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Randy Newman's Americana*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Peter Winkler
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Extract

This article is a study of the musical style of Randy Newman, one of the most intriguing singer–songwriters in the United States today. Since Newman's is hardly a household name, let me begin with a biographical note. Born in New Orleans in 1943, Randy Newman moved to Southern California at the age of five and has lived there ever since. While still a teenager he became staff songwriter for a small publishing company, and in 1966 achieved his first commercial success with a song recorded by Judy Collins, ‘I Think It's Going To Rain Today’. He began recording for Warner Brothers/Reprise in 1968, and has released an album every two or three years since then. Except for one hit, ‘Short People’ (1977), his music has appealed to a relatively small but devoted following. Unlike many contemporary songwriters, Newman is classically trained, and is a skilled orchestrator who writes his own arrangements, as well as arrangements for other artists and occasional film scores.

Type
Research Article
Information
Popular Music , Volume 7 , Issue 1 , January 1988 , pp. 1 - 26
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

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