Randy Edelman

Randy Edelman (born June 10, 1947) is an American film and television composer.

Edelman was born in Paterson, New Jersey, to a Jewish family. He was raised in Teaneck, New Jersey, the son of a first-grade teacher and an accountant. He attended the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music before heading to New York where he played piano in Broadway pit orchestras. He produced several solo albums of songs (some of which were later recorded by The Carpenters ("I Can't Make Music", "Piano Picker" and "You"), Barry Manilow ("Weekend in New England"), "If Love Is Real" from Olivia Newton-John's Making a Good Thing Better, Dionne Warwick, The Laughter and the Tears, Blood Sweat and Tears, Blue Street, and many others before moving to Los Angeles. It was there where Edelman started to work in television and film scoring while producing his solo albums which found cult following in the UK, Europe, and Japan.

Musical scores

One of his first film scores was for the 1973 movie Executive Action, which put forward a conspiracy theory concerning the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy in 1963. In the mid-1980s, Edelman wrote the theme to, and scored many episodes of MacGyver, a popular television series starring Richard Dean Anderson.

During the 1980s and early 1990s, he also collaborated with Ivan Reitman, producing scores for several of his comedies, including Ghostbusters II, Twins and Kindergarten Cop. He also contributed to Beethoven, The Last of the Mohicans, The Mask, Daylight, Anaconda, XXX, Gettysburg, My Cousin Vinny, While You Were Sleeping, Dragonheart, Shanghai Noon, Six Days, Seven Nights, The Indian in the Cupboard, Billy Madison, Angels in the Outfield, and EDtv to name just a few.

Edelman was honored with the Richard Kirk Award at the 2003 BMI Film and TV Awards. The award is given annually to a composer who has made significant contributions to film and television music. In 2004 he received an honorary doctorate in fine arts from the University of Cincinnati. He was given the degree along with three other honorees distinguished in various other fields, including Coretta Scott King.

He produced the scores for the 2008 film The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. This score was recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London where in 2010 Randy also recorded and composed the Irish flavored music score for Amy Adams film Leap Year.He was awarded the Goldspirit Award (named in honor of Jerry Goldsmith) for best comedy score of 2011 for the Leap Year soundtrack CD on Varese Sarabande.

Scores reused elsewhere

While some of the films scored by Edelman were not commercial successes, the music was often reused elsewhere. Themes he wrote for Dragonheart, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (particularly the movie's love theme Bruce and Linda), Gettysburg and other films have been widely used in television advertising, film trailers, Disney movies including Mulan, and during the Academy Awards. In particular, the rousing yet heartwarming theme of Dragon, featured in "The Premiere of THE BIG BOSS" and "The Dragon's Heartbeat" have become synonymous with tear-jerking films of bittersweet yet triumphant rises to glory, featuring prominently in trailers of films like Patch Adams, The Truman Show, In Love and War and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone film. Themes from his score for Come See the Paradise have been used in film trailers more than cues from any other film soundtrack.

NBC Sports

His music from The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. is featured during NBC's Olympic Games coverage when announcing upcoming events. In addition, it was used during NBC's coverage of the 1997 World Series. At the end of the 1996 Summer Olympics, it used the closing music of Gettysburg. In the 1990s, Edelman composed the popular theme music for NBC's NFL telecasts which was used for the 1995–97 seasons through Super Bowl XXXII.

Personal life

Edelman has been married to singer Jackie DeShannon since June 3, 1976. DeShannon is known for such 1960s hits as "When You Walk in the Room", "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" and "What the World Needs Now Is Love". Edelman is DeShannon's second husband and they have a son, Noah D. Edelman.

Charted Solo Singles

• "Everybody Wants to Find a Bluebird" (March 1975) – #92 US / #18 AC (US)
• "Concrete and Clay" (March 1976) – #11 AC (US), No. 11 UK - cover version of the hit for the British pop group Unit 4 + 2
• "Uptown Uptempo Woman" (September 1976) – No. 25 UK
• "You" (January 1977) – No. 49 UK
• "Nobody Made Me" (July 1982) – No. 60 UK

Solo Albums

• Randy Edelman – MGM Records, 1972 (LP)
• The Laughter and the Tears – MGM Records, 1972 (LP)
• Outside In - MGM Records, 1972 (LP)
• Prime Cuts – 20th Century Records, 1974 (LP and CD)
• Farewell Fairbanks – 20th Century Records, 1975 (LP and CD)
• If Love is Real – Arista Records, 1977 (LP and CD)
• You're the One – Arista Records, 1979 (LP and CD)
• Up-town Up-tempo, The Best Of Randy Edelman – 20th Century Records, 1979 (LP)
• On Time – Rocket Records, 1982 (LP)
• Randy Edelman and his Piano – PRT Records, 1984 (LP and CD)
• Switch of the Seasons – PRT Records (Polar), 1985 (LP)
• Up-town Up-tempo Woman (Compilation) – Warwick Reflection Records, 1987 (CD)
• And His Piano ... The Very Best of Randy Edelman – Revola/Cherry Red Records, 2003 (CD)
• The Pacific Flow To Abbey Road – Cherry Red (UK) / Varese Sarabande (US), 2011 (CD)

Partial list of artists who have covered Edelman's songs (both music and lyrics):

• Barry Manilow – Weekend in New England (#10, US)
• The Carpenters – I Can't Make Music, You, Piano Picker
• Labelle – Isn't it a Shame
• Olivia Newton John – If Love is Real
• Nelly – My Place
• Dionne Warwick – You are the Sunlight, I am the Moon, The Laughter and Tears, Give a Little Laughter
• Blood Sweat and Tears – Blue Street
• Jackie DeShannon – Sunny Days, Let the Sailors Dance
• Agnetha Faltskog (of ABBA) – Turn The World Around
• The Fifth Dimension – Everybody Wants to Call You Sweetheart
• Kool and the Gang – Amore Amore
• Bing Crosby – The Woman On Your Arm
• Shirley Bassey – Isn't It a Shame
• Nancy Wilson – The Laughter and the Tears
• Rosemary Clooney – You
• Petula Clark – Make a time for Lovin'

Film

Television