David Friedman (composer)
Encyclopedia
David Alan Friedman is a film
and theatre
composer
, songwriter
, author
, lyricist
and conductor
based in New York City
.
His songs include: Listen to My Heart, Help is on the Way
, We Can Be Kind, We Live on Borrowed Time, I'll Be Here With You, Just in Time for Christmas
(with David Zippel
) and My Simple Christmas Wish.
He was the conductor of scores for Disney's animated features that include Beauty and the Beast
, Aladdin, Pocahontas
, The Hunchback of Notre Dame
, and vocal contractor for Mulan.
David has written songs for Diana Ross
, Barry Manilow
Petula Clark
, Allison Krauss, Laura Branigan
, LMNT
, Jason Alexander
, Laurie Beechman
, Lainie Kazan
, Lesley Uggams, and others. Songs written by David have been featured in the Disney movies Aladdin and the King of Thieves
, Lizzie McGuire
and Bambi 2, in the movie Salsa and in three animated T.V. series; Happy Ness, Sky Dancers
and Dragon Flyz
.
He has also worked in theatre, on several Broadway
musicals, the most well known being the original Broadway production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
. He was music supervisor for the Broadway version of Beauty and the Beast
as well as Song and Dance
.
He produced all of Nancy LaMott's recordings, many including his original compositions.
In 2009, he released a musical with bookwriter/lyricist Peter S. Kellog, Stunt Girl, developed in association with the Village Theatre
in Seattle, and based on the life of Nellie Bly
.
David is the composer of 4 musicals with Tony Award
Nominated book writer/lyricist Peter Kellogg
. Chasing Nicolette (produced at the Westport Country Playhouse, The Prince Theater in Philadelphia, and the Village Theatre in Seattle) Stunt Girl (Village Theater in Seattle and in Washington D.C)
A Christmas Oratorio called King Island Christmas, written with librettist Deborah Brevoort, has had over 40 productions worldwide. David is also co-composer, with David Pomeranz
and Kathie Lee Gifford
of the new musical Saving Aimee
about the life of Aimee Semple McPherson
.
David is a regular on the Today Show Everyone Has a Story series, and writes a new song with Kathie Lee Gifford each month, which he performs with a current Broadway star on the first Thursday of each month.
David is the creator of a metaphysical method called The Thought Exchange, and has written a book entitled The Thought Exchange - Overcoming Our Resistance to Living a SENSATIONAL Life.
David spends a great deal of time traveling around the country concertizing, speaking, lecturing and doing Sunday talks at New Thought
Organizations, Schools and Corporations.
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
and theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, lyricist
Lyricist
A lyricist is a songwriter who specializes in lyrics. A singer who writes the lyrics to songs is a singer-lyricist. This differentiates from a singer-composer, who composes the song's melody.-Collaboration:...
and conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
based in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
His songs include: Listen to My Heart, Help is on the Way
Help Is on the Way
"Help Is on the Way" is a song by American punk rock band Rise Against. It is the first single from their sixth studio album Endgame. It was released onto digital media outlets on January 25, 2011, though it had its worldwide premiere on KROQ on January 17, 2011...
, We Can Be Kind, We Live on Borrowed Time, I'll Be Here With You, Just in Time for Christmas
Just in Time for Christmas
Just in Time for Christmas is the tenth studio album, and first Christmas album, recorded by country music artist Pam Tillis. The album was released on November 13, 2007, on Tillis' own Stellar Cat Records and distributed by RED Distribution. The album features seven of Tillis' favorite Christmas...
(with David Zippel
David Zippel
David Joel Zippel is an American musical theatre lyricist.-Biography:Zippel was born in Easton, Pennsylvania. He is a 1976 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. While there, he wrote a "bizarre political musical" called Rotunda...
) and My Simple Christmas Wish.
He was the conductor of scores for Disney's animated features that include Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast (1991 film)
Beauty and the Beast is a 1991 American animated fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. The thirtieth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series and the third film of the Disney Renaissance period...
, Aladdin, Pocahontas
Pocahontas (1995 film)
Pocahontas is the 33rd animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. It was produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and was originally released to selected theaters on June 16, 1995 by Walt Disney Pictures...
, The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996 film)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a 1996 American animated drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released to theaters on June 21, 1996 by Walt Disney Pictures. The thirty-fourth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon, the film is inspired by Victor Hugo's novel of...
, and vocal contractor for Mulan.
David has written songs for Diana Ross
Diana Ross
Diana Ernestine Earle Ross is an American singer, record producer, and actress. Ross was lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that included successful ventures into film and Broadway...
, Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow is an American singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, producer, conductor, and performer, best known for such recordings as "Could It Be Magic", "Mandy", "Can't Smile Without You", and "Copacabana ."...
Petula Clark
Petula Clark
Petula Clark, CBE is an English singer, actress, and composer whose career has spanned seven decades.Clark's professional career began as an entertainer on BBC Radio during World War II...
, Allison Krauss, Laura Branigan
Laura Branigan
Laura Ann Branigan was an American singer-songwriter and actress of Italian and Irish ancestry. She is best known in the United States for her 1982 Platinum-certified hit "Gloria" and in Europe for the number-one single "Self Control"...
, LMNT
LMNT
LMNT is a multi-cultural pop music boy band formed in 2001. The group's name was selected by the band's original line-up from contest entries solicited by Teen People magazine.-History:...
, Jason Alexander
Jason Alexander
Jay Scott Greenspan , better known by his professional name of Jason Alexander, is an American actor, writer, comedian, television director, producer, and singer. He is best known for his role as George Costanza on the television series Seinfeld, appearing in the sitcom from 1989 to 1998...
