Favorite TV Series Theme Composers, In No Particular Order
Some of the people whose television theme compositions intrigue me. I haven't included all their work.
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Mike Post - musician, composer, arranger and producer - has long been considered the most successful composer in television history. His career in television started in 1970. Over the years, he's written the music for seven thousand hours of TV including: Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, Law & Order Criminal Intent, Law & Order and Nurses.
The list continues with NYPD Blue, The Rockford Files, Magnum PI, Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, The A-Team, Wiseguy, Hunter, The Commish, Quantum Leap, Doogie Howser MD, Blossom, Hooperman, The White Shadow, Hardcastle & McCormick, Byrds of Paradise, News Radio, Silk Stalkings and Renegade. Theme songs from The Rockford Files, The Greatest American Hero, Hill Street Blues and L.A. Law all became chart topping records and landed Post four of his five Grammy Awards. In 1996 he won the Emmy for outstanding achievement in Main Title composition for the critically acclaimed Murder One.
Born and raised in Los Angeles County's San Fernando Valley, the son of an architect, Post began his study of music with piano lessons at the age of six. His taste was decidedly eclectic--obsessed with Dvorak, Stephen Foster, the blues and rock n' roll. At fifteen, he was playing club dates. He bought an electric piano just like his idol Ray Charles had used on stage; a brown Wurlitzer.
Post's life revolved around music and Valley sub-culture--much like the characters in the film American Graffiti. Cut off from music during school hours, his salvation at Grant High School was a homemade paper keyboard that he would pull out and silently "play" in class, hiding behind dark sunglasses and an open book. Ironically, nearly twenty-four years later, Post was summoned back to campus as one of the school's 1987 Hall of Fame inductees. His 1962 senior classmates included Mickey Dolenz of the Monkees and Magnum PI's Tom Selleck.
Post spent his evenings on the L.A. club circuit, often appearing with acts that had famous names but few, if any, original members. He was the new "Paul" in Paul and Paula and a member of the Markettes after the founding members had moved on. "There was little money in it, but it sure was fun," says Post. He graduated high school (just to make his parents happy), giggled with various rock groups and did a stint in the house band of a famed San Francisco topless club before he realized that he needed to return to school to study music. A year later, equipped with sight-reading skills and the ability to notate music, he formed a 60's folk ensemble, The Wellingbrook Singers, and toured the U.S. After the group disbanded, Post came off the road and in to the recording studio.
He began playing record, commercial, and movie dates; a part of what would famously be known as The Wrecking Crew. Post played for virtually everyone active in the LA recording scene during this time. Most notably he worked on all of Sonny and Cher's early hits, starting with I Got You Babe. Post's ambition ultimately led to a career on the other side of the glass. While working for producer Jimmy Bowen, he formed The First Edition, featuring then unknown bassist/vocalist, Kenny Rogers. Post's debut as producer led to the group's Top Five single, I Just Dropped In ( To See What Condition My Condition Was In). Next, he served as producer/arranger for Mason Williams' The Mason Williams Phonograph ALbum - the LP that spawned the hit record Classical Gas and garnered Post his first Grammy, awarded for "Best Instramental Arrangement".
At 24, Post became Musical Director for The Andy Williams Show, becoming the youngest musician in TV history to hold such a position. Later, he returned to television as a producer for The Mac Davis Show. He also began designing stage shows-putting together acts for artists like Dolly Parton and Ronny Milsap.
Yet, Post's most visible forte would be composing dramatic music for television and film. In 1968 he met veteran arranger/trombonist Pete Carpenter. Their initial project was music for the TV show Toma- Stephen J. Cannell's first series. It launched the most important musical collaboration and friendship of their lives. They followed up with The Rockford Files ( which became a Top 10 single and landed them each a Grammy), Baa Baa Black Sheep, Hunter and Magnum PI. Their partnership ended late in 1987 when Carpenter died after a long illness. In 1989 Post worked with the BMI Foundation to establish a Pete Carpenter Memorial Fund to benefit young composers.
In addition to scoring, Post has continued to work as a record producer and arranger. He's contributed arrangements to several Ray Charles LP's, produced, arranged, and co-wrote ( with Stephen Geyer ) the theme from The Greatest American Hero, which became a #1 record for singer Joey Scarbury. In 1981 Post hit the Top 10 again with his own recording of the theme from Hill Street Blues, which featured guitarist Larry Carlton.
