Mark Mueller | |
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Background information | |
Born | July 11, 1957 |
Origin | California, U.S. |
Genres | Pop, rock, R&B/soul, Musical theater |
Occupation | Songwriter |
Mark Mueller (born July 11, 1957) is an American songwriter. A two-time winner of the ASCAP Pop Award for writing one of the Most Performed Songs of the year, he has had three Billboard Hot 100 Top Ten singles and one #1 Adult Contemporary hit. He co-wrote the hits "Crush" by Jennifer Paige and "That's What Love Is For" by Amy Grant and wrote both words and music for the Top 10 hit "Nothin' At All" by Heart. Songs he has written have been featured on RIAA-certified gold and platinum records in four consecutive decades: the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s; and on the Billboard Top 10 charts for 30 years. [1] [2]
For his work in television, Mueller has been the recipient of two Emmy nominations, both in the category of Outstanding Achievement in Music and Lyrics. Mueller wrote the words and music for the theme songs of both the original Disney's DuckTales and Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers animated TV series as well as the 2017 DuckTales reboot. [3] In 2022, Mueller's Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers theme song was performed by rapper and singer Post Malone for the Disney+ movie version of Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers and also appears on the soundtrack. [4]
A Vanity Fair magazine article about Mueller and his DuckTales theme song covered his pop music career and his experience writing the song. [5] In 2023, two of his themes were included in Billboard magazine's list of the 100 "Best Disney Songs of All Time" (film, television and theme park music) marking the studio's first 100 years, with DuckTales ranked at #19 and Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers at #63. [6] Mueller was born in the Bay Area and graduated from University of California, Berkeley; he lives and works in Los Angeles. [7] [8] [9]
"Crush", recorded by Jennifer Paige, was #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart for 4 weeks. [10] It spent 17 weeks in the Top 10 and 25 weeks overall on the chart. [11] "Crush" also peaked at #2 on the R&R CHR/Pop airplay chart. [10] [12] "Crush" was also the 10th most played pop song of the year on the R&R CHR/Pop Year-End Chart. [13]
"Crush" was a #1 single in Canada, Spain, New Zealand and Australia. In the UK, "Crush" reached #1 on the airplay chart and #4 on the UK Singles Chart, where it spent three weeks in the Top 10. [14]
In 2016, "Crush" returned to the Billboard Top 10 when it peaked at #5 on the magazine's Smooth Jazz Airplay chart in a cover by jazz keyboardist John Novello. His version features R&B saxophone artist Gerald Albright on the chorus. It spent a total of 19 weeks in the Top 30. [15] [16] [17] [18]
"That's What Love Is For" by Amy Grant was #1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart for 3 weeks (13 weeks in the Top 10 and 32 weeks on the chart overall), reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (4 weeks in the Top 10) and peaked at #4 on the R&R CHR chart. [19] [20] [21] [22]
"Nothin' at All" by Heart reached #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent 16 weeks on the chart overall. [23] The song peaked at #8 for two weeks on the R&R CHR pop airplay chart and was #6 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs for two weeks as well, staying in the Top 10 for four weeks. [24] [25] Mueller wrote both words and music for the Pop/Rock song.
Mueller's Eternal single "I Am Blessed" peaked at #7 on the UK BPI singles chart, spending three weeks in the Top 10. [26]
"Someone", performed by El DeBarge made the Top 20 Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and peaked at #20, where it spent two weeks. Overall it stayed on the magazine's Adult Contemporary Chart for 13 weeks as well as 9 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. It was co-written with twice Grammy Award-winner Jay Graydon and singer Robbie Nevil. [27] [28]
Earth, Wind & Fire recorded "You & I", a single Mueller co-wrote with singer Robbie Nevil that was a Billboard R&B Chart Top 30 hit in 1987, reaching #29. [28]
ABBA's Agnetha Faltskog recorded Mueller's "I Wasn't the One (Who Said Goodbye)", which was a Top 20 hit in 1988, reaching #19 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart. It was a duet with Peter Cetera, former lead singer of the band Chicago. Co-written with Aaron Zigman, the song also spent time in the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #93. [28]
George Benson's "No One Emotion", which Mueller co-wrote with Clif Magness, was released as a single in the UK in 1985 where it reached #76 on the Official British Pop Chart. [28] [29] [30]
"Just Because I Love You" by Lina Santiago reached #27 on the Billboard Rhythmic Top 40 Chart hit in 1996. It spent eight weeks in the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #78. [28] [31]
Mueller's first Billboard chart hit was "I Don't Want To Be Lonely", performed by Dana Valery. [32] [33] It reached #23 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and spent 13 weeks on that chart and five weeks on the magazine's Hot 100.
