Randy Newman brings his special brand of whimsy and lyrical storytelling to three delightful new songs written for Toy Story. He also contributed the film's incredible underscore, which highlights the fast-paced action-adventure, the heartfelt emotional moments and everything in between.
The Grammy Award-winning composer, best known for his witty and ironic lyrics on hit songs like "Short People" and "I Love L.A.," is a musical composition graduate from UCLA. He began his professional career at 17, when he took a job as a writer with a Los Angeles music publishing company. Born into a musical family -- both his uncles, Alfred and Lionel, were legendary film composers -- this seemed a natural path for Newman to follow.
His flourishing pop music career began with a recording contract in 1967 with Warner Music. For over two decades, through 11 albums and 7 film scores, Randy has delivered a succession of hits which have earned him the reputation as the wittiest composer in pop music as well as critical praise. His debut vocal album, Randy Newman, was released in 1968, followed by Twelve Songs (1970), Randy Newman Live (1971) and Sail Away (1972). The late seventies saw the release of three quintessentially Newmanesque albums Good Ol' Boys (1974), Little Criminals (1978), featuring the million-selling hit "Short People," and Born Again (1979). In 1983, he released Trouble In Paradise and, in 1988, the quasi-autobiographical Land of Dreams.
In 1982, Newman turned his attention to motion pictures, and his music for "Ragtime" garnered an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score as well as Best Original Song for "One More Hour." He followed up with a Grammy Award and a second Oscar nomination for instrumentals in "The Natural," starring Robert Redford. Newman went on to create notable scores for such distinguished motion pictures as "Parenthood," "Avalon," "Awakenings," "Maverick," and "The Paper," receiving a total of 6 Oscar nominations.
His most recent venture, a new musical comedy Randy Newman's "Faust," for which he wrote the book, music and lyrics, is a comic twist of Goethe's famous legend told in quintessential Newman fashion. The stage version of "Faust" has its highly anticipated world premiere last month at the Jolla Playhouse, winning rave reviews. To coincide with the premiere of the show, Newman released the highly acclaimed Faust album (Reprise Records), which features vocal performances by Elton John, James Taylor, Don Henley, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt and Newman himself as the Devil.
Among the many projects on Newman's busy slate is Walt Disney Pictures' upcoming stop-motion animated feature James and the Giant Peach, based on the enormously popular book by Roald Dahl and currently being directed by Henry Selick (Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas). That film, which is due for release next spring, features five great new Randy Newman songs, which will be sung by an all-star cast of animated bugs.