When asked to comment on his success, he says, " I am so fortunate. If I couldn't make a living writing music, I'd do something else during the day and write music at night for free. I'm the luckiest person I've ever met. I've worked with, who I believe are, the greatest musicians in the world."For Hill Street Blues' theme alone, he is a legend.- Composer
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Composer, conductor, arranger, pianist and songwriter, the son of Morris Goldenberg. He was educated at Columbia College (BA), where he composed and arranged the Columbia Varsity Shows, and also Camp Tamiment. He took private music studies with Hall Overton and he wrote incidental music for the Broadway revue "An Evening With Mike Nichols & Elaine May", and arranged dance music for "Greenwillow", "110 in the Shade", and "High Spirits". His chief musical collaborator was songwriter (and author) Larry Alexander. He joined ASCAP in 1961, and his popular-song compositions include "Shouldn't There Be Lightning?"; and "Take You For Granted". His classical compositions include "Brass Quintet"; "Woodwind Quintet"; and "String Quartet".Harry O- Music Department
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Mort Stevens got his start in the 1950s as Sammy Davis Jr.'s arranger and conductor. He then went into composing various scores for network television, as well as becoming music supervisor for CBS in the 1960s. His many fine television scores include, "Hawaii Five-O" (Emmy winner), "Police Woman" and "Gunsmoke." He also scored some mini-series, including, "Masada" (1981) and "Wheels" (1978) (he received Emmy nominations for his work on these two productions). Just before his passing in November, 1991, he was arranging music for John Williams and the Boston Pops and was Music Director for Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra, Liza Minnelli and Dean Martin concerts in the late 1980s. His contribution to television music is considered some of the finest and only lets one appreciate the art all the more.Hawaii Five-O- Music Department
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Alan Thicke was born on 1 March 1947 in Kirkland Lake, Ontario, Canada. He was an actor and writer, known for Growing Pains (1985), Raising Helen (2004) and That's My Boy (2012). He was married to Tanya Callau, Gina Marie Tolleson and Gloria Loring. He died on 13 December 2016 in Burbank, California, USA.Was this man just too talented?- Music Department
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Percy Faith was a child piano prodigy, but his hands were burned in a fire at age 18. Switching to conducting and arranging, his unique orchestral 'sound', with strong emphasis on creative string work, soon became familiar to listeners everywhere. He recorded 85 albums for Columbia Records, and three hit singles: "Delicado" (1952), "Theme from 'Moulin Rouge'" (1953), and "Theme from 'A Summer Place'" (1960). Johnny Mathis, Doris Day and Tony Bennett all considered Percy Faith among their favorite accompanists.The Virginian- Composer
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More Zap Literary now represents Steve Dorff and is proud to have been on the ground floor of his book's creation and then publication. Look for "I wrote that One Too..." published November 1st, 2017 by Hal Leonard /BackBeat Imprint; His life in music, working with Willie (Nelson) to Whitney (Houston) and many many other top Artists. Multi award winning song writer and composer and now author. Michelle Zeitlin is Literary Manager.Spenser: For Hire and Growing Pains: can't get much more diverse than that- Actress
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A consummate singer and entertainer, Gloria Loring is the recording artist of the #1 hit song "Friends and Lovers," co-composer of television theme songs for Diff'rent Strokes (1978) and The Facts of Life (1979), an audience favorite from daytime TV's Days of Our Lives (1965), spokesperson for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), the author of seven books, a keynote speaker, one of the few artists to sing two nominated songs at the Academy Awards, and is the mother of world-wide singing sensation Robin Thicke.
With eleven albums to her credit, Loring has performed all over North America and Australia. As an actress and singer, she's starred in musicals, movies of the week, prime time series and specials, and has hosted television shows and live events.
Gloria's new book, Coincidence is God's Way of Remaining Anonymous: Reflections on Daytime Dramas and Divine Intervention, details a series of extraordinary coincidences that transformed her life and offers prescriptive insight into how each of us can use coincidence for our own good and the good of those we love.
Gloria is a certified yoga instructor and an articulate champion of biomedical research. After her son Brennan was diagnosed with diabetes at age four, she created and self-published two volumes of the Days Of Our Lives Celebrity Cookbook which raised more than $1 million for diabetes research. In total, she has written and created six books benefiting people with diabetes.
Her newest musical show, TV Tunez, a celebration of television's best theme songs, draws from sitcoms and dramas, to westerns, sports, games shows and commercials, appealing to all demographics.