Mueller's work in the U.S. has been featured on RIAA-certified platinum and gold records by artists including: Heart, Amy Grant, 'N Sync featuring Justin Timberlake, Lea Michele (on the Glee: The Music, Volume 2 Soundtrack), Jennifer Paige, Earth, Wind & Fire, SWV, Al Jarreau, George Benson, Aaron Carter, El DeBarge, Agnetha Fältskog of ABBA, Peter Cetera, and The Pointer Sisters (on the Billboard #1 We Are The World album). His theme song for DuckTales is featured on the platinum-selling record The Music of Disney: A Legacy in Song .
Internationally, Mueller's songs have been on the UK's BPI-certified platinum and gold records by artists including: Girls Aloud featuring Cheryl Cole, Eternal, Steps and Australia's ARIA-certified gold records including: Jennifer Paige, Lea Michele ( Glee: The Music, Volume 2 ) and lead singer of Little River Band John Farnham's solo album Age of Reason , which went 11 x platinum. [34] [35]
Mueller received his two Emmy Award nominations for his work as a lyricist on the ABC-TV series Life Goes On and the NBC-TV series Quincy, M.E. . He wrote both words and music for the title song of Disney's animated series DuckTales (performed by Jeff Pescetto) and Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (performed by Pescetto on the series and The Jets on the Disney Afternoon album). He also wrote the theme song for 1991 film The Little Engine That Could .
Mueller co-wrote the title song, the lyrics and the script for an all-sung CBS-TV musical pilot he executive produced titled Shangri-La Plaza . [36] The show starred Terrence Mann, Chris Sarandon, Melora Hardin and Savion Glover. [37]
The DuckTales theme was performed live twice on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2018. In March 2018, it was sung by Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco after being selected from the "Audience Suggestion Box." [38] [39] In September 2018 Carrie Underwood sang a brief, spontaneous duet of the DuckTales theme with Jimmy Fallon after telling him it was one of her young son's favorite songs. [40]
The DuckTales theme was played live on ABC-TV's Dancing with the Stars in September 2016 on the second episode of the show's 23rd season, with a performance by the show's Season 20 champion Val Chmerkovskiy and Olympic Gold Medalist Laurie Hernandez. [41]
"Crush" was featured on the "Ballad" episode of Glee in 2009, when it was covered by Lea Michele. Her version of the song is also featured on the soundtrack album Glee: The Music, Volume 2 , which peaked at #1 on the Billboard Soundtrack Chart, #3 on the Billboard Hot 200 Album Chart in December 2009 and was certified as a gold record by the RIAA in January 2010. "Crush" was also prominently used in a special TV-movie-length episode of ABC-TV's Sabrina, the Teenage Witch set in Rome.
Mueller wrote the song "Babysitting Blues", performed by actress Elisabeth Shue, Blues legend Albert Collins and the cast of Adventures in Babysitting in Chicago-area nightclub Fitzgerald's. The scene was shot over the course of three days and takes place during a pivotal chase sequence. [42]
For the NBC-TV musical comedy series Rags to Riches, Mueller wrote new comedic lyrics for existing hit songs from the '50s and '60s that were featured in most episodes of both seasons of the show. He also wrote the lyrics to the show's theme song.
With Lalo Schifrin, Mueller co-wrote all songs featured in the original film musical Berlin Blues, starring Julia Migenes.
Mueller's songs have been featured in films including: One Hour Photo , Pokémon: The First Movie , Money Talks , B*A*P*S , National Lampoon's Vegas Vacation , The Last Starfighter , Adventures in Babysitting , Simply Irresistible , The Legend of Billie Jean and Honey, I Blew Up The Kid . [36]
Mueller wrote the lyrics and co-wrote the book of an original musical titled Butterfly, which was directed by Jack Hofsiss and performed at the Goodspeed Opera House. Bernadette Peters performed the song "The Next Dream" from the musical on the Carol Burnett TV variety show Carol & Company .
