Photo: ITV

While Joe Fagin might not be the household name that you immediately recognize, you are probably familiar with his work on a weekly basis if you have been a long-time viewer of the BBC or public television stations in the United States. Fagin passed away early last month at the age of 83.

Fagin was a music legend who was probably best known by fans for his hit Breakin’ Away / That’s Livin’ Alright, which was used as the Auf Wiedersehen, Pet opening and closing theme tune. Given the overall popularity of that series, the single reached #3 on the UK Singles Chart in 1984.

Starring Tim Healy (Still Open All Hours), Kevin Whately (Inspector Morse, Lewis) and Timothy Spall (King’s Speech, Harry Potter, Blandings, Summer of Rockets), Auf Wiedersehen, Pet followed the lives of seven British construction workers who leave the United Kingdom to search for employment overseas, running on ITV in the mid-80s for 4 series and was then revived in the early 2000s for BBC1.

In addition to his lasting contribution to Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, Fagin also sung a version of the 1931 Herman Hupfeld jazz classic “As Time Goes By” for the 1990s BBC comedy series of the same name which starred Dame Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer.

In the early 1960s, the Liverpool-born musician was a guitarist with a group called The Strangers, who played gigs at The Cavern Club in Liverpool, sometimes with this band called The Beatles, and at the Star-Club in Hamburg. He then played in France with a band called The Playboys. Fagin also found success across the pond in America with his single “Younger Days”.

R.I.P. Joe Fagin. Will think of you every Sunday during As Time Goes By.