Keith & Matthew Strachan

Keith & Matthew Strachan are the father-son duo who composed the original Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? musical scores, including the theme song from 1998 to 2007. Keith was born on January 21, 1944 and Matthew was born on December 11, 1970.

A compilation of all the Strachan themes is featured on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: The Album. A couple of the themes are also used in the Millionaire scenes of Slumdog Millionaire.

In 2007, when the 12-question format was introduced, Ramon Covalo became the new composer of the theme songs, with most of the Strachan cues being replaced, with notable exceptions being the winning and losing cues, as well as the Fastest Finger First music. Other countries use the Ramon Covalo cues while some have stuck with the Strachan cues.

In 2008, the Strachan themes were slightly remixed for the clock format on the U.S. version of the show. For example, the question music was synced to the sound of a ticking clock. The Strachan music and cues were eventually replaced altogether in favor of themes by Jeff Lippencott and Mark T. Williams in 2010 when the shuffle format was introduced. The shuffle themes continue to be used on the show to this day, even though the shuffle format was dropped in 2015. Chris Harrison stated in a Facebook livestream on February 6, 2017 that the reason is that the old themes, as well as the hot seat, might create a more formal feel that will not work for audiences of daytime shows, but that they have also been constantly thinking about bringing them back.