, Laurie Beechman
Laurie Beechman
Laurie Hope Beechman was an American singer. As a performer, she was known for her Broadway performances in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Cats, and Les Misérables...
, Lainie Kazan
Lainie Kazan
Lainie Kazan is an American actress and singer.-Personal life:Kazan was born Lanie Levine in Brooklyn, New York City, the daughter of a Russian Ashkenazi Jewish father who worked as a bookie and a Turkish Sephardic Jewish mother, Carole, whom Kazan has described as "neurotic, fragile and...
, Lesley Uggams, and others. Songs written by David have been featured in the Disney movies Aladdin and the King of Thieves
Aladdin and the King of Thieves
Aladdin and the King of Thieves is a 1996 animated film that is the second direct-to-video sequel to the Disney animated feature Aladdin...
, Lizzie McGuire
Lizzie McGuire
Lizzie McGuire is an American teen sitcom which premiered on the Disney Channel on January 12, 2001 and ended February 14, 2004. A total of 65 episodes were produced and aired. Its target demographic was preteens and adolescents...
and Bambi 2, in the movie Salsa and in three animated T.V. series; Happy Ness, Sky Dancers
Sky Dancers
Sky Dancers is the name of a line of toys that were popular in the mid-1990s. The toys were constructed of a pull-string base and a doll with foam wings. When the doll was inserted into the base and the string pulled, the doll would launch into the air, spinning its wings like a propeller as it flew...
and Dragon Flyz
Dragon Flyz
Dragon Flyz is a television program created by Gaumont Pictures that ran for approximately two or three years, accompanied by a line of toy action-figures. The program centered on a coalition known as the Dragonators , who are primarily humans who ride on Dragon-back for the purposes of...
.
He has also worked in theatre, on several Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
musicals, the most well known being the original Broadway production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical with lyrics by Tim Rice. The story is based on the "coat of many colors" story of Joseph from the Hebrew Bible's Book of Genesis. This was the first Lloyd Webber and Rice musical to be performed publicly...
. He was music supervisor for the Broadway version of Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast (musical)
Beauty and the Beast is a musical with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice and a book by Linda Woolverton, based on the 1991 Disney film of the same name. Seven new songs were written for the stage musical...
as well as Song and Dance
Song and Dance
Song and Dance is a musical comprising two acts, one told entirely in "Song" and one entirely in "Dance", tied together by a love story.The first part is Tell Me On A Sunday, with lyrics by Don Black and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, about a young British woman's romantic misadventures in New York...
.
He produced all of Nancy LaMott's recordings, many including his original compositions.
In 2009, he released a musical with bookwriter/lyricist Peter S. Kellog, Stunt Girl, developed in association with the Village Theatre
Village Theatre
Village Theatre is a 5013 non-profit professional producing musical theatre company founded in 1979. Village Theatre is based out of Issaquah and Everett, Washington, both near Seattle...
in Seattle, and based on the life of Nellie Bly
Nellie Bly
Nellie Bly was the pen name of American pioneer female journalist Elizabeth Jane Cochran. She remains notable for two feats: a record-breaking trip around the world in emulation of Jules Verne's character Phileas Fogg, and an exposé in which she faked insanity to study a mental institution from...
.
David is the composer of 4 musicals with Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
Nominated book writer/lyricist Peter Kellogg
Peter Kellogg
Peter R. Kellogg is an American businessman and philanthropist with a net worth estimated by Forbes at around $2.6 billion.-Personal:Peter attended Berkshire School in Sheffield, MA. He is the son of James Crane Kellogg, Jr. of Wall Street specialist firm Spear, Leeds & Kellogg; he joined his...
. Chasing Nicolette (produced at the Westport Country Playhouse, The Prince Theater in Philadelphia, and the Village Theatre in Seattle) Stunt Girl (Village Theater in Seattle and in Washington D.C)
A Christmas Oratorio called King Island Christmas, written with librettist Deborah Brevoort, has had over 40 productions worldwide. David is also co-composer, with David Pomeranz
David Pomeranz
David Pomeranz is an American singer, composer, lyricist, and writer for musical theatre. He is also ambassador for Operation SmileBorn in Reno and raised on Long Island, Pomeranz expressed interest in music from an early age, singing in the synagogue choir, learning to play the piano, guitar, and...
and Kathie Lee Gifford
Kathie Lee Gifford
Kathie Lee Gifford is an American television host, singer, songwriter and actress, best known for her 15-year run on the talk show Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, which she co-hosted with Regis Philbin...
of the new musical Saving Aimee
Saving Aimee
Saving Aimee were a British pop/rock band from Hertfordshire. The band toured extensively for four years, released three singles and an album. On 14 December 2009 the band went on an indefinite hiatus.-History:...
about the life of Aimee Semple McPherson
Aimee Semple McPherson
Aimee Semple McPherson , also known as Sister Aimee, was a Canadian-American Los Angeles, California evangelist and media celebrity in the 1920s and 1930s. She founded the Foursquare Church...
.
David is a regular on the Today Show Everyone Has a Story series, and writes a new song with Kathie Lee Gifford each month, which he performs with a current Broadway star on the first Thursday of each month.
David is the creator of a metaphysical method called The Thought Exchange, and has written a book entitled The Thought Exchange - Overcoming Our Resistance to Living a SENSATIONAL Life.
David spends a great deal of time traveling around the country concertizing, speaking, lecturing and doing Sunday talks at New Thought
New Thought
New Thought promotes the ideas that "Infinite Intelligence" or "God" is ubiquitous, spirit is the totality of real things, true human selfhood is divine, divine thought is a force for good, sickness originates in the mind, and "right thinking" has a healing effect.Although New Thought is neither...
Organizations, Schools and Corporations.