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John Beal (composer)
John Everett Beal (born January 20, 1947) is an American composer and conductor known for his work in the American film industry. He has conducted for major recording artists ranging from Olivia Newton-John to Deadmau5, movies in concert such as Star Wars, Top Gun: Maverick, Toy Story, Home Alone, Rocketman and the Harry Potter series, is the principal conductor of the Hollywood Symphony Orchestra, is considered by the New York Times as the pioneer of original scores for film trailer music, and has composed the music for numerous television series and films.
John Beal was born in Santa Monica, California, raised in La Cañada Flintridge, California, and graduated from John Muir High School (Pasadena, California), where he was honored for having written many of the drum cadences for the school's internationally renowned Drum Corps, many of which are still used more than 50 years after his graduation. He was named to their Hall of Fame in 2008. He attended San Diego State University and, after being decorated for heroism and bravery in combat with the United States Marine Corps, he attended UCLA. He studied percussion with William Kraft and Bernie Mattinson, and drums with Irv Cotler (drummer for Frank Sinatra), percussion with Ethnomusicologist Craig Woodson, composition with Harry Partch scholar Danlee Mitchell, synthesizers with Clark Spangler, and film scoring with Dominic Frontiere, George Duning, Buddy Baker, Fred Werner, Eddy Lawrence Manson and Earle Hagen. In his early film career, and like many of the young composers of the day, he ghost wrote the scores for numerous major motion pictures and hit television shows and orchestrated and supervised the recording sessions for many others.
Beal's first instrument was piano at age 6. He was a professional soloist in a boys choir at age 8 and a professional jazz and big band drummer on stage and in the recording studio by age 15. After his highly decorated service with the United States Marine Corps, he returned to Hollywood as a musical director and arranger with recording stars Olivia Newton-John (in her U.S. debut), B. B. King, Gladys Knight, Johnny Mathis, Lou Rawls, and for many television variety shows ranging from Ed Sullivan to The Carpenters Make Your Own Kind of Music, The Captain & Tennille Songbook and John Wayne's Emmy Award-winning Sing Out Sweet Land, to The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Beal was also the conductor and arranger for the vocal groups The Establishment, The Kids Next Door, The Nabors Kids, The King Cousins, and The Doodletown Pipers, and worked on stage in Las Vegas and on the showroom circuit with such icons of the day as Phyllis Diller, Perry Como, Bobby Darin, Raquel Welch, Mitzi Gaynor, Leslie Uggams, Jim Nabors, Sally Struthers, Teresa Graves, Peggy Fleming, Frankie Avalon, and Ed Ames.
Beginning in the late 1970s, he composed original music for numerous hit television series, including Vegas with Robert Urich, Eight Is Enough with Dick Van Patten and Betty Buckley, Happy Days with Ron Howard and Henry Winkler, Laverne & Shirley with Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams, Goodtime Girls with Annie Potts and Georgia Engel, Legmen with Bruce Greenwood and John Terlesky, and Chicago Story with Dennis Franz and Craig T. Nelson. His feature films included Zero to Sixty (1978) starring Darren McGavin and Joan Collins, The Funhouse (1981) from director Tobe Hooper, Terror in the Aisles (1984) starring Donald Pleasence and Nancy Allen, and Killer Party (1986) starring Sherry Willis-Burch.
At the suggestion of Gary LeMel (President, Worldwide Music for Warner Bros.), Beal was tapped by Hollywood's marketing guru and "Godfather of Trailers," Andrew J. Kuehn of Kaleidoscope Films (Jaws and other major hit films) to work with him in the film trailer industry. Kuehn and Beal collaborated on the very inception of today's modern film trailer format and Beal has long been recognized as the man who gave contemporary trailers their musical voice. Beal has composed original scores for over 2,000 trailers. His list of major studio credits includes campaigns for such hit films as JFK, Titanic, The Matrix, Forrest Gump, The Last Samurai, Aladdin, the Star Wars trilogy, The Hunt for Red October, True Lies, In the Line of Fire, Patriot Games, The Mask of Zorro, Black Rain, Ghost, Finding Neverland, and hundreds more. Daily Variety box office results show the financial success of film campaigns to which he contributed original music is literally measured in hundreds of billions of dollars, and he is considered by the New York Times as the pioneer of original scores for film trailer music.
