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EspañolDAVID SHIRE
'David Shire' (born July 3, 1937) is an American songwriter and the composer of stage musicals and film and television scores.
Born in Buffalo, New York, the son of Buffalo society band leader and piano teacher Irving Shire, he met his long-time theater collaborator lyricist/director Richard Maltby, Jr. at Yale University, where the two wrote two musicals, ''Cyrano'' and ''Grand Tour'', which were produced by the Yale Dramat. Shire also co-fronted a jazz group at school, the Shire-Fogg Quintet, and was a Phi Beta Kappa honors student, with a double major in English and music. He was a member of the Pundits and Elihu and he graduated magna cum laude in 1959.
After a semester of graduate work at Brandeis University (where he was the first Eddie Fisher Fellow) and six months in the National Guard infantry, Shire took up residence in New York City, working as a dance class pianist, theater rehearsal and pit pianist, and society band musician while constantly working with Maltby on musicals. Their first off-Broadway show, ''The Sap of Life'', was produced in 1960 at the Sheridan Square Theater in Greenwich Village.
Shire began scoring for television in the 1960s and made the leap to scoring feature films in the early 1970s. He was married to actress Talia Shire, for whose brother Francis Ford Coppola he scored ''The Conversation'', perhaps his best known score, in 1974. He has since been known for creating interesting and effective scores for a wide variety of genres, including ''All the President's Men'', ''The Hindenburg'', ''Farewell My Lovely'', '', and ''Return to Oz''. He composed original music for ''Saturday Night Fever'', and also worked on several disco adaptations including "Night on Disco Mountain." He won an Oscar in 1980 for Best Song for his title song for ''Norma Rae'', "It Goes Like It Goes." He was also nominated the same year in the same category for "The Promise (I'll Never Say Goodbye)" from the motion picture ''The Promise''. In 1981 his song "With You I'm Born Again," recorded by Billy Preston and Syreeta, was a top five international hit and stayed on the pop charts for 26 weeks. In 2007, he returned to the spotlight with his score for David Fincher's film'' Zodiac''.
''The Conversation'' featured an austere score for piano, with a catchy bluesy main theme. On some cues Shire took the taped sounds of the piano and distorted them in different ways to create alternative tonalities to round out the score. The music is intended to capture the isolation and paranoia of protagonist Harry Caul (Gene Hackman). The score was released on CD by Intrada Records.
''The Taking of Pelham One Two Three'' is one of Shire's most effective scores. Shire composed a tone row and placed it against a funky beat for his main theme. It is intended to evoke the bustle and diversity of New York City, and is an unofficial theme for the 6 subway line (the local Lexington Avenue Line that is depicted in the film). The soundtrack album was the first ever CD release by ''Film Score Monthly''. The end titles contain a more expansive arrangement of the theme. Shire received two Grammy nominations for his work on the film. Twenty-five years later, Chris Boardman copied many of that score's most striking elements for his work on the Mel Gibson thriller Payback (1999).
Shire's musical theatre work, always in collaboration with lyricist Richard Maltby, Jr. includes the two off-Broadway reviews ''Starting Here, Starting Now'' (Grammy nomination for Best Cast Album) and ''Closer Than Ever'' (Outer Critic's Circle Award for Best Musical) and the two Broadway shows ''Baby'' (Tony nominations for Best Musical and Best Score) and ''Big'' (Tony nomination for Best Score). All of these shows have had hundreds of regional and stock productions worldwide. A new musical entitled ''Take Flight'' is scheduled to premiere in London at the Menier Chocolate Factory in the summer of 2007.
Shire's television scores have earned six Emmy nominations. He has scored over a hundred television movies, including ''Sarah, Plain and Tall'', ''Raid on Entebbe'', ''The Kennedys of Massachusetts'', ''Serving in Silence'' and ''The Heidi Chronicles''. He also composed themes for TV series such as ''Alice'' and ''McCloud''.
