Songwriter Newman has been a professional songwriter since he was 17. He cites
Ray Charles as his greatest influence growing up, stating, "I loved Charles' music to excess." His first single as a performer was 1962's "Golden Gridiron Boy", released when he was 18. The single flopped and Newman chose to concentrate on songwriting and arranging for the next several years. An early writing credit was "They Tell Me It's Summer", used as the b-side of
the Fleetwoods 1962 single, "Lovers by Night, Strangers by Day", which led to further commissions from the Fleetwoods and also
Pat Boone. Other early songs were recorded by
Gene Pitney,
Jerry Butler,
Petula Clark,
Dusty Springfield,
Jackie DeShannon,
the O'Jays, and
Irma Thomas, among others. His work as a songwriter met with particular success in the UK: top 40 UK hits written by Newman included
Cilla Black's "I've Been Wrong Before" (No. 17, 1965), Gene Pitney's "Nobody Needs Your Love" (No. 2, 1966) and "
Just One Smile" (No. 8, 1966); and
the Alan Price Set's "
Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear" (No. 4, 1967). Price, an English keyboardist who was enjoying great success at the time, championed Newman by featuring seven Randy Newman songs on his 1967
A Price on His Head album. In the mid-1960s, Newman kept a close musical relationship with the band
Harpers Bizarre, best known for their 1967 hit version of the
Paul Simon composition "
The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)". The band recorded six Newman compositions, including "Simon Smith" and "Happyland", during their short initial career (1967–1969). In this period, Newman began a long professional association with childhood friend
Lenny Waronker. Waronker had been hired to produce the Tikis,
the Beau Brummels and
the Mojo Men, who were all contracted to the Los Angeles independent label
Autumn Records. He in turn brought in Newman,
Leon Russell and another friend, pianist/arranger
Van Dyke Parks, to play on recording sessions. Later in 1966, Waronker was hired as an A&R manager by
Warner Bros. Records and his friendship with Newman, Russell and Parks began a creative circle around Waronker at Warner Bros. that became one of the keys to Warner Bros.' subsequent success as a rock music label. In the 1970s, Newman co-wrote with
Jake Holmes the "Most Original Soft Drink Ever" jingle for
Dr Pepper. In 2011, Newman endorsed jazz singer
Roseanna Vitro's album,
The Randy Newman Project (
Motéma Music, 2011). In 2020, Newman wrote a song called “Stay Away” to support people during the COVID-19 pandemic. The song can be downloaded and proceeds go to the Ellis Marsalis Center to support underserved children in New Orleans’ 9th Ward. Newman's song compositions are represented by
Downtown Music Publishing.
Recording artist His 1968 debut album,
Randy Newman, was a critical success but never entered the
Billboard Top 200. Many artists, including
Barbra Streisand,
Helen Reddy,
Bette Midler,
Alan Price,
Van Dyke Parks,
Dave Van Ronk,
Judy Collins,
Glen Campbell,
Cass Elliot,
Art Garfunkel,
the Everly Brothers,
Claudine Longet,
Bonnie Raitt,
Dusty Springfield,
Tom Odell,
Nina Simone,
Lynn Anderson,
Wilson Pickett,
Pat Boone,
Neil Diamond and
Peggy Lee,
covered his songs and "I Think It's Going to Rain Today" became an early standard. In 1969, he did the orchestral arrangements for the songs "Minstrel of the Dawn" and "Approaching Lavender" on
Gordon Lightfoot's
Sit Down Young Stranger (later renamed
If You Could Read My Mind) (1970), and for
Peggy Lee's single "
Is That All There Is?", as well as
her album with the same title (which also contained her cover versions of two of his songs: "Love Story" and "Linda"). Also in 1969 he recorded "Gone Dead Train" for the 1970 movie and
soundtrack album to
Performance, starring Mick Jagger. In 1970,
Harry Nilsson recorded an entire album of Newman compositions (Newman played piano) called
Nilsson Sings Newman. The album was not a commercial success, but critics liked it (it won a "Record of the Year" award from
Stereo Review magazine), and it paved the way for Newman's 1970 release,
12 Songs, a more stripped-down sound that showcased Newman's piano.
Ry Cooder's slide guitar and contributions from
Byrds members
Gene Parsons and
Clarence White helped to give the album a much rootsier feel.
