Randy Newman
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Notes
There is a Web site at www.randynewman.com
Because his father was in the US Army between 1944-46, the family moved frequently, living in New Orleans, Louisiana; Jackson, Mississippi; and Mobile, Alabama. As a result, Newman's birthplace is often mistakenly said to be New Orleans.
Biography
Singer-songwriter-film composer Randy Newman had been one of the most oft-nominated individuals at the Academy Awards without ever having won - that is, until he finally took home the award for his original song, "If I Didn't Have You" from "Monsters, Inc." (2001). Prior to courting the Oscars, Newman had been a popular writer of novelty songs that were both sardonic and catchy throughout the 1960s and 1970s. One of his most famous was "Short People," which became his biggest hit. Though he had his start writing songs and themes for television and film, Newman would not be officially associated with scoring movies until he wrote the music for "Ragtime" (1981), which deviated wildly from his sarcastic ditties from a decade prior. Newman would go on to score the music and write songs for some of the biggest movies of the next two decades, including "The Natural" (1984), "Parenthood" (1989), "Toy Story" (1995), "A Bug's Life" (1998) and "Babe: Pig in the City" (1998). While all earned him Academy Award nominations, he became almost as famous for not winning as he did for the compositions themselves. But after 16 tries and finally winning the coveted statue, there had never been any doubt within the industry or with movie fans that Newman was one of the most revered and prolific film songwriters of all time.
Born on Nov. 28, 1942 in Los Angeles, CA, Newman was raised by his father, Irving, a musician-turned-doctor, and his mother, Adele, a secretary. Hailing from a family of motion picture composers - which included his uncles Alfred Newman, Emil Newman and Lionel Newman - he grew up surrounded by both music and Hollywood, which led to piano lessons at age six. Uncle Alfred was the most successful of the three, having scored some of the biggest films in Hollywood history, including "City Lights" (1931), "Wuthering Heights" (1939), "How Green Was My Valley" (1941), "All About Eve" and "Airport" (1970), as well as composing the famous 20th Century Fox fanfare still heard playing over the company logo. After a brief interlude living with his mother's family in New Orleans - also a hotbed of music - young Newman graduated from University High in Los Angeles. By the time he was 17, he was a contract songwriter for Metro Music, recording his first song, "They Tell Me Its Summer" (1962), for the Fleetwoods. Switching gears, Newman decided to pursue composing and arranging at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he studied music theory. In failing to complete a musical performance requirement, however, Newman did not graduate. But he did continue his success in the professional world, earning his first television credit for penning a saxophone instrumental for a 1962 episode of "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis" (CBS, 1959-1963), followed by his first song for a motion picture, "Look At Me," which he co-wrote with Bobby Darin for the action drama "The Lively Set" (1964).
In 1964, Newman began a three year stint working out of the television music library at 20th Century Fox - incidentally, the studio that all of his uncles called home at one time or another - and where he penned music cues and themes for various series made by the studio, including the primetime drama "Peyton Place" (ABC, 1964-69). After signing with Reprise Records as a recording artist, Newman recorded and released his self-titled debut album, which earned critical praise but failed to break into the Billboard Top 200. Several popular artists, however, covered his songs, including "I Think It's Going to Rain Today," which became an industry standard. Though he composed the music for his first film, "Performance," in 1970, the movie was not released for another two years. In the meantime, he began touring on his own and even penned his first bona fide hit, "Mama Told Me Not to Come" (1970) for Three Dog Night. After contributing an original song to "The Pursuit of Happiness" (1971) and writing the film score for the Norman Lear comedy "Cold Turkey" (1971), Newman released more albums, including Sail Away (1972) and Good Old Boys (1974), which featured one of his all-time favorite songs, "Rednecks."