Honored with the Lifetime Commitment Award from JDRF and the 1999 Woman of Achievement Award from the Miss America Organization, Loring is listed in the World Who's Who of Women and Who's Who in America. She is married to Emmy Award-winning art director and production designer René Lagler and lives in Southern California.Alan Thicke's partner in crime. They also co-authored Robin Thicke.- Larry W. Herbstritt was born on 4 July 1950 in Coudersport, Pennsylvania, USA. He is a composer, known for Blast from the Past (1999), Maverick (1994) and Bronco Billy (1980).Steve Dorff's partner in music
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Randy Newman is an American film composer and singer who is well-known for composing The Princess and the Frog, Meet the Parents and various Pixar films including the Toy Story, Monsters, Inc and Cars franchises as well as A Bug's Life. He wrote iconic songs such as "Short People", "You've Got A Friend in Me" and "We Belong Together". He won Best Original Song for Toy Story 3.The only good takeaway from Cop Rock.- Music Department
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Born in Santa Monica, Ca., Ry Cooder, at the age of four had an accident which left him blind in one eye. He became a bit secluded and began playing the guitar. His biggest influences include Blind Willie Johnson, Arthur "Blind" Blake, Joseph Spence and Curtis Mayfield. Cooder has played on several albums from the Rolling Stones, John Lee Hooker, Eric Clapton and Duane Eddy. He has one son, Joachim, who has played several percussive instruments on his recent albums and soundtracks.Beverly Hills Buntz!- Music Department
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Bill Conti was born on 13 April 1942 in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. He is a composer and actor, known for For Your Eyes Only (1981), Rocky (1976) and The Karate Kid Part II (1986). He is married to Shelby Cox. They have two children.If Rocky didn't already cement his place, Dynasty and Cagney and Lacey would!- Composer
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Mark Snow became a good friend with Michael Kamen while they were studying music at New York's Art and Music High School. After graduation, they became roommates at Juilliard (an elite music school). After studying at Juilliard, he became very fond of pop music. He, Michael Kamen and 3 others formed the New York Rock'n'Roll ensemble. The band was signed to Atlantic Records and Mark toured and recorded with them for 5 years. His interest then turned in writing film and television scores. He began to write and relocated to Los Angeles in 1974. Mark's musical composition career began in 1975 with the TV series, Starsky and Hutch (1975), and has taken off since then. However, he is best known for his work on The X-Files (1993) and Millennium (1996), he has made music for many other programs. He took piano lessons at age ten and, by the time he was twenty, he played both oboe and percussion.So many--Murder Ordained, Starsky & Hutch #3- Music Department
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James Newton Howard attended the University of Southern California's music school, but dropped out to tour with Elton John, and eventually compose music for film and television. He started with Head Office (1985) in 1985. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards. He currently is a songwriter, record producer, conductor, keyboardist, and film composer.So many, but I'll start with ER.- Composer
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From his days as one of the pioneering icons of electronic music to his current status as a world-renowned legendary film composer, Mark Isham continues to be one of the most prolific and provocative artists on the scene. His gift for creating unforgettable melodies and his love of fresh, innovative sonic palettes have earned Isham many awards including a Grammy, an Emmy, and a Clio, in addition to multiple Grammy, Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for his material both as a composer and a recording artist. Most recently, Mark was honored by ASCAP with the Henry Mancini Award for Lifetime Achievement. Isham's musical signature is evident in his memorable scores for such notable films as Crash, awarded the Oscar for Best Picture in 2005 (Isham's score was named Best Soundtrack of 2005 by Cinescape.com), Bobby, nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Picture, and The Black Dahlia, with its critically lauded jazz noir soundtrack (awarded Best Score for a Drama Film 2007, and nominated for Best Score of the Year by the International Film Music Critics Association). Other highlights include Eight Below, The Cooler, A River Runs Through It, Blade, Nell, Men of Honor, and The Secret Life of Bees. His list of collaborators in film is a veritable who's who of the entertainment industry, Robert Redford, Tom Cruise, Brian De Palma, Chick Corea, Jodi Foster, Robert Altman, Sting, Wil.I.Am, Sydney Lumet, Mick Jagger and too many more to name. As a performing artist, Mark has added his unique sound, melodic, moody, sexy and cool, to a wide variety of genres. He has graced the albums of such diverse artists as Bruce Springsteen, Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett, Ziggy Marley, Joni Mitchell, The Rolling Stones, Chris Isaak, and Van Morrison. His solo recordings span from electronica and classic jazz to hip-hop and ethnic world music, receiving worldwide critical acclaim including Grammy nominations for his albums Castalia and Tibet, and a win for his Virgin Records release, Mark Isham. No matter the genre, medium, or venue, Mark Isham displays a boundless ability to electrify the listener with his talent for crafting evocative new musical worlds.Chicago Hope--overshadowed by ER- Music Department
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Composer ("'Batman' Theme), conductor, arrager and trumpeter, educated in high school and through private music study. He was a trumpeter and arranger with dance orchestras including those of Harry James, Woody Herman, and Charlie Spivak between 1941 and 1951. He was a staff arranger and arranger for the "Arthur Godfrey Show" and the "Kate Smith Show" over ABC, and also formed his own orchestra, playing theatres, hotels, clubs and colleges, and made many recordings. Joining ASCAP in 1953, his oher popular song and instrumental compositions include "Coral Reef", "Cute", "Plymouth Rock", "Buttercup", "Two for the Blues", "Oh What a Night for Love", "Cherry Point", "The Kid from Red Bank", "Repetition", "Splanky", "Sunday Morning", "Hot Pink", "Little Pony", "Lake Placid", "Why Not?", "Blowin' Up a Storm", "I'm Shoutin' Again", "Eee Dee", "Jump for Johnny", "The Long Night", "The Good Earth", "Wildroot", "Late Date", "It's Always Nice to Be With You", "I Must Know", and "Girl Talk".Batman!- Music Department
