Walter Murphy | |
---|---|
Birth name | Walter Anthony Murphy Jr. |
Born | New York City, New York, U.S. | December 19, 1952
Genres | |
Occupation(s) |
|
Instrument(s) |
|
Years active | 1970–present |
Labels | |
Website | www |
Walter Anthony Murphy Jr. (born December 19, 1952) is an American composer, keyboardist, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for the instrumental "A Fifth of Beethoven", a disco adaptation of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony which topped the charts in 1976 and was featured on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack in 1977. Further classical-disco fusions followed, such as "Flight '76", "Toccata and Funk in 'D' Minor" "Bolero", and "Mostly Mozart", but were not as successful.
In a career spanning over five decades, Murphy has written music for numerous films and TV shows, including The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson , The Savage Bees, Stingray , Wiseguy , The Commish , Profit , Buffy the Vampire Slayer , Looney Tunes , and How Murray Saved Christmas . He has had a long-running partnership with Seth MacFarlane, composing music for his films and TV shows such as Family Guy , American Dad , The Cleveland Show, Ted , Ted 2 and the Ted television series.
Murphy was born on December 19, 1952, in New York City, [1] and grew up in Manhattan. At age four, he attended music lessons hosted by Rosa Rio, [2] studying an array of instruments, including the organ [3] and piano. [1] [4] Rio frequently opted for him to star in television advertisements for the Hammond organ. [1] In high school, Murphy composed for his band class and orchestra. [5]
Against the wishes of his father, who was a real estate agent and wished to pass the business down to his son, [3] Murphy enrolled in the Manhattan School of Music under a composition major in 1970. [5] recalling his experiences with his father, Murphy stated "He wanted me to be a doctor or lawyer — or something you can depend on." [3] There, Murphy studied jazz and classical piano [6] with Nicolas Flagello and Ludmila Ulehla. [5] His postgraduate studies at the Manhattan School yielded the composition "Chorale and Allegro for Orchestra", which has been performed by orchestras throughout the United States. [5]
From 1970 to 1980, Murphy worked as a Manhattan Avenue jingle writer, writing for such clients as Lady Arrow shirts, Revlon, Woolworth's, Viasa Airlines, and Korvette's, as well as arrangements for the popular children's television series Big Blue Marble . [3] [7] [6]
In the early 1970s, Murphy was the leader of the soul/R&B cover band WAM. They gigged in the New York tri-state area, [8] often at the New Rochelle club Pearly's.
During an appointment with Bobby Rosengarden, bandleader of the Dick Cavett Show orchestra, Murphy convinced the group to play some of his arrangements when he found Rosengarden to be absent. [9] Looking back on the situation, he stated "I still can't believe I did it. I'm not a very forward person." [9] Since the band "wasn't very busy," they performed his arrangements live and enjoyed them, convincing Murphy to write more. [9]
In April 1972, a fellow student from the Manhattan School of Music introduced Murphy to Doc Severinsen, musical director of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson . Murphy presented his arrangements to Severinsen, who liked them enough to have The Tonight Show Band play them live. However, The Tonight Show moved production to Burbank, California a month later, and a final year of college prevented Murphy from joining them. [9]
In 1974, Murphy joined Thomas J. Valentino's company Valentino, Inc., composing much of their library music for film and television over the years.
In 1976, Murphy played piano on Peter Lemongello's second album Do I Love You. [3]
In college, Murphy's interests had included rock music, particularly that which was adapted from classical music, such as "Joy" by Apollo 100 and "A Lover's Concerto" by The Toys. Later, in 1976, he was writing a disco song for a commercial, when a producer gave him the idea of "updating classical music," which "nobody had done lately." [9] He then recorded a demo tape of four songs: three were ordinary pop songs, while the fourth was a disco rendition of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony titled "A Fifth of Beethoven" [10] —and mailed it to various record labels in New York City. Response was generally unimpressive, but "Fifth" caught the interest of Private Stock Records owner Larry Uttal.
