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James Last: Non Stop Dancing

Profile of the hugely successful bandleader James Last. Contributors include Paul Morley, Ron Last, Richard Clayderman and Richard Darbyshire.

James Last is one of the most successful bandleaders and arrangers in the history of popular music. In a career lasting more than 50 years, he has sold more than 100 million albums worldwide.

This documentary goes behind the James Last phenomenon to ask why his music is loved by the public but often loathed by the critics. The music is often described as easy listening or happy music, but what is the James Last sound? Is it just a string of revamped Beatles hits, non-stop Abba medleys, updated classics and polka parties, or is his achievement in popular music being under-estimated and dismissed unfairly by the musical elite?

Influenced by jazz, swing, the Beatles and rock and roll in 1960's Hamburg, Last would soon become one of the most famous bandleaders of all time. This programme explores the music, the musicians and the life of the man who invented the non-stop party and re-invented the classics.

1 hour

Music Played

  • James Last Orchestra

    Windmills of My Mind

  • James Last Orchestra

    Mambo Jambo

  • James Last Orchestra

    Czardas Von Monty

  • James Last Orchestra

    American Patrol

  • The Beatles

    Sie Liebt Dich

  • James Last Orchestra

    Humba Humba a Good Melody

  • James Last Orchestra

    I Want to Hold Your Hand

  • James Last Orchestra

    Spanish Eyes

  • James Last Orchestra

    Hip Hop Polka

  • James Last Orchestra

    Proud Mary

  • James Last Orchestra

    Games That Lovers Play

  • James Last Orchestra

    From a Distance

  • James Last Orchestra

    This Girl's in Love With You

  • James Last Orchestra

    Delicado

  • James Last Orchestra

    My Heart Will Go On

  • James Last Orchestra

    Macarena

  • James Last Orchestra

    Chicken Wheel/Turkey in a Straw/Orange Blossom

  • James Last Orchestra

    Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

  • James Last Orchestra

    Lonely Shepherd

  • James Last Orchestra

    Fool

  • James Last Orchestra

    Mamma Mia

  • James Last Orchestra

    Nature Boy

  • James Last Orchestra

    Singing in the Rain

Credits

Role Contributor
Executive Producer Gethin Scourfield
Director Paul Islwyn Thomas
Producer Paul Islwyn Thomas

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