Laurie was kind, funny and a scurrilous gossip. He also happened to be a gifted man who wore his talents lightly without any fanfare. It was a privilege for me to work with him when I produced the Parkinson show at ITV and he was the Musical Director and the Leader of the last Big Band in captivity.

Before he died, he dictated an email to his daughter Abigail to be sent to me. He signed if off with ‘See you at the cricket Club’. The Cricket Club was Maidenhead and Bray where Laurie often performed alongside Kenny Lynch, another great talent lost to us, fundraising for the club and for a campaign to build a local children’s hospice. Sadly, he never got to make that date. But every time I am down there, I will raise a glass in his honour.

Joni Mitchell once observed that you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone. I can think of no better fitting epitaph for Laurie, except perhaps this foreword – reprinted below – that my Dad wrote for Laurie’s biography ‘Confessions of a Piano Player.’

Rest in Peace. You will be missed.

FOREWORD BY SIR MICHAEL PARKINSON FROM “CONFESSIONS OF A PIANO PLAYER” (*)

(*) Laurie Holloway’s autobiography – New Haven Publishing, 2022.

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