Stephen J. Lawrence
Encyclopedia
Stephen J. Lawrence is an American composer
, living and working in New York City
.
, resulting in three shared Emmy Award
s for Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition; composed the title song and several others for Marlo Thomas
' Free to Be... You and Me, the landmark million-selling record, book and Emmy Award
and Peabody Award
-winning television special; composed the million-selling single You Take My Breath Away
and being awarded three Gold Records; scored the Robert DeNiro movie Bang The Drum Slowly and the cult horror classic Alice, Sweet Alice, which won the music award from the Paris Festival of Fantasy and Science Fiction; composed the songs and score for the live-action movie musical Red Riding Hood starring Isabella Rossellini
and Craig T. Nelson
lyrics by Michael Korie
; composed the HBO animated musical The Tale of Peter Rabbit, starring Carol Burnett
, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick
.
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...
, living and working 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...
.
Overview
Career overview to date (as of January 2011): composed over 250 songs and scores for Sesame StreetSesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
, resulting in three shared Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
s for Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition; composed the title song and several others for Marlo Thomas
Marlo Thomas
Margaret Julia “Marlo” Thomas is an American actress, producer, and social activist known for her starring role on the TV series That Girl . She also serves as National Outreach Director for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital...
' Free to Be... You and Me, the landmark million-selling record, book and Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
and Peabody Award
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...
-winning television special; composed the million-selling single You Take My Breath Away
You Take My Breath Away
You Take My Breath Away may refer to:* "You Take My Breath Away" * "You Take My Breath Away", a song by Sarah Brightman from Fly* "You Take My Breath Away", a song by The Knife from Deep Cuts...
and being awarded three Gold Records; scored the Robert DeNiro movie Bang The Drum Slowly and the cult horror classic Alice, Sweet Alice, which won the music award from the Paris Festival of Fantasy and Science Fiction; composed the songs and score for the live-action movie musical Red Riding Hood starring Isabella Rossellini
Isabella Rossellini
Isabella Fiorella Elettra Giovanna Rossellini is an Italian actress, filmmaker, author, philanthropist, and model. Rossellini is noted for her 14-year tenure as a Lancôme model, and for her roles in films such as Blue Velvet and Death Becomes Her.-Background and early life:Rossellini is a...
and Craig T. Nelson
Craig T. Nelson
Craig Theodore Nelson is an American actor. He is probably best known for his Emmy-winning roles as Hayden Fox on the TV series Coach, and as Steve Freeling in the 1982 film Poltergeist. He also starred in The Incredibles in 2004 as Mr...
lyrics by Michael Korie
Michael Korie
Michael Korie is an American librettist and lyricist. Korie's works include Grey Gardens , Harvey Milk and The Grapes of Wrath . He also wrote the lyrics to Doctor Zhivago Michael Korie (born Michael Cory Indick) is an American librettist and lyricist. Korie's works include Grey Gardens...
; composed the HBO animated musical The Tale of Peter Rabbit, starring Carol Burnett
Carol Burnett
Carol Creighton Burnett is an American actress, comedian, singer, dancer and writer. Burnett started her career in New York. After becoming a hit on Broadway, she made her television debut...
, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick
Sheldon Harnick
Sheldon Harnick is an American lyricist best known for his collaborations with composer Jerry Bock on hit musicals such as Fiddler on the Roof....
.
Awards and nominations
- Three shared Emmys: Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition, Sesame StreetSesame StreetSesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
1989-1990, 2001-2002, and 2002-2003. - Emmy certificates 2007 & 2008
- Gold Record for You Take My Breath AwayYou Take My Breath AwayYou Take My Breath Away may refer to:* "You Take My Breath Away" * "You Take My Breath Away", a song by Sarah Brightman from Fly* "You Take My Breath Away", a song by The Knife from Deep Cuts...
signifying sales of over one million copies. - Gold Record for Free to Be... You and Me signifying sales of 500,000 copies, although it went on to sell over a million.
- Gold Record for Sooner Or Later, the soundtrack of the TV Movie which included You Take My Breath AwayYou Take My Breath AwayYou Take My Breath Away may refer to:* "You Take My Breath Away" * "You Take My Breath Away", a song by Sarah Brightman from Fly* "You Take My Breath Away", a song by The Knife from Deep Cuts...