Shire's individual songs have been recorded by Barbra Streisand, Melissa Manchester, Maureen McGovern, Johnny Mathis, Billy Preston, Jennifer Warnes, John Pizzarelli and Pearl Bailey, among many others.
Shire has been married to actress Didi Conn since 1982. He has two sons, Matthew (with Talia Shire), a Los Angeles screenwriter, and Daniel (with Didi Conn).
★ ''The Unknown Soldier and His Wife'' - incidental music
★ ''Anyone Can Whistle'' - rehearsal pianist
★ ''Funny Girl'' - pit pianist and assistant conductor
★ ''Love Match'' - composer
★ ''Baby'' - composer - Tony Award for Best Original Score nomination
★ ''Company'' - dance music arranger
★ ''Big'' - composer - Tony Award for Best Original Score nomination; Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music nomination
★ ''Saturday Night Fever'' - songwriter of "Manhattan Skyline," "Salsation," and "Night on Disco Mountain"
★ ''Starting Here, Starting Now''
★ ''Urban Blight''
★ ''Closer Than Ever'' (Outer Critics Circle Award winner)
★ ''The Loman Family Picnic''
★ ''Smulnik's Waltz''
★ "With You I'm Born Again" - lyrics by Carol Connors - international chart hit by Billy Preston and Syreeta
★ "Starting Here, Starting Now;" "Autumn" - lyrics by Richard Maltby - recorded by Barbra Streisand
★ "What About Today," "The Morning After" - music and lyrics - recorded by Streisand
★ "The Promise (I'll Never Say Goodbye)" (Academy Award nominee) - lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman - recorded by Melissa Manchester
★ "It Goes Like It Goes" - lyrics by Norman Gimbel - recorded by Jennifer Warnes - (Academy Award winner)
★ "Coffee, Black" - lyrics by Maltby - recorded by John Pizzarelli
★ David Shire at the Internet Broadway Database
★ David Shire at the Internet Movie Database
★ Polish review of "Zodiac" soundtrack
Born in Buffalo, New York, the son of Buffalo society band leader and piano teacher Irving Shire, he met his long-time theater collaborator lyricist/director Richard Maltby, Jr. at Yale University, where the two wrote two musicals, ''Cyrano'' and ''Grand Tour'', which were produced by the Yale Dramat. Shire also co-fronted a jazz group at school, the Shire-Fogg Quintet, and was a Phi Beta Kappa honors student, with a double major in English and music. He was a member of the Pundits and Elihu and he graduated magna cum laude in 1959.
After a semester of graduate work at Brandeis University (where he was the first Eddie Fisher Fellow) and six months in the National Guard infantry, Shire took up residence in New York City, working as a dance class pianist, theater rehearsal and pit pianist, and society band musician while constantly working with Maltby on musicals. Their first off-Broadway show, ''The Sap of Life'', was produced in 1960 at the Sheridan Square Theater in Greenwich Village.
| Contents |
| Scoring career |
| Broadway credits |
| Off-Broadway credits |
| Notable songs |
| External links |
Scoring career
Shire began scoring for television in the 1960s and made the leap to scoring feature films in the early 1970s. He was married to actress Talia Shire, for whose brother Francis Ford Coppola he scored ''The Conversation'', perhaps his best known score, in 1974. He has since been known for creating interesting and effective scores for a wide variety of genres, including ''All the President's Men'', ''The Hindenburg'', ''Farewell My Lovely'', '', and ''Return to Oz''. He composed original music for ''Saturday Night Fever'', and also worked on several disco adaptations including "Night on Disco Mountain." He won an Oscar in 1980 for Best Song for his title song for ''Norma Rae'', "It Goes Like It Goes." He was also nominated the same year in the same category for "The Promise (I'll Never Say Goodbye)" from the motion picture ''The Promise''. In 1981 his song "With You I'm Born Again," recorded by Billy Preston and Syreeta, was a top five international hit and stayed on the pop charts for 26 weeks. In 2007, he returned to the spotlight with his score for David Fincher's film'' Zodiac''.