In 1977, Newman achieved a strong degree of notoriety when he released his next album, Little Criminals, which contained the surprise hit song, "Short People." With lyrics "Short people have no reason to live," Newman generated backlash from those who took the song literally, even as the song climbed the charts to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and despite the fact that the obviously satirical song was written as a condemnation of prejudice. Though he claimed the "Short People" was "one of the least controversial things I've written," the song and its songwriter forever remained infamous. Following the less-successful Born Again, Newman returned to Hollywood to compose the haunting, hypnotic waltz score for "Ragtime" (1981), which earned him his first two Academy Award nominations - one for Best Original Score and the other for Best Original Song ("One More Hour"). After another hit single, "I Love L.A.," which was part of hisTrouble in Paradise (1983) album, he earned another Oscar nod for his grand score for Barry Levinson's elegiac look at America's pastime, "The Natural" (1984), for which he won a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition.
After pitching in to write the screenplay - as well as several songs - for "Three Amigos!" (1986), in which he also appeared as a singing bush, Newman suffered a personal setback when he was diagnosed as a sufferer of the physically debilitating Epstein-Barr Syndrome, also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. He bounced back, however, with his Oscar-nominated song, "I Love to See You Smile" for Ron Howard's "Parenthood" (1989) and his Oscar-nominated score for Barry Levinson's "Avalon" (1990), which fellow composer Hans Zimmer declared "the most beautiful American score ever written." Teaming up with Ron Howard once again, he earned yet another Academy Award nod for the song "Make Up Your Mind" for the director's media satire, "The Paper" (1994). Though that year he failed to pick up any further nods for his jaunty Western score for the Mel Gibson vehicle, "Maverick" (1994), Newman did find himself back at the Academy Awards for his song "You've Got a Friend in Me" and score for the first all computer-generated animated film, "Toy Story" (1995). He made his first foray into composing music for the theater when he wrote the music and lyrics for "Faust" (1995), which was inspired by reading G the's adaptation of the famed German legend. However, mixed reviews while performing the musical in Chicago put the project on temporary hold.
Having already been something of an institution, Newman found his niche composing music and songs for several animated films, including Tim Burton's "James and the Giant Peach" (1996), which earned him his ninth Academy Award nomination without a win. In 1998, he pulled off something that was accomplished only once before by Andre Previn in 1960, when he received Oscar nominations in three different categories: Original Musical or Comedy Score, Original Dramatic Score and Original Song for three different films - "A Bug's Life," "Pleasantville" and "That'll Do" from "Babe: Pig in the City," respectively. With the increased odds of winning, one might have safely assumed 1998 was Newman's year to finally break through. But as fate would have it, his Oscar glory would have to wait for another time. He had another shot at the title the following year for his song "When She Loved Me," which appeared in "Toy Story 2" (1999), but again he failed to make the grade. Meanwhile, following an 11-year hiatus from recording albums, he made Bad Love (1999), which found Newman returning to the biting satire that had made him famous in the 1970s.
After being nominated a 14th time for "A Fool in Love" from "Meet the Parents" (2000), Newman finally took home the coveted Oscar for his original song, "If I Didn't Have You," from the animated feature "Monsters, Inc." (2001). Beating out Sting and Paul McCartney, the "Susan Lucci of the Oscars" brought the house down when he accepted his long-desired statuette after 16 career nominations, imploring "I don't want y our pity." His total career Oscar nods pushed him ahead of Uncle Lionel's 11, though he was nowhere in the vicinity of Uncle Alfred's 45 nominations and nine wins. He was setting the pace, however, for the second generation of Newman movie composers, which included Alfred's sons David and Thomas. Meanwhile, "If I Didn't Have You" also earned him a Grammy Award, but winning the Oscar was, for him, the greatest satisfaction. Following a song for "Jurassic Park III" (2001), he wrote the music for the Oscar-nominated drama, "Seabiscuit" (2003), though no Academy Award nods came his way for those efforts. Newman settled into a nice creative groove with songs for "Kangaroo Jack" (2003), "Mr. 3000" (2004) and "Meet the Fockers" (2004) before he found himself back in Oscar contention for a 17th time for his song "Our Town," which was featured in Pixar's animated "Cars" (2006).
