Mike Piccirillo
Encyclopedia
Mike Piccirillo is a music producer, 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...

, and musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

 who began working professionally in the Los Angeles music business in 1976. In conjunction with production partner George Tobin
George Tobin
George Tobin is a record producer who has produced albums for a long list of musical artists including Robert John, Smokey Robinson, Kim Carnes, Kicking Harold, and PC Quest. He is best known, however, for discovering, managing, and producing the teenage singer Tiffany and showcasing her in malls...

, and subsequently Gary Goetzman
Gary Goetzman
Gary M. Goetzman is an American film and television producer, and is perhaps best known as co-founder of Playtone with Tom Hanks. Born in Los Angeles, Goetzman began his career as a child actor. In 1984, director Jonathan Demme tapped Goetzman to co-produce the Talking Heads concert film Stop...

, Piccirillo co-produced 31 albums between 1976 and 1992. Major production hits include Smokey Robinson
Smokey Robinson
William "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. is an American R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. Robinson is one of the primary figures associated with Motown, second only to the company's founder, Berry Gordy...

's "Being With You", Robert John
Robert John
Robert John is an American singer-songwriter.- Biography :He is best remembered for the 1979 hit, "Sad Eyes". This song, which features John's falsetto vocals, reached Number One on the Billboard Hot 100. Earlier, in 1963 he recorded as the lead singer with Bobby & the Consoles...

's "Sad Eyes", and Kim Carnes
Kim Carnes
Kim Carnes is an American singer-songwriter. She is a two-time Grammy Award winner noted for her distinctive raspy vocal style. Some people have called her "The Female Rod Stewart" due to her raspy voice....

' "More Love)", along with many other charted songs and productions. Artists include La Toya Jackson
La Toya Jackson
La Toya Yvonne Jackson is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author, television personality, actress, businesswoman, philanthropist, activist and former model. She is the fifth child of the Jackson family...

, Natalie Cole
Natalie Cole
Natalie Maria Cole , is an American singer, songwriter and performer. The daughter of jazz legend Nat King Cole, Cole rode to musical success in the mid-1970s as an R&B artist with the hits "This Will Be ", "Inseparable" and "Our Love"...

, Smokey Robinson
Smokey Robinson
William "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. is an American R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. Robinson is one of the primary figures associated with Motown, second only to the company's founder, Berry Gordy...

, Tiffany
Tiffany (singer)
Tiffany Renee Darwish , known popularly as Tiffany, is an American singer and former teen icon. She is most notable for her 1987 cover version of "I Think We're Alone Now", originally recorded by Tommy James and the Shondells in 1967. Released as the second single from her eponymous album, Tiffany,...

, Kim Carnes
Kim Carnes
Kim Carnes is an American singer-songwriter. She is a two-time Grammy Award winner noted for her distinctive raspy vocal style. Some people have called her "The Female Rod Stewart" due to her raspy voice....

, Thelma Houston
Thelma Houston
Thelma Houston is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She scored a number-one hit in 1976 with her cover version of the song "Don't Leave Me This Way", which won the 1978 Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.-Early life & career:Houston is the daughter of a cotton picking mother...

, The Staple Singers
The Staple Singers
The Staple Singers were an American gospel, soul, and R&B singing group. Roebuck "Pops" Staples , the patriarch of the family, formed the group with his children Cleotha , Pervis , Yvonne , and Mavis...

, Go West
Go West (band)
Go West is an English pop duo, formed in 1982 by lead vocalist and drummer Peter Cox ; and guitarist and vocalist Richard Drummie...

, Robert John
Robert John
Robert John is an American singer-songwriter.- Biography :He is best remembered for the 1979 hit, "Sad Eyes". This song, which features John's falsetto vocals, reached Number One on the Billboard Hot 100. Earlier, in 1963 he recorded as the lead singer with Bobby & the Consoles...

, and many others.

