Randy Newman

After he formed part of a creative circle at Warner Bros. Records in 1966, the company released his first solo album, Randy Newman (1968). Other artists subsequently enjoyed chart success with recordings of his songs "Mama Told Me Not to Come" (1967), "I Think It's Going to Rain Today" (1968), and "You Can Leave Your Hat On" (1972). His own hits as a recording artist include "Short People" (1977), "I Love L.A." (1983), and "You've Got a Friend in Me" (1995). Three of his eleven studio albums have charted in the U.S. top 40: Good Old Boys (1974), Little Criminals (1977), and Harps and Angels (2008). Newman has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards (out of 22 nominations), three Emmys, seven Grammy Awards as well as nominations for a BAFTA Award and seven Golden Globe Awards. His award-winning film work includes Ragtime (1981), The Natural (1984), Toy Story (1995), A Bug's Life (1998), Pleasantville (1998), Monsters, Inc. (2001), Cars (2006), The Princess and the Frog (2009), Toy Story 3 (2010), and Marriage Story (2019). He was honored with the Recording Academy's Governors Award in 2003, a Disney Legend award in 2007, and inductions into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013.

Randy Newman studied at UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, University of California, Los Angeles and University High School. The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is film score, music composing and satire. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are rock, blues, soft rock and roots rock. Bob Dylan, Cole Porter and Fats Domino are recorded as an influence. Residence is recorded at Los Angeles. Distinctions recorded are Annie Award, Disney Legends, star on Hollywood Walk of Fame and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

• Name — Randy Newman • Birth Name — Randall Stuart Newman • Born — 28 November 1943 • Birthplace — Los Angeles, California, U.S. • Occupation — * Singer • songwriter • arranger • pianist • composer • Years Active — 1961–present • Children — 5, including Eric • Relatives — * David Newman (cousin) • Thomas Newman (cousin) • Maria Newman (cousin) • Joey Newman (cousin) • Lionel Newman (uncle) • Emil Newman (uncle) • Alfred Newman (uncle)

Newman was born to a Jewish family on November 28, 1943, his father's 30th birthday, in Los Angeles, California. He is the son of Adele "Dixie" (née Fuchs/Fox; August 30, 1916 – October 4, 1988), a secretary, and Irving George Newman (November 28, 1913 – February 1, 1990), an internist. He lived in New Orleans, Louisiana, as a young child and spent summers there until he was 11 years old, when his family returned to Los Angeles. The paternal side of his family includes grandparents Luba (née Koskoff) (July 21, 1883 – March 3, 1954) and Michael Newman (Nemorofsky) (1874–1948), and three uncles who were Hollywood film-score composers: Alfred Newman, Lionel Newman, and Emil Newman. Newman's cousins, Thomas, Maria, David, and Joey, are also composers for motion pictures. He graduated from University High School in Los Angeles. He studied music at the University of California, Los Angeles, but dropped out one semester shy of a B.A. In June 2021, he finally completed his degree at UCLA. Newman's parents were non-observant Jews: Newman himself is an atheist. He has said that religion or any sense of religious identity was completely absent in his childhood. To illustrate this, he has often recounted in interviews an antisemitic incident that occurred when he was young: he was invited by a classmate to be her date to a cotillion at her Los Angeles country club, the Riviera Country Club. He accepted the invitation but was subsequently disinvited by the girl's father, who told Newman that his daughter should never have invited him because Jews were not allowed at the club. Newman hung up the phone, then went to ask his own father what a "Jew" was.

• Illustration — Newman playing piano in 1972

A revue of Newman's songs, titled Maybe I'm Doing It Wrong, was performed at the Astor Place Theatre in New York City in 1982, and later at other theaters around the country. The New York cast featured Mark Linn-Baker and Deborah Rush, and at one point included Treat Williams. In the 1990s, Newman adapted Goethe's Faust into a concept album and musical, Randy Newman's Faust. After a 1995 staging at the La Jolla Playhouse, he retained David Mamet to help rework the book before its relaunch on the Chicago Goodman Theatre mainstage in 1996. Newman's Faust had a one-time Off-Broadway performance at the City Center in New York City on July 1, 2014, where Newman starred as the Devil. In 2000, South Coast Repertory (SCR) produced The Education of Randy Newman, a musical theater piece that recreates the life of a songwriter who bears some resemblance to the actual Newman. Set in New Orleans and Los Angeles, it was modeled on the American autobiography, The Education of Henry Adams. In 2010, the Center Theatre Group staged Harps and Angels, a musical revue of the Randy Newman songbook, interspersed with narratives reflecting on Newman's inspirations. The revue premiered at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles and included among other songs "I Think It's Going to Rain Today", "Sail Away", "Marie", "Louisiana 1927", "Feels Like Home", "You've Got a Friend in Me" and "I Love L.A". The revue was directed by Jerry Zaks and featured Ryder Bach, Storm Large, Adriane Lenox, Michael McKean, Katey Sagal and Matthew Saldivar.