Murphy signed on to Private Stock and recorded the album A Fifth of Beethoven. The first single and title track, "A Fifth of Beethoven", was released on May 29, 1976. It was a hit, starting out at number 80 on the Billboard Hot 100 and eventually reaching number 1 within 19 weeks, where it stayed for one week. The single sold two million copies, while the album sold about 750,000 copies. The second single, a rendition of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee" titled "Flight '76", was less successful, reaching only number 44 on the Hot 100 [11] and number 35 in Canada. [12]
The single was initially credited to "Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band" upon encouragement from Private Stock, who believed it would become a hit if credited to a group rather than an individual. However, two days following the record's release, Private Stock discovered the existence of another Big Apple Band (which promptly changed its name to Chic). As result, the record was later re-released and credited to "The Walter Murphy Band", then just "Walter Murphy". [11]
Following the success of "A Fifth of Beethoven", Murphy toured with his band and made guest appearances on shows such as Don Kirshner's Rock Concert , The Midnight Special , Dinah! , and American Bandstand . On the success of the single, he said: "It's really sad that the kids today can only relate to Beethoven via a rock version of his music." He hoped "that maybe if they've heard this much of his symphony, they'll go out and buy the original." [3]
In 1977, "A Fifth of Beethoven" was licensed to RSO Records for inclusion on the soundtrack to the film Saturday Night Fever , giving the song a new lease on life. [11] Also that year, Murphy recorded the album Rhapsody in Blue, which contained a similar mix of classical-disco fusion and self-penned pop songs. [13] Two singles were released: a disco treatment of George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue", and the self-penned instrumental "Uptown Serenade." The former narrowly missed the top 100, but received significant play on easy-listening stations, according to Billboard .
In 1978, Murphy recorded the album Phantom of the Opera, a concept album telling the story of The Phantom of the Opera , featuring Gene Pistilli as Erik/The Phantom, B.G. Gibson as Raoul, and Renée Geyer as Christine. The album spawned three singles: "Dance Your Face Off"/"Gentle Explosion" (a double A-side), "Toccata and Funk in 'D' Minor", and "The Music Will Not End". These singles failed to make the Hot 100, club, or radio charts. [14]
Murphy signed on to RCA in 1979, and released the album Walter Murphy's Discosymphony. The album spawned the singles "Bolero" and "Mostly Mozart"; the latter failed to chart, indicating that Murphy had taken the "classical disco" concept as far as it could go.
Also in 1979, Murphy and Gene Pistilli joined with brothers Eddie and Frank Dillard, forming the band Uncle Louie. They signed on to TK Records and released one album, Uncle Louie's Here, which explored a more aggressive, funk-based angle than Murphy's solo albums. The album spawned three singles: "Full-Tilt Boogie", which reached number 19 on the Billboard R&B chart, "I Like Funky Music", and "Sky High".
Around this time, Murphy and Pistilli wrote and/or produced songs for other artists, including "Something to Hold Onto" (1981) by Harry Belafonte and "What's Wrong With This Picture?" (1980) by Lora Lee Cliff. Murphy also contributed arrangements to Jack Jones's Nobody Does It Better (1979) and Pia Zadora's Rock It Out (1984).
In 1982, Murphy signed on to MCA Records and recorded Themes from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and More. The album contained disco- and pop-tinged arrangements of themes to popular movies of the time, such as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial , Indiana Jones , and Poltergeist . The album spawned one single, a medley of "Themes from ET (The Extra-Terrestrial)", which climbed to number 47 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Following Themes from E.T., Murphy largely ceased touring and recording studio albums of original material. He instead began focusing more exclusively on composing for film and television, and producing for other artists, in a more behind-the-scenes role.
Artists that Murphy has recorded and/or produced for include Dolly Parton, Sylvester Stallone, Jennifer Warnes, Siedah Garrett, Tim Schmitt, Richie Havens, Isaac Hayes, Taj Mahal, Paul Williams, and Kenny Rankin. He was also a guest conductor for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, during their successful Summer Pops series. [5]
In 1984, Murphy and television composer Mike Post co-produced Alabama's "Rock on the Bayou", the B-side to the band's hit single "(There's A) Fire in the Night". "Rock on the Bayou" was featured in the independent film The River Rat , which Post also composed the music for.