Mueller also created an original musical, How The Hell Did I Get Here?, with Downton Abbey star and SAG Award-winning actress Lesley Nicol. Mueller, who accompanies Nicol on piano onstage, first performed the show in 2017 at Nicol's alma mater, London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama and in Hong Kong at the historic Fringe Club. [43] [44] [45] [46] [47]
How The Hell Did I Get Here? opened in Chicago in March 2022 and made its New York City Off-Broadway debut in April 2022. The show received an Off Broadway Alliance Award nomination in the category of best Solo Performance in May. [48] [49] [50] The show was scheduled to be a part of the Pittsburgh Public Theater 2022 season at the O'Reilly Theater but was initially postponed due to Covid and later to a death in Nicol's family. [51] [52] [53]
Year | Category | Show | Song | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
1983 | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics | Quincy, M.E. | "Quincy's Wedding Song" [54] | Nominated |
1991 | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics | Life Goes On | "Bittersweet Waltz" [55] | Nominated |
Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1991 | "That's What Love Is For" by Amy Grant | Most Performed Songs | Won | [56] |
1998 | "Crush" by Jennifer Paige | Won | [57] |
Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1986 | "Nothin' at All" by Heart | Most Performed Songs | Won | [2] |
DuckTales is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. It originally premiered on syndication on September 18, 1987, and ran for a total of 100 episodes over four seasons, with its final episode airing on November 28, 1990. Based upon Uncle Scrooge and other Duck universe comic books created by Carl Barks, the show follows Scrooge McDuck, his three grandnephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and close friends of the group, on various adventures, most of which either involve seeking out treasure or thwarting the efforts of villains seeking to steal Scrooge's fortune or his Number One Dime.
"Stranger on the Shore" is a piece for clarinet written by Acker Bilk for his young daughter and originally named "Jenny" after her. The tune was written on a single scrap of paper by Bilk and handed over to arranger Leon Young who crafted the string arrangement, including the characteristic harmonic shifts at the very end.
"I'll Be There for You" is a song by American pop rock duo the Rembrandts. The song was written by David Crane, Marta Kauffman and Allee Willis as the main theme song to the NBC sitcom Friends, which was broadcast from 1994 to 2004. American rock band R.E.M. was originally asked to allow their song "Shiny Happy People" to be used for the Friends theme, but they turned the opportunity down. "I'll Be There for You" was subsequently written and Warner Bros. Television selected the only available band on Warner Bros. Records to record it: the Rembrandts. In 1995, after a Nashville radio station brought the song to mainstream popularity, Rembrandts members Danny Wilde and Phil Sōlem expanded the theme song with two new verses and included this version on their third studio album, L.P. (1995).
"Breakaway" is a power ballad song recorded by American singer Kelly Clarkson. The song, written by Matthew Gerrard, Bridget Benenate, and Avril Lavigne, was originally intended for Lavigne's debut studio album, Let Go (2002). After being deemed unsuitable for the album, it was passed to Clarkson to be recorded as a soundtrack for the film The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004). Clarkson, who was finishing her second studio album at that time, recorded "Breakaway" to tide her fans over until the first single from her new album was released. However, the song's success prompted its inclusion on Clarkson's second album, while the record label decided to name the album after the song. "Breakaway" was first released as the first single from The Princess Diaries 2 soundtrack on July 19, 2004. In May 2006, "Breakaway" was reissued as the fifth and final single from the album of the same name.
"A Whole New World" is the signature song from Disney's 1992 animated feature film Aladdin, with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Tim Rice. A duet originally recorded by singers Brad Kane and Lea Salonga in their respective roles as the singing voices of the main characters Aladdin and Jasmine, the ballad serves as both the film's love and theme song. Lyrically, "A Whole New World" describes Aladdin showing the confined princess a life of freedom and the pair's acknowledgment of their love for each other while riding on a magic carpet.
The Jets are a Tongan American family music group from Robbinsdale, a suburb of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Jets are composed of brothers and sisters LeRoy, Eddie, Eugene, Haini, Rudy, Kathi, Elizabeth, and Moana Wolfgramm, who perform pop, R&B, and dance music. They started performing as a family band in 1977. The group enjoyed worldwide success in 1985–1990, performing three world tours, and producing five top-10 hits on the US Billboard Hot 100.
"Kiss from a Rose" is a song from British singer-songwriter Seal's second eponymous album (1994). The song was first released as a single in July 1994 by ZTT, Sire and Warner Bros., and included in the film The NeverEnding Story III that year.
"Ease on Down the Road" is a song from the 1975 Broadway musical The Wiz, an R&B re-interpretation of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The Charlie Smalls–composed tune is the show's version of both "Follow the Yellow Brick Road" and "We're Off to See the Wizard" from the 1939 version of The Wizard of Oz. In the song, performed three times during the show, Dorothy and her friends the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion dance their way down the Yellow Brick Road and give each other words of encouragement.