Newman was married to German-born Roswitha Schmale from 1967 to 1985 and they had three sons: Eric, Amos and John. He has been married to Gretchen Preece since 1990, with whom he has two children, Patrick and Alice. Gretchen's father was director Michael Preece. Newman endorsed Democratic President Barack Obama for reelection in 2012 and wrote "I'm Dreaming", a satirical song about voting for white candidates.

• Year — Title — Director(s) — Studio(s) — Notes • 1971 — Cold Turkey — Norman Lear — United Artists Tandem Productions — Randy Newman's first musical score for a feature film • 1981 — Ragtime — Miloš Forman — Paramount Pictures Ragtime Productions Ltd. Sunley Productions • 1984 — The Natural — Barry Levinson — TriStar Pictures Delphi II Productions — First collaboration with Barry Levinson • 1986 — ¡Three Amigos! — John Landis — Orion Pictures HBO Pictures L.A. Films — Composed original and new songs; score by Elmer Bernstein • 1989 — Parenthood — Ron Howard — Universal Pictures Imagine Entertainment — First collaboration with Ron Howard • 1990 — Avalon — Barry Levinson — TriStar Pictures Baltimore Pictures — Second collaboration with Barry Levinson • Awakenings — Steven Zaillian — Columbia Pictures Lasker/Parkes Productions • 1994 — The Paper — Ron Howard — Universal Pictures Imagine Entertainment — Second collaboration with Ron Howard • Maverick — Richard Donner — Warner Bros. Pictures Icon Productions Donner/Shuler-Donner Productions • 1995 — Toy Story — John Lasseter — Buena Vista Pictures Distribution Walt Disney Pictures Pixar Animation Studios — First score for an animated film First collaboration with John Lasseter • 1996 — James and the Giant Peach — Henry Selick — Buena Vista Pictures Distribution Walt Disney Pictures Allied Filmmakers Skellington Productions • Michael — Nora Ephron — New Line Cinema Turner Pictures Alphaville Films • 1997 — Air Force One — Wolfgang Petersen — Sony Pictures Releasing Columbia Pictures Beacon Pictures Radiant Productions — Co-composed with Joel McNeely and Jerry Goldsmith • Cats Don't Dance — Mark Dindal — Warner Bros. Pictures Turner Feature Animation David Kirschner Productions — Composed songs; score by Steve Goldstein • 1998 — A Bug's Life — John Lasseter — Buena Vista Pictures Distribution Walt Disney Pictures Pixar Animation Studios — Second collaboration with John Lasseter • Pleasantville — Gary Ross — New Line Cinema Larger Than Life Productions — First collaboration with Gary Ross • 1999 — Toy Story 2 — John Lasseter — Buena Vista Pictures Distribution Walt Disney Pictures Pixar Animation Studios — Third collaboration with John Lasseter • 2000 — Meet the Parents — Jay Roach — Universal Pictures DreamWorks Pictures TriBeCa Productions Nancy Tenenbaum Productions — First collaboration with Jay Roach • 2001 — Monsters, Inc. — Pete Docter — Buena Vista Pictures Distribution Walt Disney Pictures Pixar Animation Studios • 2003 — Seabiscuit — Gary Ross — |Universal Pictures DreamWorks Pictures Spyglass Entertainment The Kennedy/Marshall Company Larger Than Life Productions — Second collaboration with Gary Ross • 2004 — Meet the Fockers — Jay Roach — Tribeca Productions Everyman Pictures — Second collaboration with Jay Roach • 2006 — Cars — John Lasseter — Buena Vista Pictures Distribution Walt Disney Pictures Pixar Animation Studios — Fourth collaboration with John Lasseter • 2008 — Leatherheads — George Clooney — Universal Pictures Smokehouse Pictures Casey Silver Productions Mirage Enterprises • 2009 — The Princess and the Frog — John Musker Ron Clements — Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Walt Disney Pictures Walt Disney Animation Studios — Replaced Alan Menken • 2010 — Toy Story 3 — Lee Unkrich — Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Walt Disney Pictures Pixar Animation Studios • 2013 — Monsters University — Dan Scanlon • 2017 — Cars 3 — Brian Fee • The Meyerowitz Stories — Noah Baumbach — Netflix IAC Films Scott Rudin Productions — First collaboration with Noah Baumbach • 2019 — Toy Story 4 — Josh Cooley — Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Walt Disney Pictures Pixar Animation Studios • Marriage Story — Noah Baumbach — Netflix Heyday Films — Second collaboration with Noah Baumbach • 2026 — Toy Story 5 — Andrew Stanton — Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Walt Disney Pictures Pixar Animation Studios