In 1985, Murphy collaborated with Post, Rick James, and Issac Hayes on scoring music for The A-Team episode "The Heart of Rock 'N Roll". [15]
Since 1999, Murphy has served as one of the two main composers for the animated series Family Guy , the other being Ron Jones until the 12th season in 2014. He has described his scores for Family Guy as "a combination of [big-band swing and action-orchestral]." [16] The song "You've Got a Lot to See", composed for the episode "Brian Wallows and Peter's Swallows", won the award for Outstanding Music and Lyrics at the 2002 Emmy Awards. [17] In 2005, Murphy scored music for the offshoot album Family Guy: Live in Vegas . [18]
Since 2005, Murphy is one of the composers for MacFarlane's American Dad! , the other two being Joel McNeely and Ron Jones, as well as composing the series' theme song "Good Morning USA". [16]
From 2009 to 2013, Murphy composed music for MacFarlane's series The Cleveland Show , including the main title theme. [16]
In 2012, Murphy scored MacFarlane's film Ted , and received an Academy Award for Best Original Song nomination for co-writing "Everybody Needs a Best Friend" with MacFarlane.
Murphy is also a longtime collaborator with jazz guitarist Thom Rotella, who had played on Murphy's albums A Fifth of Beethoven and Phantom of the Opera and currently performs with his Family Guy orchestra. [19] In 1989, Murphy arranged the song "The Gift" on Rotella's album Home Again. In 2014, Murphy and Rotella wrote and recorded a four-track big band project, inspired by the Wes Montgomery and Verve-era Oliver Nelson records of the 1960s that the two of them had grown up on. The project was recorded in Capitol Studio A with engineer Al Schmitt, and performed by renown Los Angeles session musicians. [20]
Title | Album details |
---|---|
A Fifth of Beethoven (as The Walter Murphy Band) |
|
Rhapsody in Blue |
|
Phantom of the Opera |
|
Walter Murphy's Discosymphony |
|
Uncle Louie's Here (with Uncle Louie) | |
Themes from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and More |
|
Family Guy: Live in Vegas (as Walter Murphy and His Orchestra) |
|
Ted: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (with Various Artists) |
|
Ted 2: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (with Various Artists) |
|
Title | Album details |
---|---|
The Best of Walter Murphy: A Fifth of Beethoven |
|
Title | Year | Album |
---|---|---|
"Disco Bells" | 1975 | N/A |
"A Fifth of Beethoven" | 1976 | A Fifth of Beethoven |
"Flight '76" | 1976 | A Fifth of Beethoven |
"Rhapsody in Blue" | 1977 | Rhapsody in Blue |
"Uptown Serenade" | 1977 | Rhapsody in Blue |
"Dance Your Face Off"/"Gentle Explosion" | 1978 | Phantom of the Opera |
"Toccata and Funk in 'D' Minor" | 1978 | Phantom of the Opera |
"The Music Will Not End" | 1978 | Phantom of the Opera |
"Mostly Mozart" | 1979 | Walter Murphy's Discosymphony |
"Bolero" | 1979 | Walter Murphy's Discosymhpony |
"Full-Tilt Boogie" | 1979 | Uncle Louie's Here |
"I Like Funky Music" | 1979 | Uncle Louie's Here |
"Sky High" | 1979 | Uncle Louie's Here |
"Themes from E.T. (the Extra-Terrestrial)" | 1982 | Themes from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and More |
Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric piano, synthesizers, and electric rhythm guitars.
The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood with drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop and classical arrangements with futuristic iconography. After Wood's departure in 1972, Lynne became the band's sole leader, arranging and producing every album while writing nearly all of their original material. From this point until their first break-up in 1986, Lynne, Bevan, and keyboardist Richard Tandy were the group's only consistent members.
The 21st Annual Grammy Awards were held in 1979, and were broadcast live on American television. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1978.
The 37th Annual Grammy Awards were presented on March 1, 1995, at Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Bruce Springsteen was the night's biggest winner with 4 awards, including Song of the Year while opening the show with his Grammy nominated hit.
Carl Hilding "Doc" Severinsen is an American retired jazz trumpeter who led the NBC Orchestra on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
Seth Woodbury MacFarlane is an American actor, animator, writer, producer, director, comedian, and singer. MacFarlane is well known as the creator and star of the television series Family Guy and The Orville (2017–2022), and co-creator of the television series American Dad! and The Cleveland Show (2009–2013). He also co-wrote, directed, and starred in the films Ted (2012) and its sequel Ted 2 (2015), and A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014).
Kleeer was an American New York City–based funk, disco and post-disco band, which was formed in 1972 under the name The Jam Band, as a backup group to different disco bands and vocalists.
