Mike O'Donnell

Michael John "Mike" O'Donnell^[1] (born 10 March 1952) is an English composer, songwriter and musician. He was the co-music composer for Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends with Junior Campbell, from its debut in 1984 until 2003. He was also the music composer for Tugs.

Biography

Mike O'Donnell was born on the tenth of March 1952 in Liverpool. His first band was formed in 1962 with him on guitar playing skiffle songs inspired by The Beatles and The Shadows called "The Minibeats". In 1964, they renamed the band "The Spoken Word". O'Donnell then joined a prog rock band called "White Summer", playing Jimi Hendrix songs. In 1969, O'Donnell left the band and moved from Liverpool to London. At that point, he had switched from playing guitar to bass.

Mike worked at the Beatles' "Apple Studios", where his love for music grew stronger after some memorable sessions with several famous singers. He also joined a band, Gold, who, despite having few hits, sold a number of singles such as "Stay with Me My Love" and "Paradise". He worked with various artists playing bass and producing their records. O'Donnell managed Ringo Starr's Tittenhurst Park throughout the eighties. From that, he learned of the making of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends. Britt Allcroft hired him to compose the soundtrack for the first series.

At some point Mike and Junior Campbell signed to the same publisher and their partnership sparked. They collaborated on writing television jingles. Mike O'Donnell contacted Junior Campbell to get involved in composing for Thomas and Campbell agreed. O'Donnell and Campbell worked on the show from 1984 to 2003. After HiT Entertainment bought the franchise in 2004, Mike and Junior left the show along with various other longtime collaborators on the show.

Mike lives in Surrey with his wife Barbara, daughter Sian and son Ben. Mike has released recreations of several Thomas themes as part of The Engine Themes which can be purchased directly from his website.

Voices

Troublesome Trucks (second to seventh series; laughing voices)

Songs Performed

Series 6

Never, Never, Never Give Up (backing vocals)

Series 7

Salty (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

Miscellaneous

Thomas' Christmas Song

Trivia

Mike and Junior composed the music with Proteus 1 and 2XR, and 2000 modules, Prophet 2000 Sampler, Yamaha RX5 Drum Module, Yamaha Grand Piano, and a Rickenbacker Bass Guitar to compose Series 1 all the way to Series 7. To add up, the Jupiter 6 was used from Series 1-2.^[2]
Mike O'Donnell has said that he does not have a favourite song from the show due to each song having their own sense of charm.
In his youth, Mike was brought up on his favourite American cartoons Tom and Jerry and The Flintstones, as well as Harman and Ising. On a note of interest, Tom and Jerry was also Wilbert Awdry's favourite cartoon.
In real life, Mike does not know how to read sheet music.
Both Mike and Junior had started coming up with music ideas for the eighth series, before it was revealed they were not to return.
Sometimes on his YouTube channel, Mike releases re-recordings of certain characters' themes or songs. Gordon's original theme is an example of this.
He based the original theme tune on the feel of Mean Mr. Mustard by the Beatles with the thought in mind of having Ringo Starr sing an extended near-three minute rendition with lyrics.
Contrary to popular belief, he and Junior did not compose the jingle for The Britt Allcroft Company logo.
Mike, along with Junior Campbell, were both the voices of the Troublesome Trucks from Series 2 to Series 7, but at a higher pitch. However, Junior did both their giggling and their singing voices in the songs Pop Goes the Diesel and Pop Goes Old Ollie while Mike only did their giggling.