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Versatile American arranger/conductor who started as a trombonist with several big bands, including Tommy Dorsey. In a long, distinguished career, he not only scored numerous films and television shows, but made many now-legendary recordings in collaboration with such people as Rosemary Clooney, Nat 'King' Cole, and, most notably, Frank Sinatra. With the latter, he recorded a series of albums now regarded as legendary ("Songs for Swingin' Lovers", "The Concert Sinatra", etc.). He recorded prolifically on his own, as well, scoring two top-ten hits with "Lisbon Antigua" (#1, 1956) and "Theme from 'Route 66'" (# 10, 1962). In his later years, he made a series of successful albums with pop diva Linda Ronstadt.Route 66 and more- Music Department
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Born in Cleveland, Ohio, but brought up in Pennsylvania, where he played the flute in a local band, as a youth, before sending some arrangements to Benny Goodman. Goodman offered him a job and, after serving in WWII, he joined the rearranged Glenn Miller band. In 1952, he was given a two-week assignment at Universal to work on an Bud Abbott and Lou Costello film and ended up staying for six years. Success with The Glenn Miller Story (1954) allowed him to score many other films, helping along the way to change the style of film background music by injecting jazz into the traditional orchestral arrangements of the 1950s. He was nominated for 18 Oscars and won four; in addition, he won 20 Grammys and 2 Emmys, made over 50 albums and had 500 works published. Mancini collaborated extensively with Blake Edwards -- firstly on TV's Peter Gunn (1958), then on Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), which won him two Oscars; he won further Oscars for the titles song for Days of Wine and Roses (1962) and the score for Victor/Victoria (1982); he will be best-remembered for the theme tune for The Pink Panther (1963).Too many to list--start with Peter Gunn- Music Department
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Frank DeVol was born to Herman Frank DeVol and Minnie Emma (Humphreys) DeVol in Moundsville, West Virginia, on September 20, 1911 and grew up in Canton, Ohio. His father had a "pit" orchestra at the local movie house, and his mother had a sewing shop in Canton. His father was also an accountant. Frank De Vol graduated from McKinley High School in 1929. He attended Miami University (in Ohio) for six weeks. His parents had wanted him to be a lawyer, but he wanted a musical career. He was a member of the musicians' union from the age of 14 and worked for his father in the theatre orchestra. His instruments were violin, saxophone at first. After his stint in college, he joined Emerson Gill's orchestra in Ohio and traveled the state.
Later, he joined Horace Heidt's band and not only was he a musician but he also became an arranger for the band. Later, he traveled with Alvino Rey's band. This affiliation led to long-time friendships with The King Family. Finally, in 1943, he settled in California and started his own band, appearing on KHJ radio and accompaniment to many radio shows, such as Jack Carson and Jack Smith. With the advent of television, he moved to working on The Betty White Show (1958) and The Dinah Shore Chevy Show (1956), among others. In the 1950s, he broke into movie composing and composed the score for 50 films. In addition, he composed the music for a number of television shows, such as Family Affair (1966), The Smith Family (1971), My Three Sons (1960), and The Brady Bunch (1969). De Vol joined ASCAP in 1964. He collaborated musically with Mack David and Bobby Helfer, and his popular-song compositions include "I've Written A Letter to Daddy", "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?", "Hush ... Hush Sweet Charlotte", "I and Claudie", "My Chinese Fair Lady", and "The Chaperone".
Also a character actor, he appeared in both films and TV. In the late 1970s, he performed a parody of himself as band leader Happy Kyne on Fernwood Tonight (1977) and then America 2-Night (1978), both shows starring Martin Mull. After his first wife, Grayce, died, he married Helen O'Connell. Sadly, Helen O'Connell De Vol died two years later from cancer. Frank was survived by two daughters and four grandchildren when he died October 27, 1999, in Lafayette, California.Family Affair, the Brady Bunch- Composer
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Stu Phillips was born on 9 September 1929 in the USA. He is a composer and actor, known for Knight Rider (1982), Argo (2012) and X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)."Unknown Stuntman" for Fall Guy- Music Department
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Tom Scott was born on 19 May 1948 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is a composer and actor, known for Blade Runner (1982), Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972) and The Great Outdoors (1988).Starsky & Hutch #2--the best despite stiff competition.- Music Department
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Alexander Courage was born on 10 December 1919 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was a composer and actor, known for Star Trek (1966), Jurassic Park (1993) and Star Trek: Generations (1994). He was married to Shirley Pumpelly. He died on 15 May 2008 in Pacific Palisades, California, USA.Space: the final frontier....- Music Department
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Born on February 10, 1929, Jerry Goldsmith studied piano with Jakob Gimpel and composition, theory, and counterpoint with Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. He also attended classes in film composition given by Miklós Rózsa at the Univeristy of Southern California. In 1950, he was employed as a clerk typist in the music department at CBS. There, he was given his first embryonic assignments as a composer for radio shows such as "Romance" and "CBS Radio Workshop". He wrote one score a week for these shows, which were performed live on transmission. He stayed with CBS until 1960, having already scored The Twilight Zone (1959). He was hired by Revue Studios to score their series Thriller (1960). It was here that he met the influential film composer Alfred Newman who hired Goldsmith to score the film Lonely Are the Brave (1962), his first major feature film score. An experimentalist, Goldsmith constantly pushed forward the bounds of film music: Planet of the Apes (1968) included horns blown without mouthpieces and a bass clarinetist fingering the notes but not blowing. He was unafraid to use the wide variety of electronic sounds and instruments which had become available, although he did not use them for their own sake.