, signifying sales of 500,000 copies. - Music Award from the Paris International Film Festival of Fantasy and Science Fiction for Alice, Sweet Alice (also known as 'Communion').
TV credits
- Sesame StreetSesame StreetSesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
- Composed over 250 songs and scores. - Free to Be... You and Me - ABCAmerican Broadcasting CompanyThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
special based on the record and book. Composed title song and others. Musical Director. - Sooner Or Later- NBCNBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
. Composed songs and score for musical. - It Happened One Christmas - UniversalUniversal StudiosUniversal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
/ABCAmerican Broadcasting CompanyThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, starring Marlo ThomasMarlo ThomasMargaret Julia “Marlo” Thomas is an American actress, producer, and social activist known for her starring role on the TV series That Girl . She also serves as National Outreach Director for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital...
and Orson WellesOrson WellesGeorge Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
. Composed score. - Sesame StreetSesame StreetSesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
Stays Up Late - A New Year's Celebration - Sesame Street Special. Composed songs and score. - Please Don't Eat The Pictures: Sesame StreetSesame StreetSesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
at Metropolitan Museum of ArtMetropolitan Museum of ArtThe Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
- Sesame Street Special. Composed songs. - The Wubbulous World of Dr. SeussDr. SeussTheodor Seuss Geisel was an American writer, poet, and cartoonist most widely known for his children's books written under the pen names Dr. Seuss, Theo LeSieg and, in one case, Rosetta Stone....
- Jim Henson Productions & NickelodeonNickelodeon (TV channel)Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
. Composed score. - The Tale of Peter Rabbit - HBO animated musical starring Carol BurnettCarol BurnettCarol Creighton Burnett is an American actress, comedian, singer, dancer and writer. Burnett started her career in New York. After becoming a hit on Broadway, she made her television debut...
. Lyrics by Sheldon HarnickSheldon HarnickSheldon Harnick is an American lyricist best known for his collaborations with composer Jerry Bock on hit musicals such as Fiddler on the Roof....
. Written by Tony GeissTony GeissTony Geiss was an award-winning producer, scriptwriter, songwriter and author, known principally for his children's work....
. Composed songs and score. - Trackdown, Finding The Goodbar Killer – TV movie, Produced by Grosso-Jacobson.
- Dorothy In The Land of Oz – CBSCBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
. Composed songs and score. - Hothouse –Lorimar/ ABCAmerican Broadcasting CompanyThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
series. Composed score. - Feeling Good –PBSPublic Broadcasting ServiceThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
series. Composer and music director.
Film credits
- Bang the Drum Slowly starring Robert De NiroRobert De NiroRobert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...
and Michael MoriartyMichael MoriartyMichael Moriarty is an American-Canadian actor of stage and screen, and a jazz musician. He played Benjamin Stone for four seasons on the TV series Law & Order.-Early life:...
. - One Summer Love (also released as Dragonfly) starring Susan SarandonSusan SarandonSusan Sarandon is an American actress. She has worked in films and television since 1969, and won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the 1995 film Dead Man Walking. She had also been nominated for the award for four films before that and has received other recognition for her...
and Beau BridgesBeau BridgesLloyd Vernet "Beau" Bridges III is an American actor and director.- Early life :Bridges was born in Los Angeles, the son of actor Lloyd Bridges and his college sweetheart, Dorothy Bridges . He was nicknamed "Beau" by his mother and father after Ashley Wilkes's son in Gone with the Wind, the book...
. - Red Riding Hood. Live action musical starring Isabella RosselliniIsabella RosselliniIsabella Fiorella Elettra Giovanna Rossellini is an Italian actress, filmmaker, author, philanthropist, and model. Rossellini is noted for her 14-year tenure as a Lancôme model, and for her roles in films such as Blue Velvet and Death Becomes Her.-Background and early life:Rossellini is a...
and Craig T. NelsonCraig T. NelsonCraig Theodore Nelson is an American actor. He is probably best known for his Emmy-winning roles as Hayden Fox on the TV series Coach, and as Steve Freeling in the 1982 film Poltergeist. He also starred in The Incredibles in 2004 as Mr...