Mike Piccirillo and long time music partner Gary Goetzman
Gary Goetzman
Gary M. Goetzman is an American film and television producer, and is perhaps best known as co-founder of Playtone with Tom Hanks. Born in Los Angeles, Goetzman began his career as a child actor. In 1984, director Jonathan Demme tapped Goetzman to co-produce the Talking Heads concert film Stop...

 co-wrote the vast majority of the 100+ plus Piccirillo songs that were released on various artists albums between 1976 and 1995.

In 1995 Piccirillo wrote and produced 15 songs that were featured in the Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...

 written and directed film That Thing You Do. Six of those songs appeared on the film's soundtrack CD.

Additional Piccirillo songs appear in approximately 28 theatrical films released between 1982 and 1995, including Nightmare on Elm Street 4, Police Academy 2, Child's Play, Fright Night
Fright Night
# "Fright Night" – 3:45# "You Can't Hide from the Beast Inside" – 4:14# "Good Man in a Bad Time" – 3:41# "Rock Myself to Sleep" – 2:57# "Let's Talk" – 2:52# "Armies of the Night" – 4:34...

, Kickboxer, Jetsons: The Movie
Jetsons: The Movie
Jetsons: The Movie is a 1990 animated science fiction film produced by Hanna-Barbera and released on July 6, 1990, by Universal Pictures based on the hit cartoon series, The Jetsons . The movie features the final voice roles of George O'Hanlon and Mel Blanc who both died during production of the film...

, Big Momma's House
Big Momma's House
Big Momma's House is a 2000 American crime comedy film directed by Raja Gosnell, written by Darryl Quarles and Don Rhymer, and starring Martin Lawrence as FBI agent Malcolm Turner. The majority of the film took place in Cartersville, Georgia, but the film was shot on location in California. The...

and many others.

Piccirillo has also been a prolific underscore composer on many animated TV series. Between 1995 and 2004, Piccirillo's musical underscore appears on over 500 half-hour TV animated episodes. Many of these TV series also feature Main Title songs composed by Piccirillo. Animated series highlights include Sabrina, the Animated Series, Sabrina's Secret Life
Sabrina's Secret Life
Sabrina's Secret Life is an American animated television series based on the Archie Comics character Sabrina, the Teenage Witch produced by DiC Entertainment in partnership with Sony Pictures Television. It originally aired in syndication in 2003 as a spin-off of Sabrina: Friends Forever, Sabrina,...

, Inspector Gadget's Field Trip
Inspector Gadget's Field Trip
Inspector Gadget's Field Trip is a spin-off incarnation of Inspector Gadget, produced by DiC Entertainment, and aired on The History Channel from 1996 to 1998, with over 26 episodes with live-action sequences produced. Don Adams returned as the voice of Inspector Gadget. It currently airs in reruns...

, Sonic Underground
Sonic Underground
Sonic Underground is an animated series that follows the adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and his siblings, Sonia and Manic. The cartoon follows a main plot similar to, but heavily reconcepted from, main plot of Sonic the Hedgehog: The Animated Series...

, The Wacky World of Tex Avery
The Wacky World of Tex Avery
The Wacky World of Tex Avery is a cartoon television show produced by DiC Entertainment in 1997 and 1998.-Production:The series was named after Tex Avery, a cartoonist who is most famous for his work at Warner Bros. and MGM...

, Trollz
Trollz
Trollz is an American animated television series produced by DiC Entertainment and features the adventures of five fictional teenage girls, who call themselves the Best Friends for Life, who use magic to help them with their everyday life as well as battling whatever magical creatures and problems...

, Gadget Boy, Archie's Weird Mysteries
Archie's Weird Mysteries
Archie's Weird Mysteries is an American animated children's television program, based on the successful Archie comics. The series premise revolves around a Riverdale High physics lab gone awry, making the town of Riverdale a "magnet" for B-movie style monsters.The show is distributed as meeting the...

, and many others.

As of 2008 Piccirillo continues to be heavily involved in professional music production, songwriting and being a performing musician.

In early 2008 Piccirillo, along with drummer/percussionist Ken Herrera, has released music from a new project, the smooth jazz band ELECTRAGROOVE.
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