Alexandra Patsavas is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 music supervisor

Music supervision

A music supervisor is an individual who combines music and visual media. In the musical theatre industry, a music supervisor is often responsible for managing a team of music directors working on any number of musical productions.-Description:...

 who has worked on over sixty films and television series, most notably The O.C.

The O.C.

The O.C. is an American teen drama television series that originally aired on the Fox television network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 21, 2007, running a total of four seasons...

, Grey's Anatomy

Grey's Anatomy

Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...

and Gossip Girl

Gossip Girl (TV series)

Gossip Girl is an American teen drama television series based on the book series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar. The series was created by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, and premiered on The CW on September 19, 2007...

.

Early life

Patsavas was born in Chicago, Illinois. Although under the influence of parents with a musical taste ranging from rock to opera, Patsavas wanted to study politics until her high school years when she developed an interest in music, attending rock concerts and buying LPs; "the kid with the bad '80s haircut who went to all the clubs and shows". She enrolled in the University of Illinois but dropped out during her junior year.

Career

She has worked in the music department of over sixty different films and television series. From there she joined the BMI music agency, then worked on over fifty Roger Corman

Roger Corman

Roger William Corman is an American film producer, director and actor. He has mostly worked on low-budget B movies. Some of Corman's work has an established critical reputation, such as his cycle of films adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, and in 2009 he won an Honorary Academy Award for...

 B-movies, made-for-television movies and other films, until in 1999

1999 in television

The year 1999 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1999.For the American TV schedule, see: 1999-00 United States network television schedule.-Events:-Debuts:-Miniseries:...

 she finally broke into television, with her own music company Chop Shop Music Supervision, on the series Roswell

Roswell (TV series)

Roswell is an American science fiction television series developed, produced, and co-written by Jason Katims. The series debuted on October 6, 1999 on The WB and moved to UPN for the third season. The last episode aired May 14, 2002...

and began to work primarily on TV series, including Fastlane

Fastlane (TV series)

Fastlane is an American action/crime drama series that was broadcast on Fox from 2002 to 2003. On August 14, 2005 G4 began rebroadcasting the complete series. After finishing its initial run on the network, Fastlane stopped airing on G4...

, Boston Public

Boston Public

Boston Public is an American drama television series created by David E. Kelley and broadcast on Fox. It centered on Winslow High School, a fictional public high school located in Boston, Massachusetts. The show was named for the real public school district in which it takes place...

, Tru Calling

Tru Calling

Tru Calling is an American television supernatural drama series that premiered on Fox Network on October 30, 2003. It ran for two seasons before being canceled....

, 1-800-Missing

1-800-Missing

Missing is a Canadian-American crime drama television series based on the 1-800-WHERE-R-YOU book series by Meg Cabot...

and Criminal Minds

Criminal Minds

Criminal Minds is an American police procedural drama that premiered September 22, 2005, on CBS. The series follows a team of profilers from the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit based in Quantico, Virginia. The BAU is part of the FBI National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime...

. In 2007

2007 in television

2007 in television may refer to:*2007 in American television*2007 in Australian television*2007 in British television*2007 in Canadian television*2007 in Japanese television...

 alone, she covered dozens of episodes of the series Without a Trace

Without a Trace

Without a Trace is an American television drama which originally ran on CBS from September 26, 2002 to May 19, 2009. The series was set in New York City and concerned a fictitious FBI Missing Persons Unit.-Premise:...

, Shark

Shark (TV series)

Shark is an American legal drama created by Ian Biederman that originally aired on CBS from September 21, 2006 to May 20, 2008. The series stars James Woods.-Synopsis:...

, Rescue Me

Rescue Me (TV series)

Rescue Me is an American television drama series that premiered on the FX Network on July 21, 2004, and concluded on September 7, 2011. The series focuses on the professional and personal lives of a group of New York City firefighters in the fictitious Ladder 62 / Engine 99 firehouse.The show...

and Mad Men

Mad Men

Mad Men is an American dramatic television series created and produced by Matthew Weiner. The series premiered on Sunday evenings on the American cable network AMC and are produced by Lionsgate Television. It premiered on July 19, 2007, and completed its fourth season on October 17, 2010. Each...

, although her most notable work has been on the series The O.C.

The O.C.

The O.C. is an American teen drama television series that originally aired on the Fox television network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 21, 2007, running a total of four seasons...

, Grey's Anatomy

Grey's Anatomy

Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...

and its spin-off Private Practice, Supernatural

Supernatural (TV series)

Supernatural is an American supernatural and horror television series created by Eric Kripke, which debuted on September 13, 2005 on The WB, and is now part of The CW's lineup. Starring Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester and Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester, the series follows the brothers as they...

, Chuck

Chuck (TV series)

Chuck is an action-comedy/spy-drama television program from the United States created by Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak. The series is about an "average computer-whiz-next-door" named Chuck, played by Zachary Levi, who receives an encoded e-mail from an old college friend now working for the Central...

and Gossip Girl

Gossip Girl (TV series)

Gossip Girl is an American teen drama television series based on the book series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar. The series was created by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, and premiered on The CW on September 19, 2007...

.

Her work on The O.C. involved the selecting, mixing and supervising of all the tracks that featured in the show, as well as on the six soundtracks that followed. Her work was also substantially made up of approaching bands and artists about recording covers and requesting licensing permission to include songs on the show and in the mixes. Because her ongoing search for suitable songs often leads to unsigned or non-mainstream performers, she is partially responsible for re-surfacing the trend of music promotion through television since The Flaming Lips

The Flaming Lips

The Flaming Lips are an American alternative rock band, formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1983.Melodically, their sound contains lush, multi-layered, psychedelic rock arrangements, but lyrically their compositions show elements of space rock, including unusual song and album titles—such as "What...