12 Songs was also critically acclaimed (6th best album of the seventies according to
Village Voice critic
Robert Christgau), but again found little commercial success, though
Three Dog Night made a huge hit of his "
Mama Told Me Not to Come". The following year,
Randy Newman Live cemented his cult following and became his first LP to appear in the
Billboard charts, at No. 191. Newman also made his first foray into music for films at this time, writing and performing the theme song "
He Gives Us All His Love" for
Norman Lear's 1971 film
Cold Turkey. 1972's
Sail Away reached No. 163 on
Billboard, with the title track making its way into the repertoire of
Ray Charles and
Linda Ronstadt. "
You Can Leave Your Hat On" which was covered by
Three Dog Night, then
Joe Cocker, and later by
Keb Mo,
Etta James,
Tom Jones (whose version was later used for the final striptease to the 1997 film
The Full Monty), and the Québécois singer
Garou. The album also featured "Burn On", an ode to an infamous incident in which the heavily polluted
Cuyahoga River literally caught fire. In 1989, "Burn On" was used as the opening theme to the film
Major League, whose focus was the hapless
Cleveland Indians. His 1974 release
Good Old Boys was a set of songs about the American South. "
Rednecks" began with a description of segregationist
Lester Maddox pitted against a "smart-ass New York Jew" on a TV show (this was a joke, because the "Jew" was
Dick Cavett), in a song that criticizes both
southern racism and the complacent bigotry of Americans outside of the south who stereotype all southerners as racist yet ignore racism in northern and midwestern states and large cities. This ambiguity was also apparent on "Kingfish" and "
Every Man a King", the former a
paean to
Huey Long (the assassinated former Governor and
United States Senator from
Louisiana), the other a campaign song written by Long himself. An album that received lavish critical praise,
Good Old Boys also became a commercial breakthrough for Newman, peaking at No. 36 on
Billboard 200, spending 21 weeks there.
Little Criminals (1977) contained the surprise hit "
Short People", which also became a subject of controversy. In September 1977, the English music magazine
NME reported the following interview with Newman talking about his then-new release. "There's one song about a child murderer," Newman deadpans. "That's fairly optimistic. Maybe. There's one called 'Jolly Coppers on Parade' which isn't an absolutely anti-police song. Maybe it's even a fascist song. I didn't notice at the time. There's also one about me as a cowboy called 'Rider in the Rain.' I think it's ridiculous.
The Eagles are on there. That's what's good about it. There's also this song 'Short People.' It's purely a joke. I like other ones on the album better but the audiences go for that one." His 1983 album
Trouble in Paradise included the single "
I Love L.A.", a song that has been interpreted as both praising and criticizing the city of Los Angeles. This ambivalence is borne out by Newman's own comments on the song. As he explained in a 2001 interview, "There's some kind of ignorance L.A. has that I'm proud of. The open car and the redhead, the
Beach Boys ... I can't think of anything a hell of a lot better than that." The
ABC network and
Frank Gari Productions transformed "I Love L.A." into a popular 1980s TV promotional campaign, retooling the lyrics and title to "You'll Love It!" (on ABC) The song is played at home games for the
Los Angeles Dodgers and
Los Angeles Lakers as well as the
Los Angeles Kings who use the song along with their
goal horn. In spite of its prominence, however, it failed to chart on the
Billboard Hot 100. In 1985 Newman performed a set at the first
Farm Aid concert that included a duet with
Billy Joel on facing grand pianos. Newman performed "
Sail Away". In 2003 Newman's song "
It's a Jungle Out There" was used for season 2 of the USA Network's show
Monk; it won him the 2004
Emmy Award for Best Main Title Music. In the years following
Trouble in Paradise, Newman focused more on film work, but his personal life entered a difficult period. He separated from his wife of nearly 20 years, Roswitha. He released four albums of new material as a singer-songwriter since that time:
Land of Dreams (1988),
Bad Love (1999),
Harps and Angels (2008), and
Dark Matter (2017).
Land of Dreams included one of his best-known songs, "It's Money That Matters" (featuring
Mark Knopfler on guitar), and featured Newman's first stab at autobiography with "Dixie Flyer" and "Four Eyes", while
Bad Love included "I Miss You", a moving tribute to his ex-wife He has also rerecorded a number of songs that span his career, accompanying himself on piano, with
The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 1 (2003),
The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 2 (2011) and
The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 3 (2016). He continues to perform his songs before live audiences as a touring concert artist. for Songwriting ceremony In the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Newman's "
Louisiana 1927" became an anthem and was played heavily on a wide range of American radio and television stations, in both Newman's 1974 original and
Aaron Neville's cover version of the song. The song addresses the deceitful manner in which
New Orleans's municipal government managed a
flood in 1927, during which, as Newman asserts, "The guys who ran the
Mardi Gras, the bosses in New Orleans decided the course of that flood. You know, they cut a hole in the levee and it flooded the cotton fields." In a related performance, Newman contributed to the 2007 release of ''
Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino'' (
Vanguard), contributing his version of
Fats Domino's "
Blue Monday". Domino had been rescued from his New Orleans home after Hurricane Katrina, initially having been feared dead. In October 2016, Newman released the song "Putin".
The Washington Post wrote: "inspired by
the Russian leader's penchant for bare-chested photo ops and a geopolitical approach that's somewhat short of soft and cuddly, Newman has crafted a song that tells Putin's story from multiple perspectives." The song earned Newman a
Grammy Award for Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals. Newman released his much anticipated new album,
Dark Matter, in August 2017. It received positive reviews, many citing its musical ambition as well as its lyrical bite.
