Randy Newman
By All Music Guide
By All Music Guide
Born into a musical family -- his uncles Alfred and Lionel were both noted film composers -- Randy Newman had become a professional songwriter by the time he was 17, working for a Californian publishing house. Newman pursued a B.A. in music from UCLA, but he dropped out of college when his friend Lenny Waronker landed him a record contract with Reprise Records. His eponymous debut album received little attention upon its 1968 release, but over the next few years, his reputation as a songwriter grew as Judy Collins, Dusty Springfield and Peggy Lee recorded his songs. Three Dog Night took his Mama Told Me Not to Come to number one in 1970, the same year Harry Nilsson recorded an entire album of Randys songs, Nilsson Sings Newman.
Newmans second album, 1970s 12 Songs, was widely praised upon its release, but the record failed to sell. Live repeated the same pattern in 1971, but 1972s Sail Away became a moderate hit, due to positive reviews and Newmans constant touring. He followed the record album in 1974 with Good Old Boys, an ambitious concept album about the South that received considerable controversy over its song Rednecks, whose ironic sense of humor was misunderstood by many. The song set the stage for 1977s Short People, a simple satire of bigotry and prejudice taken from Little Criminals. While the irony in Short People was barely hidden, the song offended many listeners, and the ensuing furor helped the single reach number two on the charts. Newman supported the album with his first tour since 1974.
In 1979, he returned with Born Again, which received mixed reviews, and Newman began a career as a film composer two years after its release. His first score was for Milos Formans Ragtime, and his work was nominated for two Academy Awards. Newman released Trouble in Paradise to strong reviews in 1983, and the album spawned I Love L.A., a parody of shallow yuppie culture that was misinterpreted and became an anthem for 80s greed. Newman didnt release another album until 1988s Land of Dreams, which contained his first attempts at personal songwriting. Like most of his records, the album was greeted warmly by the critics, yet it failed to sell; Its Money That Matters, a rewrite of I Love LA, did become a minor hit.
Newman spent most of the 90s composing film scores and working on a musical adaptation of Dr. Faust. The resulting musical, Faust, was initially released as a concept album in the fall of 1995 to mixed reviews. A stage version of Faust opened the same month as the albums release, and it received better reviews. Newman garnered another Oscar nomination in 1996 for Youve Got a Friend, which was featured in the Disney computer-animated film, Toy Story. His career was celebrated in 1998 with the release of the four-disc box set Guilty: 30 Years of Randy Newman.
Newman split with his longtime record company Reprise in early 1999. He signed with DreamWorks and released Bad Love, his first proper album since 1988s Land of Dreams, in the summer of 1999.