Family Guy: Live in Vegas is a soundtrack album for the American animated television series Family Guy. It was released on April 26, 2005 by Geffen Records. It was composed by Walter Murphy and creator Seth MacFarlane. The album features only one song from the series: the theme song; the rest of the songs were composed exclusively for the album. It features vocals from Seth MacFarlane, Alex Borstein, Seth Green, Mike Henry, Mila Kunis, Adam West and Lori Alan, as well as Jason Alexander, Patti LuPone and Haylie Duff as guest stars. It includes Rat Pack- and Broadway-inspired songs.
"Music! Music! Music! " is a popular song written by Stephen Weiss and Bernie Baum and published in 1950.
"A Fifth of Beethoven" is a disco instrumental recorded by Walter Murphy and the Big Apple Band, adapted from the first movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 5. The record was produced by production music and sound effects recording producer Thomas J. Valentino. The "Fifth" in the song's title is a pun, referencing a liquid measure approximately equal to one-fifth of a gallon, a popular size for bottles containing liquor, as well as Beethoven's Fifth Symphony from which the song was adapted.
"Theme from A Summer Place" is a song with lyrics by Mack Discant and music by Max Steiner, written for the 1959 film A Summer Place, which starred Sandra Dee and Troy Donahue. It was recorded for the film as an instrumental by Hugo Winterhalter. Originally known as the "Molly and Johnny Theme", this lush extended cue, as orchestrated by Murray Cutter, is not the main title theme of the film, but an oft-heard secondary love theme for the characters played by Dee and Donahue. The theme has become a canonical representation of the easy listening genre, and is considered by some to be the definitive easy listening track of all time.
Biddu Appaiah is a British-Indian singer-songwriter, composer, and music producer who composed and produced many worldwide hit records during a career spanning five decades. Considered one of the pioneers of disco, Euro disco, and Indian pop, he has sold millions of records worldwide, and has received an Ivor Novello award for his work. He has been ranked at number 34 on NME's "The 50 Greatest Producers Ever" list.
The Keane Brothers was an American pop music duo from 1976–82, composed of pre-teens, Tom Keane on piano and John Keane on drums. The duo released four albums and briefly hosted a television variety show on CBS. The brothers subsequently went on to solo careers as songwriters and music producers.
Musicland Studios was a recording studio located in Munich, Germany established by Italian record producer, songwriter and musician Giorgio Moroder in the early 1970s. The studios were known for their work with artists such as Donna Summer, Electric Light Orchestra, and Queen, among others.
Chic, currently called Nile Rodgers & Chic, is an American disco band that was formed in 1972 by guitarist Nile Rodgers and bassist Bernard Edwards. It recorded many commercially successful disco songs, including "Dance, Dance, Dance " (1977), "Everybody Dance" (1977), "Le Freak" (1978), "I Want Your Love" (1978), "Good Times" (1979), and "My Forbidden Lover" (1979). The group regarded themselves as a rock band for the disco movement "that made good on hippie peace, love and freedom". In 2017, Chic was nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the eleventh time.
Music Is Better Than Words is the debut studio album by American actor and singer Seth MacFarlane. The album contains songs from the Great American Songbook, and features standards by Rodgers and Hammerstein and Lerner and Loewe, among other 1940s and ’50s-era show tunes. The album features duets with Norah Jones and Sara Bareilles. The album was produced and conducted by film and television composer Joel McNeely, who is also one of the composers of American Dad!, an animated TV series co-created by MacFarlane.
Thomas J. Valentino was an American businessman of Italian descent being amongst the first to develop libraries of sound effects and taped music.
"Everybody Needs a Best Friend" is a song from the 2012 feature film Ted, with music composed by Walter Murphy and lyrics by Seth MacFarlane. Performed by Norah Jones during the film's opening credits, the song was used as the film's main theme song. It was released by Universal Republic Records on June 26, 2012.
"Johnny's Theme" is an instrumental jazz song played as the opening theme of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson from the show's inception in 1962 through its finale in 1992. The piece was composed by Paul Anka and Johnny Carson, based on a previous composition by Anka. It was performed by The Tonight Show Band, which released an arrangement by Tommy Newsom in 1986 as part of its Grammy Award-winning debut album. The single release also earned a Grammy nomination.
The music featured in the American musical drama television series The Get Down consists of a soundtrack by various artists and an original score composed by Elliott Wheeler.
{{cite web}}
: |last=
has generic name (help)