The Unstoppable Multi-Award Winning Career of Randy Edelman
By Meredith Grant
Composer Randy Edelman lives life boldly, conquering his own visions, creating his own destinies, muting public opinion to craft his own fate, and offering a musical legacy that will reign for eternity. He evaluates feelings, intuition and instincts and finds a melody for all of them.
Raised in Teaneck, New Jersey, the keyboard couture was born with the ability to hear music and transcribe it onto the piano. After a brief quarrel with fate where Randy was temporally thrust into the pursuit of pre-med, he moved into full-time piano and composition study at the Cincinnati Music Conservatory where he was then able to follow his unquestionable destiny. He eventually procured an arranging assignment at James Brown’s King Records. In 1971 Randy relocated to New York to work as a staff writer at April Blackwood Music, while simultaneously playing piano in Broadway pit orchestras. Yet even then there was no possible way for anyone, even Randy, to realize that his constellation would lead to a unicorn marathon of celebrated careers that would touch the lives of so many.
Like a seductive alchemist Randy began to write and record his own albums transforming the world’s anguish into a narrative of truth and granting him a thriving audience in the UK, with television spots on such British institutions as “Top of the Pops” as well as many others showcasing his solo hits like, “Uptown, Uptempo Woman” and “Concrete and Clay.” He also performed solo concerts at prestigious venues, including the London Palladium, Drury Lane Theatre, and Royal Festival Hall.
The original material from Randy’s songs via his solo albums began being covered and recorded by a myriad of artist including: Barry Manilow (A Weekend in New England), The Carpenters (I Can’t Make Music), Nelly (My Place), Patti LaBelle (Isn’t it a Shame), Willy Nelson (Down in the Everglades), Olivia Newton-John (If Love is Real), ABBA’s Agnetha Faltskog (Turn the World Around), Blood, Sweat, Tears (Blue Street) The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (Grey), Dionne Warwick (The Laughter and the Tears) and a long list of others. He has performed in breathtaking arenas with Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, The Association and The Carpenters, and with Olivia Newton-John at The Budokan in Japan.
However back home in Hollywood Randy became interested in pursuing a new endeavor which was creating the life, blood, and essence of the movies, through music, and making even the plainest faces alive with promise. His individuality and originality only touches upon the core of his iconic acclamation and his dexterity and endowment for the creations of over 100 soundtracks both for motion picture and television. Embodied within his eclectic film catalogs are the mischievous comedies of “My Cousin Vinny”, “The Mask”, “Billy Madison” “Ghostbusters ll”, “Twins”, “Kindergarten Cop”, “Shanghai Noon”, his romantic satires such as “While You Were Sleeping”, “27 Dresses”, “Six Days Seven Nights” and his whimsical fantasies, “Dragonheart”, “Beethoven”, “Drop Dead Fred”, “The Chipmunk’s Adventure” and “The Indian in the Cupboard” Then there are those dark, haunting, and ominous thrillers, “XXX”, “Anaconda”, “Diabolique”, “Daylight”, and his most recent, the intense and evocative music of “The Possession of Anne.”
However like a chameleon he is of a very specialized and distinctive breed of musicians and has the ability of shifting to different hues and degrees of emotions and brilliance as shown via his more serious and passionate films including “Gettysburg” (directed by Ronald F. Maxwell), “The Bruce Lee Story” (directed by Rob Cohen), “Come See Paradise” (directed by Alan Parker) and “Last of the Mohicans” (directed by Michael Mann). Amongst the other legendary directors he has lent his talent to are the late Ivan Reitman, the iconic Ron Howard, and celebrated producer and visionary Ted Turner.
Some of the television shows and series he has scored encompass : MacGyver, Mr. Sunshine, Backdraft 2 for Netflix, and Citizen X for HBO. These credits only touch the surface of his accomplishments. He has also created the music for “Dare Mighty Things” for NASA’s final Shuttle launch, “Wimbledon, Grand Slam Tennis Series” for ESPN, “ESPN Sports Century,” and even the NBC “on air” Olympic Theme, of which he has celebrated over 20 years of Olympic themed glory keeping the musical flame alive.
The multi-award winning serialist has received some of the most prestigious awards including BMI’s highest honor, the Richard Kirk Award for Outstanding Career Achievement, the Composer and Lyricist’s Guild Lifetime Achievement Award , an Emmy for the close of the NBC Olympic Broadcast, and an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from the University of Cincinnati, which was received alongside the only other PhD recipient Coretta Scott King. In addition he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and British Academy Award (BAFTA), for “Last of the Mohicans.” Furthermore, “Dragonheart” was nominated for the Saturn (Science Fiction) Award, and “Leap Year” was awarded the Gold Spirit Award (in honor of Jerry Goldsmith) for Best Comedy.
Besides recording and conducting all of his own scores in Los Angeles, New York, Salt Lake City, and London, he has lived their performances in film festivals in Ubeda Spain, in Lucerne, Switzerland (with the 21rst Century Orchestra), and at Fimucité The Tenerife International Film Music Festival in the Canary Islands. One is likely to hear an Edelman score piece on a regular basis throughout the country, on countless symphony programs, including the Boston Pops.
Randy has for the past year or so treated sold out audiences in New York and London to his live solo performances entitled “A Life in 80 Minutes” (which spans for more like 2 hours). He has been performing on stage a behind the scenes view of his outstanding career through his music and his touching and humorous stories. Rave reviews have continuously been generated from critics including Michael Musto, publications such as Hype, Louder Than War, NY Weekly Times and a vast array of other publications.
Always dancing on the rim of a volcano, Randy continues to compose and record,lighting up the world like fireworks plunging into the night sky and shattering the darkness. The illustrious composer of modern and future times has recently released his post anthemic song of hope and inspiration titled “Comin’ Out the Other Side”, available via Tribeca Records.
The never ending saga of Randy Edelman constantly endures and advances with his ongoing work on the score for his musical, “Short Cut,” telling of the construction of the Panama Canal, and his recently released Sony Masterworks album of Randy Edelman’s orchestral score to Ghostbusters II in all formats....Randy is currently working on his brand new album “Can’t Be Killed By Any Conventional Means.”
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