He rose rapidly to the top of his profession in the early to mid-1960s, with scores such as Freud (1962), A Patch of Blue (1965) and The Sand Pebbles (1966). In fact, he received Oscar nominations for all three and another in the 1960s for Planet of the Apes (1968). From then onwards, his career and reputation was secure and he scored an astonishing variety of films during the next 30 years or so, from Patton (1970) to Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) and from Chinatown (1974) to The Boys from Brazil (1978). He received 17 Oscar nominations but won only once, for The Omen (1976) in 1977 (Goldsmith himself dismissed the thought of even getting a nomination for work on a "horror show"). He enjoyed giving concerts of his music and performed all over the world, notably in London, where he built up a strong relationship with London Symphony Orchestra.
Jerry Goldsmith died at age 75 on July 21, 2004 after a long battle with cancer.To boldly go...- Composer
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A recording artist, song writer, jazz musician and composer, Gil Melle launched his career in the sixties. He first displayed his talent for art work and was also a regular jazz performer in Greenwich Village in Manhattan. After relocating to Los Angeles in 1969, Gil Melle displayed his musical talent for NBC's series "Night Gallery" and then composed scores for four of the "Columbo Mystery Films" for ABC and later did the chilling score for television's "Kolchak: The Night Stalker".
He also worked with major filmmakers including a young Steven Spielberg, for whom Melle scored his first two films "The Psychiatrist" and "Savage". With Larry Cohen, he composed a thundering score for "Bone" and next did the Sidney Poitier suspense thriller "The Organization" and ABC's motion picture "The Six Million Dollar Man".
After leaving television, Melle displayed his talents again for such major motion pictures including "The Manipulator", Warner Brothers' "The Ultimate Warrior" and Melle's best-known score for Universal Pictures, the 1971 science fiction thriller "The Andromeda Strain". Upon returning to television in the early eighties, he did NBC's "The Intruder Within" and later "The Case of the Hillside Stranglers", where Melle used lower-register instruments to create a chilling score.
Other films for the eighties include "Blood Beach", "The Last Chase" and "Hot Target". Melle's work has been recorded by The Toronto Symphony Orchestra, The New Zeland Symphony Orchestra, The Los Angeles Symphony and The National Philharmonic Orchestra of London. In all, he composed music for a remarkable 125 motion pictures.
In 1994, Gil Melle retired but still continued his talented work in both music and art until his passing in 2004.He made Night Gallery scarier!- Music Department
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Dominic Carmen Frontiere, 86, Emmy and Golden Globe winning film and television composer, former head of music at Paramount Pictures, passed away in Tesuque, New Mexico on 21 December 2017. He is survived by his wife Robin and their children Emily, Joseph, Nicholas and Sofia, as well as daughter Victoria from a previous marriage.Vega$ and the little-loved Search (I loved it)- Composer
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Patrick Williams is one of the most versatile composers in the music industry. Having composed well over 150 scores for theatrical features and television films, as well as records and concert works, Williams is a man of diverse talents. He has received twenty-one Emmy nominations, twelve Grammy nominations, been nominated for both the Academy Award and the Pulitzer Prize in music and has received four Emmys, two Grammys, and a CableACE Award. In addition, he is a recipient of the prestigious Richard Kirk Lifetime Achievement Award from B.M.I. Williams is also an accomplished recording artist and arranger with extensive credits. He was chosen by Frank Sinatra to act as Musical Director/Arranger for his final studio recordings, Duets and Duets II. Additionally, he has arranged for Vince Gill, Amy Grant, Gloria Estefan, Billy Joel, Brian Setzer and Barbra Streisand.Streets of San Francisco, Bob Newhart Show--lots of horn work- Music Department
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Barry De Vorzon was born on 31 July 1934 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a composer and producer, known for The Warriors (1979), Event Horizon (1997) and S.W.A.T. (2003).- Music Department
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Every day, somewhere across the globe, someone is enjoying the music of Andrew Gold. Whether it's his joyous ode "Thank You for Being a Friend," his plaintive hit "Lonely Boy," his chiming guitar work and supple arrangements on various classic tracks such as Linda Ronstadt's smash hit "You're No Good," his crafty, ear-friendly art-pop as one half of the duo Wax UK, or one of his engaging children's albums, Andrew produced some of the most beloved sounds of the past 50 years.
