Information about Randall Newman Randall Stuart Randy Newman (born November 28, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist who is known for his distinctive voice, mordant (and often satirical) pop songs and for film scores. Since the 1980s, Newman has worked mostly as a film composer. His film scores include Ragtime, Awakenings, The Natural, Leatherheads, James and the Giant Peach, Cats Dont Dance, Meet the Parents, Cold Turkey, Seabiscuit and The Princess and the Frog. He has scored seven Disney-Pixar films: Toy Story, A Bugs Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Cars, Toy Story 3, and most recently, Monsters University. Newman has been nominated for 20 Academy Awards, winning twice. He has also won three Emmys, six Grammy Awards, and the Governors Award from the Recording Academy. Newman was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002. In 2007, he was inducted as a Disney Legend. Newman was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2013. Songwriter: Newman has been a professional songwriter since he was 17. He cites Ray Charles as his greatest influence growing up, stating, I loved Charles music to excess. His first single as a performer was 1962s Golden Gridiron Boy, released when he was 18. The single flopped and Newman chose to concentrate on songwriting and arranging for the next several years. In various interviews, Newman has credited the Fleetwoods with giving him his first national break: the trio recorded his song, They Tell Me Its Summer, as the B-side of one of their 11 hit singles, giving Newman great exposure and royalties (piggy-backed on the sale of the Fleetwoods 1962 hit A-side, Lovers by Night, Strangers by Day). Two decades later, the Fleetwoods founder and manager, female lead vocalist/songwriter/arranger Gretchen Christopher, selected from their recordings two more of Newmans songs to be included among 10 previously unreleased masters, for their 13th album. The Fleetwoods – Buried Treasure LP and cassette, released in 1982, included Newmans Whos Gonna Teach You About Love and Ask Him If Hes Got a Friend for Me. His early songs were recorded by Gene Pitney, Jerry Butler, Petula Clark, Dusty Springfield, Jackie DeShannon, the OJays and Irma Thomas, among others. His work as a songwriter met with particular success in the UK: top 40 UK hits written by Newman included Cilla Blacks Ive Been Wrong Before (#17, 1965), Gene Pitneys Nobody Needs Your Love (#2, 1966) and Just One Smile (#8, 1966); and the Alan Price Sets Simon Smith and His Amazing Dancing Bear (#4, 1967). Price, who was enjoying great success in England at the time championed Newman by featuring seven Randy Newman songs on his 1967 A Price on His Head album. In the mid-1960s, Newman was briefly a member of the band the Tikis, who later became Harpers Bizarre, best known for their 1967 hit version of the Paul Simon composition The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin Groovy). Newman kept a close musical relationship with Harpers Bizarre, offering them some of his own compositions, including Simon Smith and Happyland. The band recorded six Newman compositions during their short initial career (1967–1969). In this period, Newman began a long professional association with childhood friend Lenny Waronker. Waronker had been hired to produce the Tikis, the Beau Brummels, and the Mojo Men, who were all contracted to the Los Angeles independent label Autumn Records, and he in turn brought in Newman, Leon Russell and another friend, pianist/arranger Van Dyke Parks, to play on recording sessions. Later in 1966 Waronker was hired as an A&R manager by Warner Bros. Records and his friendship with Newman, Russell, and Parks began a creative circle around Waronker at Warner Bros. that became one of the keys to Warner Bros. subsequent success as a rock music label. Recording artist: His 1968 debut album, Randy Newman, was a critical success but never dented the Billboard Top 200. Many artists, including Alan Price, Van Dyke Parks, Dave Van Ronk, Judy Collins, Cass Elliot, Art Garfunkel, the Everly Brothers, Claudine Longet, Dusty Springfield, Nina Simone, Lynn Anderson, Wilson Pickett, Pat Boone and Peggy Lee, covered his songs and I Think Its Going to Rain Today became an early standard. In 1969, he did the orchestral arrangements for Peggy Lees single Is That All There Is?, as well as her album with the same title (which also contained her cover versions of two of his songs: Love Story and Linda). In 1970, Harry Nilsson recorded an entire album of Newman compositions (Newman played piano) called Nilsson Sings Newman. The album was not a commercial success, but critics liked it (it won a Record of the Year award from Stereo Review magazine), and it paved the way for Newmans 1970 release, 12 Songs, a more stripped-down sound that showcased Newmans piano. Ry Cooders slide guitar and contributions from Byrds members Gene Parsons and Clarence White helped to give the album a much rootsier feel. 12 Songs was also critically acclaimed (6th best album of the seventies according to Rolling Stone critic Robert Christgau), but again found little commercial success, though Three Dog Night made a huge hit of his Mama Told Me Not to Come. The following year, Randy Newman Live cemented his cult following and became his first LP to appear in the Billboard charts, at #191. Newman also made his first foray into music for films at this time, writing and performing the theme song He Gives Us All His Love for Norman Lears 1971 film Cold Turkey. 