''The Conversation'' featured an austere score for piano, with a catchy bluesy main theme. On some cues Shire took the taped sounds of the piano and distorted them in different ways to create alternative tonalities to round out the score. The music is intended to capture the isolation and paranoia of protagonist Harry Caul (Gene Hackman). The score was released on CD by Intrada Records.
''The Taking of Pelham One Two Three'' is one of Shire's most effective scores. Shire composed a tone row and placed it against a funky beat for his main theme. It is intended to evoke the bustle and diversity of New York City, and is an unofficial theme for the 6 subway line (the local Lexington Avenue Line that is depicted in the film). The soundtrack album was the first ever CD release by ''Film Score Monthly''. The end titles contain a more expansive arrangement of the theme. Shire received two Grammy nominations for his work on the film. Twenty-five years later, Chris Boardman copied many of that score's most striking elements for his work on the Mel Gibson thriller Payback (1999).
Shire's musical theatre work, always in collaboration with lyricist Richard Maltby, Jr. includes the two off-Broadway reviews ''Starting Here, Starting Now'' (Grammy nomination for Best Cast Album) and ''Closer Than Ever'' (Outer Critic's Circle Award for Best Musical) and the two Broadway shows ''Baby'' (Tony nominations for Best Musical and Best Score) and ''Big'' (Tony nomination for Best Score). All of these shows have had hundreds of regional and stock productions worldwide. A new musical entitled ''Take Flight'' is scheduled to premiere in London at the Menier Chocolate Factory in the summer of 2007.
Shire's television scores have earned six Emmy nominations. He has scored over a hundred television movies, including ''Sarah, Plain and Tall'', ''Raid on Entebbe'', ''The Kennedys of Massachusetts'', ''Serving in Silence'' and ''The Heidi Chronicles''. He also composed themes for TV series such as ''Alice'' and ''McCloud''.
Shire's individual songs have been recorded by Barbra Streisand, Melissa Manchester, Maureen McGovern, Johnny Mathis, Billy Preston, Jennifer Warnes, John Pizzarelli and Pearl Bailey, among many others.
Shire has been married to actress Didi Conn since 1982. He has two sons, Matthew (with Talia Shire), a Los Angeles screenwriter, and Daniel (with Didi Conn).
Broadway credits
★ ''The Unknown Soldier and His Wife'' - incidental music
★ ''Anyone Can Whistle'' - rehearsal pianist
★ ''Funny Girl'' - pit pianist and assistant conductor
★ ''Love Match'' - composer
★ ''Baby'' - composer - Tony Award for Best Original Score nomination
★ ''Company'' - dance music arranger
★ ''Big'' - composer - Tony Award for Best Original Score nomination; Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music nomination
★ ''Saturday Night Fever'' - songwriter of "Manhattan Skyline," "Salsation," and "Night on Disco Mountain"
Off-Broadway credits
★ ''Starting Here, Starting Now''
★ ''Urban Blight''
★ ''Closer Than Ever'' (Outer Critics Circle Award winner)
★ ''The Loman Family Picnic''
★ ''Smulnik's Waltz''
Notable songs
★ "With You I'm Born Again" - lyrics by Carol Connors - international chart hit by Billy Preston and Syreeta
★ "Starting Here, Starting Now;" "Autumn" - lyrics by Richard Maltby - recorded by Barbra Streisand
★ "What About Today," "The Morning After" - music and lyrics - recorded by Streisand
★ "The Promise (I'll Never Say Goodbye)" (Academy Award nominee) - lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman - recorded by Melissa Manchester
★ "It Goes Like It Goes" - lyrics by Norman Gimbel - recorded by Jennifer Warnes - (Academy Award winner)
★ "Coffee, Black" - lyrics by Maltby - recorded by John Pizzarelli
External links
★ David Shire at the Internet Broadway Database
★ David Shire at the Internet Movie Database
★ Polish review of "Zodiac" soundtrack
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