Andrew's remarkable career in popular music showcased his prodigious talents as a mellifluous, passionate singer; a polished, thoughtful, astute songwriter; a creative, meticulous producer, arranger and engineer; and a virtuoso multi-instrumentalist. Born in Burbank, CA. on August 2, 1951 and raised in Hollywood, Andrew was a precocious kid. He wrote his first songs when he was a mere 13-years-old, dazzled by the sweet and glistening din of the British Invasion ensembles - especially The Beatles. Diligently, he mastered a band's worth of instruments, including guitar, bass, keyboards and drums. It's no surprise that music was Andrew's calling. His father, Ernest Gold, was one of Hollywood's premier composers, winning an Academy Award for scoring the epic feature film Exodus. His mother, Marni Nixon, was an accomplished singer and musical performer renowned for providing the singing voice for famous actresses in high profile films, such as Natalie Wood in West Side Story; Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady; and Deborah Kerr in The King and I.
While a schoolboy abroad in England, Andrew landed his first recording contract at the age of 16 after he submitted a selection of demos to Polydor Records' London office. It would only be a few years later when he would have his first major impact on the world of Pop music, teaming up with then-rising Country-Rock singer Linda Ronstadt and her producer Peter Asher. Beginning with her 1974 breakthrough album Heart Like a Wheel, Andrew collaborated on the majority of Linda's records in the 1970s. He sang and played behind her as a mainstay of her band, manning virtually every instrument on her #1 hit "You're No Good" (which features a classic Gold guitar bridge) and much of Heart Like a Wheel. As Linda's go-to arranger, he crafted the sounds of such memorable Ronstadt chart-toppers as "When Will I Be Loved" and "Heat Wave." Andrew was in Linda's band from 1973 until 1977, and also played with her from time to time throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
Earning kudos from critics and fans as well as the respect of his peers, Andrew was subsequently invited to share his skills with a Who's Who of music-industry superstars. His vocal and instrumental prowess and deft songwriting enhanced the records or live performances of many major artists, including Celine Dion, Carly Simon, 10cc, James Taylor, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon, Brian Wilson, Jackson Browne, Don Henley, Diana Ross, Cher, Art Garfunkel, Trisha Yearwood, Wynonna Judd, Jesse McCartney, Eric Carmen, Jennifer Warnes, Stephen Bishop, Nicolette Larson, Maria Muldaur, Neil Diamond, Juice Newton, Leo Sayer, Vince Gill, Aaron Neville, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and Japanese superstar Eikichi Yazawa.
Andrew was becoming an accomplished solo artist, too. In the mid-'70s, he released four well-received Pop-Rock albums: Andrew Gold (1975), What's Wrong with This Picture (1976), All This and Heaven Too (1978), and Whirlwind (1979). The elegant, melancholy single "Lonely Boy," taken from What's Wrong with This Picture, was a Top 10 hit in the U.S., as was "Thank You for Being a Friend" from All This and Heaven Too. "Thank You for Being a Friend" later became the theme for the massively popular television situation comedy The Golden Girls - which continues to be watched and adored on cable TV, in syndication on broadcast TV, and on DVD throughout the world since its original NBC network run from 1985-1992. The song itself is considered a classic Pop tune - an uplifting anthem of camaraderie with appeal that cuts across all demographics. Meanwhile, "Lonely Boy" has been featured on the soundtracks of a variety of films, including 1997's Boogie Nights, 1998's The Waterboy and 2016's The Nice Guys.
Over the past three decades, Andrew continued to fashion memorable music. In the UK and beyond, he had solo success with singles such as "Never Let Her Slip Away" and "How Can This Be Love." His popularity in the UK was so significant that he was asked to join hit-making British group 10cc in the early 1980s. Although he declined the offer, he linked up with 10cc singer/songwriter/musician Graham Gouldman to form Wax UK in 1983, recording three albums that spawned two international hits, "Right Between the Eyes" and "Bridge to Your Heart." Although they dissolved Wax in 1989, Gold and Gouldman never stopped writing and recording together whenever possible. Back in the early 1970s, Andrew had co-founded the ensemble Bryndle with Karla Bonoff, Wendy Waldman, and Kenny Edwards; they reunited in the early 1990s, producing the tuneful, engaging albums Bryndle (1995) and House of Silence (2001) before going their separate ways again.
True to his lineage, Andrew produced and wrote songs and music for numerous television and movie soundtracks. He also sang "The Final Frontier," the theme to the long-running Paul Reiser-Helen Hunt TV sitcom Mad About You. (Andrew's rendition of "The Final Frontier" was actually used as the wake-up call for the Mars Pathfinder space probe in 1996, making his vocal the first human voice heard on Mars). He found time to write and produce hit recordings for many of his aforementioned friends and colleagues, as well as producing a handful of tracks on The Stars Come Out for Christmas series of charity albums. In addition, he composed and recorded the exuberant holiday-themed children's albums Halloween Howls and A Sugarbeats Christmas. With whimsy and affection, he formulated Greetings from Planet Love as a one-man band under the pseudonym The Fraternal Order of the All, with original songs written and performed in the style of Gold's favorite 1960s bands, such as The Beatles, The Byrds, and The Beach Boys. He released an album of Wax UK rarities, Bikini Wax, and a best-of compilation with bonus cuts, The Wax Files. A career retrospective entitled Thank You for Being a Friend: The Best of Andrew Gold was issued in 1997.
