Randy Newman

Randall Stuart "Randy" Newman (born November 28, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist who is known for his distinctive voice,mordant (and often satirical) pop songs, and for film scores (....) Many artists, including Bette Midler, Alan Price, Van Dyke Parks, Dave Van Ronk, Judy Collins, Cass Elliot, Art Garfunkel, the Everly Brothers, Claudine Longet, Dusty Springfield, Nina Simone, Lynn Anderson, Wilson Pickett, Pat Boone and Peggy Lee, have covered his songs......
Since the 1980s, Newman has worked mostly as a film composer (...) Newman has received twenty Academy Award nominations in the Best Original Score and Best Original Song categories and has won twice in the latter category. He has also won three Emmys, six Grammy Awards, and the Governor's Award from the Recording Academy. Newman was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002, and as a Disney Legend in 2007. Newman was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2013. (Read more at Wikipedia.)
== Links to Peel ==
Before making a name for himself as a performer with a series of solo albums in the 1970s, Randy Newman established his initial reputation as a successful pop songwriter, whose songs were particularly appreciated by British artists. Among them were Cilla Black, Dusty Springfield and Alan Price, all of whom recorded his material. Price's group, the Alan Price Set, had a UK Top 10 hit in April 1967 with Newman's song "Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear". Future Peel producer John Walters was a member of the Alan Price Set at this time and played trumpet on the session. Price's 1967 album, A Price On His Head, featured eight Newman songs.
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When Randy Newman emerged as a singer-songwriter in the early 1970s, it was as one of a number of artists associated with the then fashionable Reprise Records, and he collaborated with Peel favourites from the label, like Ry Cooder. His albums of the 1970s were well-reviewed by critics and received airplay on Peel's programmes as well as other Sounds Of The Seventies programmes and album-oriented Radio One shows. It was an indication of how highly he was regarded that some of the tracks from his sole Peel session, in 1974, were chosen for the final Top Gear show in September 1975. Many artists of the era covered his songs, including Cooder, Joe Cocker, Frankie Miller and Jess Roden. But after 1980 Newman increasingly turned his attention to composing film music, so new songs from him, and Peel airplay, became infrequent.
== Festive Fifty Entries ==
*None
== Sessions ==
One session.
1. Recorded: 1974-06-03. First broadcast: 03 June 1974. Three songs repeated on 25 September 1975.
*Leave Your Hat On / Louisiana / I Think It's Gonna Rain Today / Political Science / Birmingham / Simon Smith And The Amazing Dancing Bear/Albanian Wedding Day (& My Old Kentucky Home, first broadcast Rock On 1974-06-74)
== Other Shows Played ==
*05 September 1970: Gone Dead Train (v/a album – Performance: Original Motion Picture Sound Track) Warner Bros WS 2554
*01 August 1972: Sail Away (single) Reprise
*25 September 1975: Simon Smith And The Amazing Dancing Bear (session repeat: Newman; "this put my kids through school....") / Albanian Wedding Song
*25 September 1975: Political Science
*30 September 1977 unknown tracks (three from the LP Little Criminals)
*04 October 1977: unknown tracks (Peel promises "three from Randy Newman..." but the final section of the show is missing)
*04 September 1978 (Paul Gambaccini): Last Night I Had A Dream (live)
*04 September 1978 (Paul Gambaccini) You Can Leave Your Hat On (Live)
*Karl's Tape August 1984: Sail Away (LP Sail Away ) Reprise 1972
*04 October 1988: Four Eyes (LP - Land Of Dreams) Reprise
*11 October 1988: New Orleans Wins The War (LP – Land Of Dreams) Reprise
== Covered ==
(The list below was compiled only from the Cover Versions page of this site. Please add more information if known.)
Artist | Track | First Known Play
*Ry Cooder: Old Kentucky Home 12 December 1970
*Joe Cocker: I Think It's Going To Rain Today (LP - Jamaica Say You Will) Cube J P D30
*Jess Roden: You Can Leave Your Hat On (session) 01 April 1976
*Frankie Miller: Sail Away (session) 25 June 1976
== External Links ==
*Wikipedia
*Official Randy Newman site
* Other
Category:Artists
Category:Covered