. Songs and score. - Hurry Up Or I'll Be 30 starring Danny DeVitoDanny DeVitoDaniel Michael DeVito, Jr. , better known as Danny DeVito, is an American actor, comedian, director and producer. He first gained prominence for his portrayal of Louie De Palma on the ABC and NBC television series Taxi , for which he won a Golden Globe and an Emmy.DeVito and his wife, Rhea Perlman,...
. - The Emperor's New Clothes. Live action musical starring Sid CaesarSid CaesarIsaac Sidney "Sid" Caesar is an Emmy award winning American comic actor and writer known as the leading man on the 1950s television series Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, and to younger generations as Coach Calhoun in Grease and Grease 2.- Early life :Caesar was born in Yonkers, New York,...
and Robert MorseRobert MorseRobert Morse is an American actor and singer. Morse is best known for his appearances in musicals and plays on Broadway. He has also acted in movies and television shows. His best known role is that of J. Pierrepont Finch in the 1961 Broadway musical, and 1967 film How to Succeed in Business...
. Songs and score. - Alice, Sweet Alice, also known as Communion, starring Brooke ShieldsBrooke ShieldsBrooke Christa Shields is an American actress and model. Some of her better-known movies include Pretty Baby and The Blue Lagoon, as well as TV shows such as Suddenly Susan, That '70s Show and Lipstick Jungle....
. - Music supervisor for seven live action feature musicals: Cannon MovieTales.
Theater
- Composed incidental music for Little Duck by Billy AronsonBilly AronsonBilly Aronson is an American playwright and writer best known for coming up with the original concept of the rock opera Rent . He also came up with additional lyrics for Rent, and he almost completely wrote "Santa Fe"...
at Ensemble Studio Theater. 2009 - Composed three songs for A... My Name Is AliceA... My Name Is AliceA… My Name Is Alice, is a musical revue conceived by Joan Micklin Silver and Julianne Boyd, first produced in 1983. It won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Revue...
. Outer Critics Drama Award - Composed incidental music for the BroadwayBroadway theatreBroadway 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...
play The Big Love starring Tracey UllmanTracey UllmanTracey Ullman is a British stage and television actress, comedienne, singer, dancer, screenwriter and author ....
. - Composed incidental score for Manhattan Theater Club production of Some People, Some Other People, And What They Finally Do.
- Composed score for No Dogs Allowed, a children's musical. Book by Sonia ManzanoSonia ManzanoSonia Manzano is an American actress and writer. She is best known for playing Maria on Sesame Street since 1971. She also licenses her image to promote items of baby clothes and plates in Hispanic America....
, Lyrics by Billy AronsonBilly AronsonBilly Aronson is an American playwright and writer best known for coming up with the original concept of the rock opera Rent . He also came up with additional lyrics for Rent, and he almost completely wrote "Santa Fe"...
. Commissioned by Actor's Playhouse, Coral Gables 2006. Revived 2008. New production at Atlantic Theater CompanyAtlantic Theater CompanyAtlantic Theater Company is an Off-Broadway non-profit theater, whose mission is to produce great plays "simply and truthfully utilizing an artistic ensemble." The company was founded in 1985 by David Mamet, William H. Macy, and 30 of their acting students from New York University, inspired by the...
, New York CityNew York CityNew 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...
2009. - Composed music for historical musicals for children for his company, Quill Entertainment Company. Shows include: Everybody's Watching: The Making of the ConstitutionConstitutionA constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
, Glory Road (Harriet TubmanHarriet TubmanHarriet Tubman Harriet Tubman Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Harriet Ross; (1820 – 1913) was an African-American abolitionist, humanitarian, and Union spy during the American Civil War. After escaping from slavery, into which she was born, she made thirteen missions to rescue more than 70 slaves...
and the Underground RailroadUnderground RailroadThe Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists,...
), Dream (Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Bus BoycottMontgomery Bus BoycottThe Montgomery Bus Boycott was a political and social protest campaign that started in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, USA, intended to oppose the city's policy of racial segregation on its public transit system. Many important figures in the civil rights movement were involved in the boycott,...
), Paul ReverePaul ReverePaul Revere was an American silversmith and a patriot in the American Revolution. He is most famous for alerting Colonial militia of approaching British forces before the battles of Lexington and Concord, as dramatized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, Paul Revere's Ride...
Rides Again