Ira Newborn

Newborn worked across composer, film score composer, actor and songwriter. This article rests on 92 catalogued compositions, 5 issued recordings and 1 scholarly references drawn from named institutional registers. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.

• Name — Ira Newborn • Birth Name — James Ira Newborn • Born — 26 December 1949 • Birthplace — New York City, U.S. • Occupation — Composer, orchestrator, conductor, actor

Newborn was born in New York City. He has scored or written songs for films such as Sixteen Candles, Weird Science, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Uncle Buck, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Mallrats, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Into the Night, for which he wrote music for B. B. King. He frequently worked with director John Hughes. He also stepped in as musical director and producer for The Blues Brothers. Newborn's many film credits also include a small acting role in Xanadu, in which he appears as a 1940s bandleader. Newborn may be best known for composing the soundtrack for The Naked Gun series of police satires starring Leslie Nielsen. Newborn's brassy big band/blues theme song for the franchise first appeared on the TV series that inspired the films, 1982's Police Squad!. Newborn has also worked in concerts and commercials, on Broadway and in the recording industry as a performer, arranger, composer and conductor. He is also an adjunct faculty member at New York University, from which he received his bachelor's degree in 1972. Influenced by an eclectic variety of composers, such as Johann Sebastian Bach, James Brown and the Beatles, as a guitarist Newborn led and played in several musical groups before signing on as the musical director for the vocal group the Manhattan Transfer. Newborn has contributed to albums by many artists such as Ray Charles, Diana Ross, Billy Joel and the Pointer Sisters.

• SCTV (1981) (TV) • Police Squad! (1982) (TV) • Tales from the Crypt (1992) (TV) • The Late Shift (1996) (TV)

Ira Newborn was born on 26 December 1949 in New York City. Newborn held the nationality of United States. Newborn worked as composer, film score composer, actor and songwriter. Newborn was active from 1975. Newborn worked in English.

• Year — Title — Director(s) — Studio(s) — Notes • 1980 — The Blues Brothers — John Landis — Universal Pictures • 1981 — All Night Long — Jean-Claude Tramont — Universal Pictures — with Richard Hazard and José Padilla • 1983 — Doctor Detroit — Michael Pressman — Universal Pictures — soundtrack produced with Robert K Weiss inc song writing credits for James Brown, Pattie Brooks and Dan Aykroyd • 1984 — Sixteen Candles — John Hughes — Universal Pictures — with Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall • 1985 — Into the Night — John Landis — Universal Pictures • Weird Science — John Hughes — Universal Pictures • 1986 — Wise Guys — Brian De Palma — Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer • Ferris Bueller's Day Off — John Hughes — Paramount Pictures • 1987 — Dragnet — Tom Mankiewicz — Universal Pictures • Amazon Women on the Moon — Joe Dante Carl Gottlieb Peter Horton John Landis Robert K. Weiss — Universal Pictures • Planes, Trains and Automobiles — John Hughes — Paramount Pictures — with Steve Martin and John Candy • 1988 — Caddyshack II — Allan Arkush — Warner Bros. — with Jackie Mason and Robert Stack • The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! — David Zucker — Paramount Pictures • 1989 — Collision Course — Lewis Teague — De Laurentiis Entertainment Group — with Jay Leno and Pat Morita • Uncle Buck — John Hughes — Universal Pictures — with John Candy and Macaulay Culkin • 1990 — Short Time — Gregg Champion — 20th Century Fox Gladden Entertainment — with Dabney Coleman and Matt Frewer • My Blue Heaven — Herbert Ross — Warner Bros. • 1991 — The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear — David Zucker — Paramount Pictures • 1992 — The Opposite Sex and How to Live with Them — Matthew Meshekoff — Miramax • Brain Donors — Dennis Dugan — Paramount Pictures • Innocent Blood — John Landis — Warner Bros. • 1994 — Ace Ventura: Pet Detective — Tom Shadyac — Warner Bros. Morgan Creek Productions • Naked Gun: The Final Insult — Peter Segal — Paramount Pictures • 1995 — The Jerky Boys: The Movie — James Melkonian — Touchstone Pictures • Mallrats — Kevin Smith — Gramercy Pictures • 1996 — High School High — Hart Bochner — TriStar Pictures • 1997 — Bad Manners — Jonathan Kaufer — Phaedra Cinema • 1998 — BASEketball — David Zucker — Universal Pictures — Credited as James Ira Newborn