's appearance in Beverly Hills, 90210

Beverly Hills, 90210

Beverly Hills, 90210 is an American drama series that originally aired from October 4, 1990 to May 17, 2000 on Fox and was produced by Spelling Television in the United States, and subsequently on various networks around the world. It is the first series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise...

, particularly on Grey's Anatomy with songs such as Snow Patrol

Snow Patrol

Snow Patrol are an alternative rock band from Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland. Formed at the University of Dundee in 1994 as an indie rock band, the band is now based in Glasgow...

's "Chasing Cars

Chasing Cars

"Chasing Cars" is the second single from Snow Patrol's fourth album, Eyes Open. It was recorded in 2005 and released on 6 June 2006 in the US and 24 July 2006 in the UK as the album's second single....

" and The Fray

The Fray

-Literature:*Fray, a phenomenon in Terry Pratchett's The Carpet People*Fray , a comic book series by Joss Whedon**Melaka Fray, titular character of the comic book series-Music:*"Fray", a song from the album 14 Shades of Grey by Staind...

's "How to Save a Life

How to Save a Life (song)

"How to Save a Life" is a song by American rock band The Fray. It is the title track from their debut album and was released as the second single from it. The song is one of their most popular airplay songs and peaked in the top 3 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States...

", which both saw huge success after being featured in the show. Following this trend was the Beastie Boys

Beastie Boys

Beastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from New York City. The group consists of Mike D who plays the drums, MCA who plays the bass, and Ad-Rock who plays the guitar....

' single "Ch-Check It Out

Ch-Check It Out

"Ch-Check It Out" is a song by alternative hip-hop group the Beastie Boys, released as the first single off their sixth studio album To the 5 Boroughs. The song heavily samples " The Dock of the Bay" by Peggy Lee. It was also nominated for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group at the 2005 Grammy...

" which debuted in an episode of The O.C., even before its premiere on the radio. Josh Schwartz

Josh Schwartz

-Film school at USC:In 1995, Schwartz realized his boyhood dream of attending film school to study screen and television writing at the University of Southern California...

, who originally hired Patsavas for The O.C., which he created, re-hired her for Gossip Girl and Chuck, both of which he created, after seeing the success that she brought to both The O.C. and the songs and artists featured in it. Her work on Gossip Girl brought in many New York-orientated bands (for the show's setting) and other popular songs including Fergie's "Glamorous

Glamorous (song)

"Glamorous" is a R&B single taken from R&B singer Fergie's solo debut album, The Dutchess. In March 2007, the song became Fergie's second number-one single in the United States. The single was released on March 19, 2007 in the UK and was the second single taken from the album...

" for the series' promotional video.

Chop Shop Music Supervision, Patsavas' own firm, became its own music label, Chop Shop Records

Chop Shop Records

Chop Shop Records is a record label with a partnership under the Atlantic Records group in South Pasadena, California. The label was started by Alexandra Patsavas, who also started Chop Shop Music Supervision, which works with TV soundtracks on shows including Roswell, Boston Public, Grey's...

, in 2007 after a deal with Atlantic Records

Atlantic Records

Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...

. She said the label would mainly sign indie rock

Indie rock

Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...

 bands such as the ones featured on The O.C. and Grey's Anatomy that were usually unsigned or only signed to small labels, and also mentioned distributing TV soundtracks much like her own.

She was nominated for a Grammy Award

Grammy Award

A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

 in 2007 in the category of "Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media" for the compilation of Grey's Anatomy Original Soundtrack, Vol. 2, the only television soundtrack in the category, shared with producer Mitchell Leib and the various artists that were featured in the album. She was also the music supervisor for the 2008 film

2008 in film

This is a list of all major films made in 2008.-Highest-grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2008...

 Twilight

Twilight (2008 film)

Twilight is a 2008 American romantic vampire film based on Stephenie Meyer's popular novel of the same name. Directed by Catherine Hardwicke, the film stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. It is the first film in The Twilight Saga film series...

, and the film's soundtrack

Twilight (soundtrack)

The Twilight soundtrack is the official music for the 2008 film Twilight. The score was composed by Carter Burwell, with the rest of the soundtrack chosen by music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas. The album was released on November 4, 2008 by Patsavas' Chop Shop label in conjunction with Atlantic...

 was released on her Chop Shop label.

Patsavas was also a judge for the 5th annual Independent Music Awards

The Independent Music Awards

The Independent Music Awards is an international program that honors top-ranked independent artists and releases in more than 50 Album, Song, Music Video and Design categories....

 to support independent artists' careers.

Personal life

She labels herself as a member of "the first MTV Generation

MTV Generation

The MTV Generation is a term sometimes used to refer to youth of the late 20th century. The term can mean different things to different people, and is sometimes used synonymously with the terms Generation X or Generation Y.- History :...

", and lists her inspirational musical influences as Henry Mancini

Henry Mancini

Henry Mancini was an American composer, conductor and arranger, best remembered for his film and television scores. He won a record number of Grammy Awards , plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously in 1995...

, David Holmes

David Holmes (musician)

David Holmes is a Northern Irish DJ, musician and composer.-Career:Holmes began djing in Belfast from the age of 15. His first hit was the song "DeNiro", with Ashley Beedle, in 1992. In the early to mid 1990s he ran two club nights in the Belfast Art College known as Sugar Sweet and Shake Yer Brain...

, Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...

 and Ahmet Ertegün

Ahmet Ertegun

Ahmet Ertegün was a Turkish American musician and businessman, best known as the founder and president of Atlantic Records. He also wrote classic blues and pop songs and served as Chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and museum...

.

External links