Andrew didn't stop there. Exquisitely crafted solo albums - Since 1951, Warm Breezes, The Spence Manor Suite, and Intermission - were produced and released. There is still a considerable amount of his studio work that has yet to be released but should soon be made available to the public.
Gold died in his sleep, apparently from heart failure, on June 3, 2011 at age 59. He is survived by his second wife Leslie Kogan, his three daughters from his first marriage, and his mother. And though he passed away, his music will live on and on.
As longtime friend and Grammy-winning producer Peter Asher put it, "Andrew's talent was almost eerie. He was a self-taught instinctive musician who seemed to be able to play any instrument he had a mind to. He was a brilliant writer, a great singer, and a highly imaginative producer and arranger -- on top of being a multi-instrumentalist of the highest order. And he never failed to come up with something extraordinary every time he played."- Music Department
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Distinguished multiple Grammy-winning trumpeter, arranger, conductor and songwriter whose instantly-recognizable style remains a longtime trademark. The son of a roofer and a youthful asthmatic, his physician advised therapy through playing the tuba. In his school band, he developed an appreciation of the other instruments and became a self-taught trumpeter and trombonist, and also an arranger. On the occasion when Charlie Barnet was to perform on a Pittsburgh radio station, May came to the studio to show Barnet some arrangements, which Barnet accepted but never paid for. Several months later, May approached Barnet for payment and Barnet offered May a position with his band. For Barnet, he provided the arrangement for his hits "Cherokee" and "Redskin Rhumba". Eventually Glenn Miller became aware of the Barnet band's sound and hired May away to play and arrange. For Miller, Billy May contributed the arrangements for "Serenade in Blue", "American Patrol" and "Take the 'A' Train". When the Miller band dissolved during World War II, May settled in Los Angeles to work with NBC and Capitol Records as a studio arranger, and with the bands of 'Les Brown', Woody Herman, Alvino Rey and Ozzie Nelson. But his longest association was with Frank Sinatra, with whom he worked on the noted albums "Come Fly With Me" (1957), " and "Come Dance With Me" (1958), "Come Swing With Me" (1961), and "Trilogy" (1979). In the early 1950s, Billy May had his own orchestra, for which the theme was "Lean Baby", featuring his trademark sax style. His last musical work was arranging a 90th Anniversary compendium of the music from Paramount Pictures in collaboration with noted composer-arranger Will Schaefer. But Billy May left the project due to his illness.- Composer
- Music Department
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One of the great arrangers of the Big Band era, Sicilian-born Peter Rugolo was five years old when his family moved to Santa Rosa, California. He attended San Francisco College and in the 1930's studied composition under the classical composer Darius Milhaud. After military service in World War II, he joined Stan Kenton and His Orchestra, where he contributed numerous distinctive arrangements and compositions. He had a critical influence on the progressive image of the band, which sounded unlike any other in the business. Rugolo and Kenton formed a very close personal friendship, akin to that of Duke Ellington and his arranger Billy Strayhorn.
In 1949, Pete became musical director at Capitol records , where he produced recording sessions with big name jazz stars, including Miles Davis (he came up with the title of Davis's ground-breaking album "The Birth of the Cool"), Charlie Parker, Nat 'King' Cole and Peggy Lee. He continued a part-time collaboration with Kenton and also arranged for Kenton's former star vocalist June Christy (her "Something Cool" album).
The 1950's were a busy decade for Rugolo. He briefly fronted his own band in 1954, featuring Patti Page as his vocalist. He also had contractual affiliations first with Columbia Records and then with Mercury Records, writing, among others, for Sarah Vaughan. By that time, he had branched out into musical genres other than jazz. At MGM, he was employed as a staff composer/arranger on a number of musicals, including Kiss Me Kate (1953) and Easy to Love (1953). From there he went on to prolific television work, writing the jazzy theme scores for popular crime shows like The Fugitive (1963) and The Outsider (1968), as well as westerns (Alias Smith and Jones (1971)) and numerous TV movies. He was nominated for six Emmy Awards, of which he won three. Retiring in 1985, Rugolo was honoured in 1993 by receiving the Golden Score Award from the American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers.- Actor
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Canadian-born Paul Anka first achieved success in the 1950s as a teenage singing star (and, for the times, an unusual one in that he wrote many of his own songs). Although he appeared in several films, and was quite believable as a nervous, hyper young soldier in The Longest Day (1962) (for which he also composed the theme music), Anka's main interest was music, and he concentrated his efforts into composing (he wrote lyrics for Frank Sinatra's classic "My Way") and nightclub appearances in Las Vegas.- Composer
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Eliot Daniel was born on 7 January 1908 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was a composer, known for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), Rat Race (2001) and The Cable Guy (1996). He died on 6 December 1997 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Music Department
- Producer
- Composer
Considered to be one of the greatest minds in music and television history, Quincy Delight Jones, Jr. was born on March 14, 1933 in Chicago, Illinois. He is the son of Sarah Frances (Wells), a bank executive, and Quincy Delight Jones, Sr., a carpenter.