Following his composing the music for George Clooney's "Leatherheads" (2006), Newman joined forces again with Disney to pen the music and orchestrations for "The Princess and the Frog" (2009). Prior to that film score, he released another album after another decade-long hiatus, Harps and Angels (2008), which garnered strong critical acclaim. Meanwhile, he received yet more Oscar nominations for Best Original Song, this time for "Almost There" and "Down in New Orleans" from "The Princess and the Frog." He also found himself in Emmy contention for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for the song "When I'm Gone" from the long-running series, "Monk" (USA Network, 2001-09). Newman was again at the top of his game after writing the music for "Toy Story 3" (2010), which not only earned him a Grammy Award nomination for Best Score, but also his 20th Oscar nod, this time for his Best Original Song, "We Belong Together."
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Writer (Feature Film)
Music (Feature Film)
Misc. Crew (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Music (Special)
Life Events
1950
Started taking piano lessons at age six
1959
Wrote first songs at age 15
1960
At age 17, became a contract song writer for Metro Music (part of Liberty)
1962
First recorded song, "They Tell Me It's Summer," a B side sung by the Fleetwoods
1962
First TV credit, penned an untitled saxophone instrumental for an episode of "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis" (CBS)
1964
Worked at the TV music library at 20th Century Fox; wrote music cues and themes for series produced by the studio
1964
Contributed first song "Look at Me" to a Hollywood film "The Lively Set," co-written with Bobby Darin
1967
Joined Reprise Records as a recording artist
1968
Released self titled debut album, which included the song "I Think It's Gonna Rain Today"
1970
Had first U.S. hit with Three Dog Night's recording of "Mama Told Me Not to Come"
1970
Conducted music for "Performance" (film released 1972)
1971
Contributed an original song to "The Pursuit of Happiness"
1971
Wrote first film score for Norman Lear's "Cold Turkey"
1977
Had first commercial success with the song "Short People"; led to first gold record for album <i>Little Criminals</i>
1981
Composed film score for Milos Forman's "Ragtime"; received first Golden Globe and Oscar nominations for Best Original Score and Best Song ("One More Hour")
1983
Released <i>Trouble in Paradise</i>, which included the hit single "I Love L.A."; song later used by the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium
1984
Provided the lush underscore for Barry Levinson's "The Natural"; earned third Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score
1986
Co-scripted "Three Amigos!" with Steve Martin and Lorne Michaels; also wrote three songs for film and provided voice for the singing bush
1988
Released the album <i>Land of Dreams</i>
1989
Wrote the song "I Love to See You Smile" for the Ron Howard film "Parenthood"; earned Golden Globe and Oscar nominations for Best Original Song
1990
Wrote the dramatic score to "Avalon," directed by Barry Levinson; earned fifth Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe nomination
1994
Received Best Song Academy Award nomination for "Make Up Your Mind" from the Ron Howard film "The Paper"
1995
Provided music for first all-computer-generated animated film "Toy Story"; earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Score and Golden Globe and Oscar nominations for Best Song ("You've Got a Friend")
1995
First composition for musical theater, "Faust"; project put on hold after second production in Chicago was met with mixed reviews; wrote the book as well as music and lyrics
1996
Picked up ninth Academy Award nomination for the score to animated film "James and the Giant Peach"
1997
Fired by director Wolfgang Petersen after completing the score for "Air Force One"; work was replaced by Jerry Goldsmith's score
1998
Earned tenth Oscar nomination for Best Original Song "That'll Do" from "Babe: Pig in the City"
1998
Composed the music for "A Bug's Life" and "Pleasantville"; earned Best Original Score Academy Award nominations for both films
1999
