Edwin Astley

Today, he seems like little more than a footnote in rock & roll history, as the late father-in-law of Pete Townshend -- but Edwin Astley was one of England's busier movie and television composers from the mid-'50s until the early '70s, and an arranger and conductor until the 1990s, and he contributed to decades of popular music in the course of a 40-year career. Born in Cheshire, England, he entered music as a clarinetist and saxophonist, and got a major part of his training in military bands. Astley subsequently played in various dance orchestras (usually billed as Ted Astley...