Delia Derbyshire Blog

Delia Derbyshire was a musician and a composer of electronic music who was born on May 5, 1937. She learned to play piano and violin when she was young, and she attended college at Girton in Cambridge. She obtained a degree in mathematics, which she believed had the power to change music. Once she began looking for employment, she encountered sexism everywhere she went. For example, one job she applied for was Decca Records, and they informed her of their refusal to hire women for work in their recording studios. After searching for a while, and getting hired and fired, she became a trainee studio manager at the BBC in the year 1960. She became involved with the organization’s Radiophonic Workshop and helped supply  their productions with incidental music and sound effects. It was there she recorded the famous Dr. Who theme with the help of tape loops, valve oscillators, and filters. She didn’t receive any credit for the piece at first, but after people found out she composed the song after it was released in overdubbed form as a single in 1973, she became very much in demand, and she worked for several programs that required her expertise in crafting music. She left Radiophonic Workshop in 1972 and started working at art galleries, museums, and bookshops. She also spent some time as a radio operator. However, she started making music two decades later. She died on July 3, 2001.