Jones found his love for music while he was enrolled in grade school at Seattle's Garfield High School, this is also where he had met Ray Charles whom he later worked and became friends with. In 1951, Quincy Jones had won a scholarship to the Berklee College Of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. Jones however dropped out when he got the opportunity to tour with Lionel Hampton's band as a trumpeter and conductor. Jones also worked for the European production of Harold Arlen's blues opera, Free and Easy in 1959. After Jones had worked on several projects overseas he returned to New York where he composed and arranged, and recorded for artists such as Duke Ellington, Ray Charles, Sarah Vaughan, Count Basie, Dinah Washington, LeVern Baker, and Big Maybell. Jones was working with these artists while holding an executive position at Mercury Records, being one of the very few African Americans at the time to have such a position.
In 1963, Quincy Jones won his first Grammy award for his Count Basie arrangement of "I Can't Stop Loving You". In 1964, by the request of director Sidney Lumet, Jones composed the music for his movie, The Pawnbroker. This would be the first of many Jones composed for film scores. By the mid-1960's Quincy Jones became the conductor and arranger for Frank Sinatra's orchestra. Jones also conducted and arranged one of Sinatra's most memorable songs, Fly Me To The Moon. Jones appeared on a lot of film credits for his music such as The Slender Thread, Walk, Don't Run, In Cold Blood, In The Heat Of The Night, A Dandy In Aspic, Mackenna's Gold, and The Italian Job. In 1972 Quincy Jones was the theme song composer for the hit-sitcom, Sanford And Son.
Quincy Jones in 1978 worked on music for the Wiz, this is where he met icon, Michael Jackson. Jackson at the time was looking for a producer, Jones recommended some producers but in the end asked Jackson if he could do it, Jackson said yes. In 1982 as a result of this partnership, Jones had formed a tapestry with Jackson which was unbreakable it was called, Thriller. The Thriller album sold more than 100 million records world-wide. Jones continued working with Jackson with his Bad album in 1987. However after Jones recommended Jackson seek other producers to update his music. Jones referred Jackson to producer, Teddy Riley. This ended a partnership between two-greats, Jackson and Jones would never collaborate again.
In 1981 Jones had an album called, The Dude. In 1985 Jones scored the film adaptation of The Color Purple. Jones also was a philanthropist, in 1985 gathering multiple stars to participate in the song We Are The World to help raise money to help the victims of the Ethopian disaster.
In 1990 Jones composed a theme song for the new sitcom which was centered around Will Smith, The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air. Jones was also the executive producer of the show.
Quincy Jones will forever be remembered as someone who helped sculpt music in every form, he refined music and through the music he helped sculpt brought messages of peace, justice, love, funk, and hope.- Music Artist
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Isaac Hayes, the second-born child of Eula and Isaac Hayes Sr., was raised by his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Willie Wade Sr. The child of a poor family, he grew up picking cotton in Covington, Tennessee. He dropped out of high school, but later his former high-school teachers to get his diploma, which he earned when he was 21. Otis Redding, Johnnie Taylor, The Bar-Kays, and Booker T. Jones (later of Booker T. & the M.G.s fame) were some of the "Memphis Sound" musical luminaries Hayes worked with during his early years as a budding musician and vocalist. He was a multi-talented composer, singer, and arranger who played the piano, vibraphone, and saxophone equally well. In 1971 he won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for a Motion Picture for the "Theme from Shaft" (1970) and was nominated for Best Original Dramatic Score for Shaft (1971).- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Vic Mizzy was born on 9 January 1916 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was a composer and actor, known for The Addams Family (1964), Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) and Deliver Us from Evil (2014). He died on 17 October 2009 in Bel-Air, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Music Department
- Composer
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Gary Portnoy was born on 8 June 1956. He is a composer and actor, known for Cheers (1982), Fame (1982) and Bumblebee (2018).- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Bob James was born on 25 December 1939 in Marshall, Missouri, USA. He is a composer and actor, known for The Big Hit (1998), Double Jeopardy (1999) and Cop Out (2010). He has been married to Judy Heric since September 1963. They have one child.- Music Department
- Composer
- Actor
Dave Grusin was born on 26 June 1934 in Littleton, Colorado, USA. He is a composer and actor, known for The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), The Firm (1993) and The Graduate (1967). He was previously married to Edith Ruth Price, Sara Jane Tallman and Barbara Jo Davidson.So many: St. Elsewhere, Baretta, Toma, the first Starsky & Hutch theme...