Randall Stuart "Randy" Newman (born November 28, 1943) is an American singer/songwriter,[1] arranger, composer, and pianist who is known for his mordant (and often satirical) pop songs and for film scores. Newman often writes lyrics from the perspective of a character far removed from Newman's own experiences. For example, the 1972 song "Sail Away" is written as a slave trader's sales pitch to attract slaves, while the narrator of "Political Science" is a U.S. nationalist who complains of worldwide ingratitude toward America and proposes a brutally ironic final solution. One of his biggest hits, "Short People" was written from the perspective of "a lunatic"[2] who hates short people. 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, Meet the Parents, Seabiscuit and The Princess and the Frog. He has scored six Disney-Pixar films: Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Cars and most recently Toy Story 3 . He has been awarded two Academy Awards, three Emmys, five Grammy Awards, and the Governor's Award from the Recording Academy.[3] Newman was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002. In 2007, Newman was inducted as a Disney Legend.[4] In 2011, Newman won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for Toy Story 3's "We Belong Together", which was also his 11th nomination for Best Original Song. Contents 1 Early life 2 Songwriter 3 Recording artist 4 Film composer 5 Filmography 6 Musical theatre 7 Notable performances and appearances 8 Discography 8.1 Albums 8.2 Compilations 8.3 Other Contributions 8.4 Film scores 9 Awards and honors 10 References 11 External links Early life Newman was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Adele (née Fox), a secretary, and Irving George Newman, an internist.[5] He lived in New Orleans as a small child and spent summers there until he was 11 years old, his family having by then returned to Los Angeles. The paternal side of his family includes three uncles who were noted Hollywood film-score composers: Alfred Newman, Lionel Newman and Emil Newman. Newman's cousins Thomas and David, and nephew Joey are also composers for motion pictures. He graduated from University High School in Los Angeles. Newman attended the University of California, Los Angeles. Songwriter Newman has been a professional songwriter since he was seventeen. He cites Ray Charles as his greatest influence growing up, stating, "I loved Charles' music to excess."[6] His first single as a performer was 1961's "Golden Gridiron Boy", released when he was eighteen. However, the single flopped and Newman chose to concentrate on songwriting and arranging for the next several years. His early songs were recorded by Gene Pitney, Jerry Butler, Jackie DeShannon, The O'Jays 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 Black's "I've Been Wrong Before" (#17, 1965), Gene Pitney's "Nobody Needs Your Love" (#2, 1966) and "Just One Smile" (#8, 1966); and The Alan Price Set's "Simon Smith and His Amazing Dancing Bear" (#4, 1967). Besides "Simon Smith", Price featured 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.[7] Recording artist His 1968 debut album, Randy Newman, was a critical success but never dented the Billboard Top 200. Many artists, including Alan Price, Dave Van Ronk, Judy Collins, the Everly Brothers, Claudine Longet, Dusty Springfield, Nina Simone, Pat Boone and Peggy Lee, covered his songs and "I Think It's Going To Rain Today" became an early standard. In 1969, he did the orchestral arrangements for Peggy Lee's 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").[8] In 1970, Harry Nilsson recorded an entire album of Newman compositions called Nilsson Sings Newman. That album was a success, and it paved the way for Newman's 1970 release, 12 Songs, a more stripped-down sound that showcased Newman's piano. Ry Cooder's 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 Lear's 1971 film Cold Turkey. 1972's 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 seems to criticize both southern racism and the complacent bigotry of American north-easterners who stereotype all southerners as racist yet ignore racism in northern states. 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. "There's one song about a child murderer," Newman deadpans. "That's fairly optimistic. Maybe. There's one called 'Jolly Coppers on Parade' which isn't an absolutely anti-police song. Maybe it's even a fascist song. I didn't notice at the time. There's also one about me as a cowboy called 'Rider in the Rain.' I think it's ridiculous. The Eagles are on there. That's what's good about it. There's also this song 'Short People.' It's purely a joke. I like other ones on the album better but the audiences go for that one."[9] The album proved Newman's most popular to date, reaching #9 on the US Billboard 200 chart. 1979's 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 Newman's own comments on the song. As he explained in a 2001 interview, "There's some kind of ignorance L.A. has that I'm 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 "You'll Love It! (on ABC)". The song is played at home games for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Lakers. 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 most well-known songs, "It's Money That Matters", and featured Newman's 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] He has also re-recorded a number of his earlier songs, accompanying himself on piano, as The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 1 (2003), and continues to perform his songs before liv
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Here are two audio interviews with Randy. — KCRW's Kim Masters talks to Randy about The Business in "Randy Newman's Oscar Run." InContention.Com has a phone Read the rest
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Watch videos & listen free to Randy Newman: You've Got A Friend In Me, Sail Away & more, plus 27 pictures. Randall Stuart "Randy" Newman (born November 28, 1943 Read the rest
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Randy Newman, Music Department: Toy Story 3. Trivia: As a teenager, he was invited by a girl to a country club cotillion, but was subsequently asked not to come Read the rest
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Randy Newman is the debut recording by Randy Newman, released in 1968 (see 1968 in music). Unlike his later albums which featured Newman and his piano backed by Read the rest
randy newman wikipedia the free encyclopedia
Randall Stuart " Randy" Newman (born November 28, 1943) is an American singer/songwriter arranger, composer, and pianist who is known for his mordant (and often Read the rest
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Randy Newman's official profile including the latest music, albums, songs, music videos and more updates. Read the rest
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Don't get Randy Newman wrong: He's proud of the film music he has written, including "We Belong Together," the theme from "Toy Story 3," which has been Read the rest
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MINNEAPOLIS - After 20 Academy Award nominations (and only one win), piano man Randy Newman still does not have an Oscar routine. "The night is peculiar Read the rest
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Randy Newman , Singer / Composer Born: 28 November 1943 Birthplace: New Orleans, Louisiana Best Known As: Composer for the movie Toy Story Randy Read the rest
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Randy Newman 9 ( 1968 ) Love Story (You And Me) / Bet No One Ever Hurt This Bad / Living Without You / So Long Dad / I Think He's Hiding / Linda / Laughing Boy Read the rest