Penned the lively score for animated sequel "Toy Story 2"; also wrote songs including "When She Loved You"; earned Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations for Best Original Score
2001
Earned 14th career Academy Award nomination for the song "A Fool in Love" from "Meet the Parents"
2002
Won first Academy Award for the song "If I Didn't Have You" from animated film "Monsters, Inc."; also nominated for Best Original Score
2002
Wrote the theme song of "Monk" (USA Network) titled "It's a Jungle out There"
2003
Contributed on the soundtrack of "Seabiscuit"
2004
Wrote music for comedy sequel "Meet the Fockers"
2006
Scored animated film "Cars" and wrote the song "Our Town"; earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song
2009
Wrote music for Disney animated feature "The Princess and the Frog"; earned two Oscar nominations for Original Song for "Almost There" and "Down in New Orleans"; also earned a Grammy nomination for Best Song for "Down in New Orleans"
2010
Composed score for "Toy Story 3"; earned Grammy nomination for Best Score Soundtrack
2012
Announced as an inductee into the 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Videos
Movie Clip
Trailer
Family
Companions
Bibliography
Notes
There is a Web site at www.randynewman.com
Because his father was in the US Army between 1944-46, the family moved frequently, living in New Orleans, Louisiana; Jackson, Mississippi; and Mobile, Alabama. As a result, Newman's birthplace is often mistakenly said to be New Orleans.
As a child, Newman had four or five operations for crossed eyes.
Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002.
"I prefer making a little noise to being mellowed out. If I had to eliminate easy listening or heavy metal, I'd eliminate easy listening. If one thing had to go, I'd eliminate the sort of nice, mellow music to chew potato chips and talk to your friends by. I don't care for that too much. I like the edge to rock. Mostly, I admire people who say something." --Randy Newman quoted in Playboy, 1987.
"I know it's not the wisest thing to say when one is entering the field, but except for Stephen Sondheim and the occasional show like 'Falsettos', I don't think what's on Broadway today measures up to the past. Most television is better. To me there's no doubt about the fact that for years the best music has been rock-and-roll." --Newman to Stephen Holden in The New York Times, September 24, 1995.
"I always thought I'd do pictures. I had classical training and could do it, I thought. But, yeah, some trepidation because, I mean, they were strict. I'd have lunch at Fox where Lionel [Newman] and Jerry Goldsmith and Johnny Williams would be sitting around. I heard somebody say once, 'Oh, Beethoven's Emperor Concerto is a piece of shit.' It makes a kid a little nervous hearing that. They'd see a concert and be complaining: 'They never took the goddam mutes off.' So I'm listening to all this stuff, and my mouth drops open. It made you afraid to put a note down. Now I know, you know? Fuck it. It's just talk. As great as Johnny and Jerry are and were, there's room for others." --Newman quoted in The Hollywood Reporter Film & TV Music Special Issue, January 15, 1997.
"My uncles were kinda different in the way they dealt with how I didn't go in for their kind of Hollywood music composing careers. Emil was always supportive. Alfred mysteriously kept telling me, 'Whatever you do, keep writing songs.' Lionel was nice but he could also be rough. At a family party in the 80s, he was playing some 1930s songs, and called out to me, 'Rand? Is this song yours?' I told him it wasn't, and he answered, 'I was wondering, because it doesn't have a melody.'" --Newman to Robert Koehler, quoted in Daily Variety, July 15, 1997.
"Randy Newman should be a happy man, but he seems steeped in bitterness. He is bitter because the music he writes for the movies (like the upbeat score for 'Toy Story' and the lush orchestration for 'Ragtime') sells better, and earns more recognition, than the biting songs he writes for himself, songs like 'Short People,' 'Rednecks' and 'Lonely at the Top.'" --From The New York Times, March 22, 2002.
"It was a bigger deal than I'd have thought. I was actually touched when the orchestra stood up and the people stood up. I was surprised at how moved I was." --Newman on the response when he received the Oscar in People^, 04/15/02