2 languages
Pete Rugolo
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Pietro Rugolo, known as Pete Rugolo, was born in 1915 in San Piero Patti, Sicily. His family emigrated to the United States in 1920 and he grew up in Santa Rosa, California, where his father was a shoemaker. He began on the baritone horn, like his father, and quickly switched to other instruments, above all French horn and piano. He studied composition with Darius Milhaud at Mills College in Oakland and then became arranger and composer for the guitarist and bandleader Johnny Richards. During the Second World War he played in an army band with the alto saxophonist Paul Desmond.
Music and breakthrough
After the war he worked for Stan Kenton. Together with the songwriter Joe Greene he made songs that helped make Kenton's band one of the most popular in America. In the 1950s he wrote arrangements for pop and jazz singers, above all for June Christy, on albums such as Something Cool. He worked on film musicals at MGM and in the late 1950s was A&R director at Capitol Records. His arrangements for The Four Freshmen and Five Trombones brought that group to the attention of jazz lovers.
Influence
In the 1960s and 1970s he wrote a great deal of music for television, including for Leave It to Beaver, Thriller, The Fugitive and Alias Smith and Jones. For The Fugitive he wrote ninety minutes of music, covering, among other things, suspense, love themes and chases. He also composed for films such as Jack the Ripper (1959) and The Sweet Ride (1968). Rugolo died in 2011.
Listening
Discography
Studio albums
- 1957New Sounds
- 1959Music From Out of Space
- 1959The Music From Richard Diamond
- 1960Jack the Ripper (soundtrack)
- 1968The Sweet Ride (soundtrack)
- 2000The Fugitive - Original Television Series Soundtrack Music (soundtrack)
- 2005Rugolovations
In School of Rock
The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.
- After Hours: Session 2NL Reader