an Engine Who Ran Away (performed)
Compositions
Series 3
- Thomas' Anthem (with footage from series 3 only)
Series 4
- Thomas' Anthem (with footage from series 1-4)
- Let's Have a Race
- Gone Fishing
- Toby
- Don't Judge a Book By its Cover
- The Island Song
- Really Useful Engine
- Rules and Regulations
- That's What Friends Are for
- Thomas' Christmas Song
Series 5
- Night Train
- Accidents Will Happen
- Every Cloud has a Silver Lining
- It's Great to be an Engine
- The Snow Song
- Donald's Duck
- Sir Topham Hatt
- Come for the Ride
- Harold the Helicopter
- Percy's Seaside Trip
Series 6
- James the Really Splendid Engine
- Little Engines
- Down by the Docks
- Winter Wonderland
- Boo! Boo! Choo-Choo
- Never, Never, Never Give Up
Series 7
- Five New Engines in the Shed
- The Red Balloon
- There Once Was an Engine Who Ran Away
- Troublesome Trucks
- Salty
- The Whistle Song
Miscellaneous
Trivia
- Junior was the voice of the Troublesome Trucks in the songs Pop Goes the Diesel and Pop Goes Old Ollie, but at a higher pitch and he, along with Mike O'Donnell both did the Troublesome Trucks' high pitched giggling from Series 2 to Series 7.
- Junior was the main singer of the fourth series song, Gone Fishing on the Rusty to the Rescue VHS. He was also the main singer of There Once Was an Engine Who Ran Away.
- Junior had published a few instrumental pieces such as Night Train on his YouTube channel.
Gallery