Randy Newman was recorded at birth as Randall Stuart Newman. His recorded language was English. He was the child of Irving Newman and Adele Newman. He married Gretchen Preece and Roswitha Schmale. 4 children are recorded: Patrick Newman, Amos Newman, Alice Newman and Eric Newman. Other recorded relations include Thomas Newman, David Newman, Maria Newman and Joey Newman.

Randy Newman is recorded as having studied at UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, University of California, Los Angeles and University High School.

His 1968 debut album, Randy Newman, was a critical success but never entered the Billboard Top 200. Many artists, including Barbra Streisand, Helen Reddy, Bette Midler, Alan Price, Van Dyke Parks, Dave Van Ronk, Judy Collins, Glen Campbell, Cass Elliot, Art Garfunkel, the Everly Brothers, Claudine Longet, Bonnie Raitt, Dusty Springfield, Tom Odell, Nina Simone, Lynn Anderson, Wilson Pickett, Pat Boone, Neil Diamond and Peggy Lee, covered his songs and "I Think It's Going to Rain Today" became an early standard. In 1969, he did the orchestral arrangements for the songs "Minstrel of the Dawn" and "Approaching Lavender" on Gordon Lightfoot's Sit Down Young Stranger (later renamed If You Could Read My Mind) (1970), and for Peggy Lee's single "Is That All There Is?", as well as her album with the same title (which also contained her cover versions of two of his songs: "Love Story" and "Linda"). Also in 1969 he recorded "Gone Dead Train" for the 1970 movie and soundtrack album to Performance, starring Mick Jagger. In 1970, Harry Nilsson recorded an entire album of Newman compositions (Newman played piano) called Nilsson Sings Newman. The album was not a commercial success, but critics liked it (it won a "Record of the Year" award from Stereo Review magazine), and it paved the way for Newman's 1970 release, 12 Songs, a more stripped-down sound that showcased Newman's piano. Ry Cooder's slide guitar and contributions from Byrds members Gene Parsons and Clarence White helped to give the album a much rootsier feel. 12 Songs was also critically acclaimed (6th best album of the seventies according to Village Voice critic Robert Christgau), but again found little commercial success, though Three Dog Night made a huge hit of his "Mama Told Me Not to Come". The following year, Randy Newman Live cemented his cult following and became his first LP to appear in the Billboard charts, at No. 191. Newman also made his first foray into music for films at this time, writing and performing the theme song "He Gives Us All His Love" for Norman Lear's 1971 film Cold Turkey. 1972's Sail Away reached No. 163 on Billboard, with the title track making its way into the repertoire of Ray Charles and Linda Ronstadt. "You Can Leave Your Hat On" which was covered by Three Dog Night, then Joe Cocker, and later by Keb Mo, Etta James, Tom Jones (whose version was later used for the final striptease to the 1997 film The Full Monty), and the Québécois singer Garou. The album also featured "Burn On", an ode to an infamous incident in which the heavily polluted Cuyahoga River literally caught fire. In 1989, "Burn On" was used as the opening theme to the film Major League, whose focus was the hapless Cleveland Indians. • Illustration — Newman in 1974 His 1974 release Good Old Boys was a set of songs about the American South. "Rednecks" began with a description of segregationist Lester Maddox pitted against a "smart-ass New York Jew" on a TV show (this was a joke, because the "Jew" was Dick Cavett), in a song that criticizes both southern racism and the complacent bigotry of Americans outside of the south who stereotype all southerners as racist yet ignore racism in northern and midwestern states and large cities. This ambiguity was also apparent on "Kingfish" and "Every Man a King", the former a paean to Huey Long (the assassinated former Governor and United States Senator from Louisiana), the other a campaign song written by Long himself. An album that received lavish critical praise, Good Old Boys also became a commercial breakthrough for Newman, peaking at No. 36 on Billboard 200, spending 21 weeks there. Little Criminals (1977) contained the surprise hit "Short People", which also became a subject of controversy. In September 1977, the English music magazine NME reported the following interview with Newman talking about his then-new release. "There's one song about a child murderer," Newman deadpans. "That's fairly optimistic. Maybe. There's one called 'Jolly Coppers on Parade' which isn't an absolutely anti-police song. Maybe it's even a fascist song. I didn't notice at the time. There's also one about me as a cowboy called 'Rider in the Rain.' I think it's ridiculous. The Eagles are on there. That's what's good about it. There's also this song 'Short People.' It's purely a joke. I like other ones on the album better but the audiences go for that one." The album proved Newman's most popular to date, reaching No. 9 on the US Billboard 200 chart. Another somewhat controversial Randy Newman number, recorded by both Harpers Bizarre and The Nashville Teens, was "The Biggest Night of Her Life", a song about a schoolgirl who is "too excited to sleep" because she has promised to lose her virginity on her sixteenth birthday to a boy whom her parents like "because his hair is always neat". 