1972s Sail Away reached #163 on Billboard, with the title track making its way into the repertoire of Ray Charles and Linda Ronstadt. You Can Leave Your Hat On enigmatically touches on what it is men find important in relationships, and was covered by Three Dog Night, then Joe Cocker, and later by Keb Mo, Etta James, Tom Jones (whose version was later used for the final striptease to the 1997 film The Full Monty), and the Québécois singer Garou. The album also featured Burn On, an ode to an infamous incident in which the heavily polluted Cuyahoga River literally caught fire. In 1989, Burn On was used as the opening theme to the film Major League, whose focus was the hapless Cleveland Indians. His 1974 release Good Old Boys was a set of songs about the American South. Rednecks began with a description of segregationist Lester Maddox pitted against a smart-ass New York Jew on a TV show, in a song that criticizes both southern racism and the complacent bigotry of Americans outside of the south who stereotype all southerners as racist yet ignore racism in northern and midwestern states and large cities. This ambiguity was also apparent on Kingfish and Every Man a King, the former a paean to Huey Long (the assassinated former Governor and United States Senator from Louisiana), the other a campaign song written by Long himself. An album that received lavish critical praise, Good Old Boys also became a commercial breakthrough for Newman, peaking at #36 on Billboard and spending 21 weeks in the Top 200. Little Criminals (1977) contained the surprise hit Short People, which also became a subject of controversy. In September 1977, the British music magazine NME reported the following interview with Newman talking about his then-new release. Theres one song about a child murderer, Newman deadpans. Thats fairly optimistic. Maybe. Theres one called Jolly Coppers on Parade which isnt an absolutely anti-police song. Maybe its even a fascist song. I didnt notice at the time. Theres also one about me as a cowboy called Rider in the Rain. I think its ridiculous. The Eagles are on there. Thats whats good about it. Theres also this song Short People. Its purely a joke. I like other ones on the album better but the audiences go for that one. The album proved Newmans most popular to date, reaching #9 on the US Billboard 200 chart. 1979s Born Again featured a song satirically mythologizing the Electric Light Orchestra (and their arranging style) entitled The Story of a Rock and Roll Band. His 1983 album Trouble in Paradise included the hit single I Love L.A., a song that has been interpreted as both praising and criticizing the city of Los Angeles. This ambivalence is borne out by Newmans own comments on the song. As he explained in a 2001 interview, Theres some kind of ignorance L.A. has that Im proud of. The open car and the redhead, the Beach Boys... that sounds really good to me. The ABC network and Frank Gari Productions transformed I Love L.A. into a popular 1980s TV promotional campaign, retooling the lyrics and title to Youll Love It! (on ABC) The song is played at home games for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Lakers, and the Los Angeles Kings use the song along with their goal horn. In 2003 Newmans song Its a Jungle Out There was used for season 2 of the USA Networks show Monk; it won him the 2004 Emmy Award for Best Main Title Music. In the years following Trouble in Paradise, Newman focused more on film work, but his personal life entered a difficult period. He separated from his wife of nearly 20 years, Roswitha, and was diagnosed with Epstein–Barr virus. He has released three albums of new material as a singer-songwriter since that time: Land of Dreams (1988), Bad Love (1999), and Harps and Angels, which was released on August 5, 2008. Land of Dreams included one of his best-known songs, Its Money That Matters, and featured Newmans first stab at autobiography with Dixie Flyer and Four Eyes, while Bad Love included I Miss You, a moving tribute to his ex-wife.[citation needed] (In an interview with Glenn Tilbrook, half of the writing partnership of English pop band Squeeze, to promote the album, probably on BBC radio, Newman acknowledged that I Miss You was written for his ex-wife. When asked by Tilbrook how his current wife felt about this, Newman said that though he had always been obedient to his wives in most things there was one area in which he did as he chose; I write what I write, he said.) He has also re-recorded a number of songs that span his career, accompanying himself on piano, with The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 1 (2003) and The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 2 (2011). He continues to perform his songs before live audiences as a touring concert artist. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Newmans Louisiana 1927 became an anthem and was played heavily on a wide range of American radio and television stations, in both Newmans 1974 original and Aaron Nevilles cover version of the song. The song addresses the deceitful manner in which New Orleanss municipal government managed a flood in 1927, during which, as Newman asserts, The guys who ran the Mardi Gras, the bosses in New Orleans decided the course of that flood. You know, they cut a hole in the levee and it flooded the cotton fields. In a related performance, Newman contributed to the 2007 release of Goin Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino (Vanguard), contributing his version of Dominos Blue Monday. Domino had been rescued from his New Orleans home after Hurricane Katrina, initially having been feared dead.
Posted on: Sat, 07 Jun 2014 16:00:01 +0000
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