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Lionel Newman

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Lionel Newman was an American conductor, pianist and composer of film and television music, born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1916. He was the youngest of seven brothers from a Russian-Jewish immigrant family. At sixteen he went to Hollywood to conduct for the impresario Earl Carroll. In the 1930s he conducted tours and accompanied Mae West on piano. At eighteen he played with Newman's Society Orchestra on the passenger ship S.S. Rotterdam.

Music and breakthrough

Newman joined 20th Century Fox as a rehearsal pianist, under his brother Alfred Newman. In 1959 he was the studio's music director for television, later also vice president for the music of television and feature films. He worked there for forty-six years and has more than two hundred films to his name, including How to Marry a Millionaire, North to Alaska, Road House and Love Me Tender, Elvis Presley's first film. He was the music director of all of Marilyn Monroe's Fox films, at her request. In 1969 he won an Oscar with Lennie Hayton for best score of a musical film, for Hello Dolly!. Albums such as Kiss Them for Me, Let's Make Love and The Pleasure Seekers let you hear his work.

Influence

The Newmans form a dynasty in film music: Lionel was the uncle of Randy, David and Thomas Newman. In 2013 the music department of Fox was named after him, as The Lionel Newman Music Building. He shows how a studio conductor shaped the sound of Hollywood.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to music from Let's Make Love and notice the lush strings and brass of a Hollywood orchestra of the 1960s. Can you hear how the music carries the mood of the scene?

Discography

Studio albums

Categories: Artists