Film composer Newman's earliest scoring work was for television, creating background music for a 1962 episode of TV's
The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, and later working briefly on the 1960s TV shows
Lost in Space,
Peyton Place and
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and more extensively on
Judd, for the Defense. In 1966, an album of Newman's
Peyton Place music appeared, credited to The Randy Newman Orchestra. The music was not a score from any episode, but incidental library music designed to be heard in contexts where characters turned on a radio station, or were watching TV. Newman claims to have been unaware of the album's existence at the time of release and does not include it in the official "complete discography" on his website. He also co-wrote the title song for the 1970 drama
Cover Me Babe. The recording was performed by
Bread. Newman also co-wrote pop songs for films as early as 1964, co-penning "Look at Me" with
Bobby Darin for
The Lively Set (1964), and "Galaxy-a-Go-Go, or Leave It to Flint" with
Jerry Goldsmith for
Our Man Flint (1966). However, Newman's work as a composer of actual film scores began with
Norman Lear's 1971 satire
Cold Turkey. He returned to film work with 1981's
Ragtime, for which he was nominated for two
Academy Awards. Newman co-wrote the 1986 film
Three Amigos with
Steve Martin and
Lorne Michaels, wrote three songs for the film, and provided the voice for the singing bush. Newman has scored nine
Disney/
Pixar feature films;
Toy Story, ''
A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Cars, Toy Story 3, Monsters University, Cars 3, and Toy Story 4. He has earned at least one Academy Award nomination for seven of the nine films he has scored for Pixar, winning the award for Monsters, Inc. and Toy Story 3, both times in the category of Best Original Song. Additional scores by Newman include Avalon, Parenthood, James and the Giant Peach, Seabiscuit, Awakenings, The Paper, Meet the Parents, and its sequel, Meet the Fockers. His score for Pleasantville'' was an
Academy Award nominee. He also wrote the songs for Turner's ''
Cats Don't Dance''. In 1997, Randy was hired by director
Wolfgang Petersen to do the soundtrack of the movie
Air Force One, however he was rejected because Petersen thought that the score sounded like a parody. So Newman was replaced by
Jerry Goldsmith and
Joel McNeely who wrote the final score in 12 days. After the film’s premiere, several bootlegs of Newman’s rejected score were distributed. Composer
Hans Zimmer once indicated that he considered these cues superior to any he had written at the time. Newman had the dubious distinction of receiving the most
Oscar nominations (15) without a single win. His losing streak was broken when he received the
Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2002, for the
Monsters, Inc. song "
If I Didn't Have You", beating
Sting,
Enya and
Paul McCartney. After receiving a standing ovation, a bemused but emotional Newman began his acceptance speech with "I don't want your pity!" When the orchestra began playing the underscore signifying that the speaker's time on stage is concluding, Newman ordered them to stop before thanking "all these musicians, many of whom have worked for me several times and may not again." Besides writing songs for films, he also writes songs for television series such as the Emmy Award-winning theme song of
Monk, "
It's a Jungle Out There". Newman also composed the Emmy Award-winning song "When I'm Gone" for the final episode. Newman wrote the music for
Walt Disney Animation Studios'
The Princess and the Frog. During Disney's annual shareholder meeting in March 2007, Newman performed a new song written for the movie. He was accompanied by the
Dirty Dozen Brass Band. The New Orleans setting of the film played to Newman's musical strengths, and his songs contained elements of
Cajun music,
zydeco,
blues and
Dixieland jazz. Two of the songs, "
Almost There" and "
Down in New Orleans", were nominated for Oscars. In total, Newman has received 22 Academy Award nominations with two wins, both for Best Original Song. While accepting the award for "
We Belong Together" in 2011, he joked "my percentages aren't great."
Musical theater A revue of Newman's songs, titled ''Maybe I'm Doing It Wrong'', was performed at the
Astor Place Theatre in New York City in 1982, and later at other theaters around the country. The New York cast featured
Mark Linn-Baker and
Deborah Rush, and at one point included
Treat Williams. In the 1990s, Newman adapted Goethe's
Faust into a concept album and musical, ''
Randy Newman's Faust''. After a 1995 staging at the
La Jolla Playhouse, he retained
David Mamet to help rework the book before its relaunch on the Chicago
Goodman Theatre mainstage in 1996. Newman's
Faust had a one-time
Off-Broadway performance at the
City Center in New York City on July 1, 2014, where Newman starred as the Devil. In 2000,
South Coast Repertory (SCR) produced
The Education of Randy Newman, a musical theater piece that recreates the life of a songwriter who bears some resemblance to the actual Newman. Set in
New Orleans and Los Angeles, it was modeled on the American autobiography,
The Education of Henry Adams. In 2010, the
Center Theatre Group staged
Harps and Angels, a musical revue of the Randy Newman songbook, interspersed with narratives reflecting on Newman's inspirations. The revue premiered at the
Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles and included among other songs "I Think It's Going to Rain Today", "Sail Away", "Marie", "Louisiana 1927", "Feels Like Home", "
You've Got a Friend in Me" and "I Love L.A". The revue was directed by
Jerry Zaks and featured Ryder Bach,
Storm Large,
Adriane Lenox,
Michael McKean,
Katey Sagal and Matthew Saldivar. ==Personal life==