Arrangers and orchestrators have often been pop’s anonymous heroes, but the name of Paul Buckmaster, who has died aged 71, was frequently top of the list for many of the most successful musicians of the past five decades. A classically trained cellist, he was on course for a future as a soloist on the international concert circuit before his life was transformed by rock’n’roll.
His leap into popular music was given a jump-start in 1969 when he added the other-worldly cello and string arrangements to David Bowie’s debut hit Space Oddity, which caught the ear of Elton John. “When I heard Space Oddity, I thought it was probably the most incredible record I’d ever heard,” said John. “I said, ‘Whoever did that, I really want to work with them.’” Buckmaster had undergone no formal training as an orchestrator, but he learned rapidly, examining Beethoven and Haydn scores borrowed from the library and doctoring some music manuscript paper to write out his first full scores.
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