"You'll Be in My Heart" is a song by English drummer and singer Phil Collins from the 1999 Disney animated feature Tarzan. It appeared on Tarzan: An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack as well as various other Disney compilations. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, and became Collins' last US top-40 single, peaking at number 21.
"Because You Loved Me" is a song performed by Canadian singer Celine Dion on her fourth English-language studio album, Falling into You (1996). It was released on 19 February 1996 as the first single in North America, and as the second single in the United Kingdom on 20 May 1996. "Because You Loved Me" was written by Diane Warren and produced by David Foster, and served as the theme song from the 1996 film Up Close & Personal, starring Robert Redford and Michelle Pfeiffer. Billboard ranked it as the 14th "Top Love Song of All Time".
"Glory of Love" is a 1986 song performed by Peter Cetera, which he wrote and composed with his then-wife Diane Nini and David Foster. The song was recorded by Cetera shortly after he left the band Chicago to pursue a solo career. Featured in the film The Karate Kid Part II (1986), it was Cetera's first hit single after he left the band, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and it was included on his album Solitude/Solitaire (1986), which Michael Omartian produced.
"Home" is a 2007 song by American rock band Daughtry from their self-titled debut album. The song had been climbing up the U.S. charts for a few weeks before the song was announced as the second single from the album. The song was covered by Irish musician Kian Egan that served as the lead single from his debut album also titled Home.
Lesley Nicol is an English actress, a three-time SAG Award winner in the Best Cast in a Drama Series category for her role as Beryl Patmore in the ITV and PBS drama TV series Downton Abbey. She also starred in the 2019 feature film adaptation of the series and its 2022 sequel.
"Crush" is a song by American singer Jennifer Paige. The teen pop song was written by Andy Goldmark, Mark Mueller, Berny Cosgrove and Kevin Clark. It was released as the first single from her debut album, Jennifer Paige (1998). The music video for "Crush" was produced by Kati Haberstok and directed by David Hogan. "Crush" topped the charts in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand while peaking at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100, where it stayed for four consecutive weeks in September 1998. In the United Kingdom, "Crush" reached number four on the UK Singles Chart, and it also reached number four in France. It became a top-10 hit in at least 11 other countries, including Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, and Spain.
"Danny's Song" is a song written by American singer-songwriter Kenny Loggins, as a gift for his brother Danny for the birth of his son, Colin. It first appeared on an album by Gator Creek and a year later on the album Sittin' In, the debut album by Loggins and Messina. The song is well remembered for both the Loggins and Messina original, as well as for Anne Murray's 1972 top-ten-charting cover.
"Good Life" is a song by American pop rock band OneRepublic, taken from their second studio album, Waking Up (2009). The song was written by group members Ryan Tedder, Brent Kutzle, and Eddie Fisher along with group associate Noel Zancanella. It was produced by Tedder, with co-production by Kutzle and Zancanella.
"Girl Crush" is a song written by Lori McKenna, Hillary Lindsey and Liz Rose, and performed by American country music group Little Big Town. It was released on December 15, 2014 as the second single from their sixth studio album, Pain Killer. The song received mostly positive reviews from music critics, won five music awards, including two Grammys, reaching number 3 on the Country Airplay charts and number one on the Hot Country Songs chart, ended up being the second-most played song of 2015 on the format, and is certified Sextuple Platinum in the US.
"Uma Thurman" is a song by American rock band Fall Out Boy, released digitally on January 12, 2015. The song prominently features sampled theme music from the television series The Munsters (1964–66) and lyrics celebrating the actress Uma Thurman, famous for films such as Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill.
"Fight Song" is a song by American singer-songwriter Rachel Platten, released on February 19, 2015, through Columbia Records. The song was included on Platten's debut extended play (EP.) of the same name (2015), and her second studio album, Wildfire (2015). The pop rock song was written by Platten and Dave Bassett, and produced by Jon Levine. Platten, at the time a struggling musician, was inspired to write the song to promote self-empowerment.
"Cake by the Ocean" is the debut single by American band DNCE. It was released through Republic Records as the lead single from their debut extended play, Swaay, on September 18, 2015. It was also included on their self-titled debut studio album, which was released in 2016. "Cake by the Ocean" is a 1970s-inspired pop, R&B, dance, and disco-funk song. Lyrically, it is about sexual intercourse.
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