1979's Born Again was relatively commercially and critically unsuccessful, with reviews criticizing its cynicism and bad taste and Rolling Stone comparing it unfavorably to Sweeney Todd in a double review. His 1983 album Trouble in Paradise included the single "I Love L.A.", a song that has been interpreted as both praising and criticizing the city of Los Angeles. This ambivalence is borne out by Newman's own comments on the song. As he explained in a 2001 interview, "There's some kind of ignorance L.A. has that I'm proud of. The open car and the redhead, the Beach Boys... I can't think of anything a hell of a lot better than that." The ABC network and Frank Gari Productions transformed "I Love L.A." into a popular 1980s TV promotional campaign, retooling the lyrics and title to "You'll Love It!" (on ABC) The song is played at home games for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Lakers as well as the Los Angeles Kings who use the song along with their goal horn. In spite of its prominence, however, it failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1985 Newman performed a set at the first Farm Aid concert that included a duet with Billy Joel on facing grand pianos. Newman performed "Sail Away". In 2003 Newman's song "It's a Jungle Out There" was used for season 2 of the USA Network's show Monk; it won him the 2004 Emmy Award for Best Main Title Music. In the years following Trouble in Paradise, Newman focused more on film work, but his personal life entered a difficult period. He separated from his wife of nearly 20 years, Roswitha. He released four albums of new material as a singer-songwriter since that time: Land of Dreams (1988), Bad Love (1999), Harps and Angels (2008), and Dark Matter (2017). Land of Dreams included one of his best-known songs, "It's Money That Matters" (featuring Mark Knopfler on guitar), and featured Newman's first stab at autobiography with "Dixie Flyer" and "Four Eyes", while Bad Love included "I Miss You", a moving tribute to his ex-wife He has also rerecorded a number of songs that span his career, accompanying himself on piano, with The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 1 (2003), The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 2 (2011) and The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 3 (2016). He continues to perform his songs before live audiences as a touring concert artist. • Illustration — Newman performing at the 2014 Laurence L. & Thomas Winship/PEN New England Award for Songwriting ceremony In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Newman's "Louisiana 1927" became an anthem and was played heavily on a wide range of American radio and television stations, in both Newman's 1974 original and Aaron Neville's cover version of the song. The song addresses the deceitful manner in which New Orleans's municipal government managed a flood in 1927, during which, as Newman asserts, "The guys who ran the Mardi Gras, the bosses in New Orleans decided the course of that flood. You know, they cut a hole in the levee and it flooded the cotton fields." In a related performance, Newman contributed to the 2007 release of Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino (Vanguard), contributing his version of Fats Domino's "Blue Monday". Domino had been rescued from his New Orleans home after Hurricane Katrina, initially having been feared dead. In October 2016, Newman released the song "Putin". The Washington Post wrote: "inspired by the Russian leader's penchant for bare-chested photo ops and a geopolitical approach that's somewhat short of soft and cuddly, Newman has crafted a song that tells Putin's story from multiple perspectives." Newman explained that the song was from a new album that would be released in 2017, but he was putting out this song early because "I think that people will lose interest after this surfeit of political talk and attention after the election.... I've got the thing done. I just want to see what happens. I'm curious to see how the thing is received." The song earned Newman a Grammy Award for Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals. Newman released his much anticipated new album, Dark Matter, in August 2017. It received positive reviews, many citing its musical ambition as well as its lyrical bite.

Studio albums • Randy Newman (1968) • 12 Songs (1970) • Sail Away (1972) • Good Old Boys (1974) • Little Criminals (1977) • Born Again (1979) • Trouble in Paradise (1983) • Land of Dreams (1988) • Randy Newman's Faust (1995) • Bad Love (1999) • The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 1 (2003) • Harps and Angels (2008) • The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 2 (2011) • The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 3 (2016) • Dark Matter (2017)