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Delia Derbyshire

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Musician

The Resume

    (May 5, 1937-July 3, 2001)
    Born in Coventry, England, United Kingdom
    Considered the mother of electronic music
    Graduated from Cambridge with a B.A. in mathematics and music (1959)
    Worked for the BBC Radiophonic Workshop (November 1960-1973), Unit Delta Plus (1966-1967), Kaleidophon (1967-1968), Electrophon (1973), and Experimental Audio Research (2000-2001)
    Composed an electronic rendition of Ron Grainer's Doctor Who theme music (1963)
    Recorded the songs 'Love without Sound', 'Firebird', and 'Black Mass: An Electric Storm in Hell' for the album 'An Electric Storm' (1969)
    Died of renal failure in Northampton, England

Why she might be annoying:

    Her marriage to David Hunter was a brief one that proved to be incompatible even though she never divorced him. (1974)
    She lived with Clive Blackburn, a man 13 years her junior, while still legally married to her husband.
    She was an alcoholic, which ruined her once-good looks and contributed to her death by renal failure.
    She disliked the new synthesizers of her time because she found them crude.
    None of the music she made and recorded in 267 reel-to-reel tapes found in her attic at the time of her death have been published due to copyright complications.

Why she might not be annoying:

    She was naturally bright, teaching her fellow classmates to read and write by the time she was four years old.
    She had a sister who died young.
    She was evacuated from her hometown because it suffered from bombing raids during World War II. (1940)
    She was rejected from working for Decca Recordes because it didn't employ women. (1959)
    During her heyday, she collaborated with various musicians like Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono.
    Her rendition of Doctor Who's theme music was considered an innovative piece of electronic music.
    Sadly, the BBC didn't give her credit for her work, which fueled her disillusionment with BBC.

Credit: Big Lenny


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 5 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 17 Votes: 64.71% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 5 Votes: 20.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 104 Votes: 54.81% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 74 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 18 Votes: 50.0% Annoying