Conducting professionally since he was 23 years old, Maestro Beal is a highly sought-after conductor and has conducted a wide and diverse variety of shows and live-to-film scores with many of the world's greatest musicians in venues stretching from London to Tokyo, from the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, the National Orchestra of Belgium and The City of Prague Philharmonic, to the National Symphony of Malaysia Kuala Lumpur and the Evergreen Symphony of Taiwan, as well as major symphony orchestras throughout the United States, including several decades in Los Angeles with the Hollywood Studio Symphony Orchestra. Recently, John Beal has been conducting live to film concerts that include such films as Star Wars Return of the Jedi, Top Gun: Maverick, Toy Story, The Godfather, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Goonies, Home Alone, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone [aka Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone], Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Music Directed the world premiere of Respect Film in Concert, Music Directed and conducted the world premiere of Chicago Live to Film and Music Directed and conducted the world premiere of Rocketman: Live in Concert. and Music Directed and conducted the world premiere of Serengeti: Live in Concert
In December 2017 John Beal began working with AIVA and NVIDIA. and in February 2018, John Beal became the conductor on the Deadmau5 studio album "where's the drop?" and its subsequent concerts beginning in March 2018 with deadmau5 and a large symphony orchestra.
Working with one of his mentors, Buddy Baker, and the Walt Disney Imagineering Team led by Marc Davis, John Beal composed and arranged music for the Carousel of Progress, Country Bear Jamboree, and America Sings rides at Disneyland and Walt Disney World (Orlando). He was also the music director for live stage acts during the opening of Walt Disney World in Florida and the musical conductor for the park's grand opening ceremony television presentation on NBC. According to his official bio, Beal composed original music for Gentle Jungle and Enchanted Village theme parks. Beal also composed and produced the music for commercials from Apple, NASDAQ, Ben & Jerry's, AMGEN, Dr. Pepper and many other major advertisers.
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John Beal (composer)
John Everett Beal (born January 20, 1947) is an American composer and conductor known for his work in the American film industry. He has conducted for major recording artists ranging from Olivia Newton-John to Deadmau5, movies in concert such as Star Wars, Top Gun: Maverick, Toy Story, Home Alone, Rocketman and the Harry Potter series, is the principal conductor of the Hollywood Symphony Orchestra, is considered by the New York Times as the pioneer of original scores for film trailer music, and has composed the music for numerous television series and films.
John Beal was born in Santa Monica, California, raised in La Cañada Flintridge, California, and graduated from John Muir High School (Pasadena, California), where he was honored for having written many of the drum cadences for the school's internationally renowned Drum Corps, many of which are still used more than 50 years after his graduation. He was named to their Hall of Fame in 2008. He attended San Diego State University and, after being decorated for heroism and bravery in combat with the United States Marine Corps, he attended UCLA. He studied percussion with William Kraft and Bernie Mattinson, and drums with Irv Cotler (drummer for Frank Sinatra), percussion with Ethnomusicologist Craig Woodson, composition with Harry Partch scholar Danlee Mitchell, synthesizers with Clark Spangler, and film scoring with Dominic Frontiere, George Duning, Buddy Baker, Fred Werner, Eddy Lawrence Manson and Earle Hagen. In his early film career, and like many of the young composers of the day, he ghost wrote the scores for numerous major motion pictures and hit television shows and orchestrated and supervised the recording sessions for many others.
Beal's first instrument was piano at age 6. He was a professional soloist in a boys choir at age 8 and a professional jazz and big band drummer on stage and in the recording studio by age 15. After his highly decorated service with the United States Marine Corps, he returned to Hollywood as a musical director and arranger with recording stars Olivia Newton-John (in her U.S. debut), B. B. King, Gladys Knight, Johnny Mathis, Lou Rawls, and for many television variety shows ranging from Ed Sullivan to The Carpenters Make Your Own Kind of Music, The Captain & Tennille Songbook and John Wayne's Emmy Award-winning Sing Out Sweet Land, to The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Beal was also the conductor and arranger for the vocal groups The Establishment, The Kids Next Door, The Nabors Kids, The King Cousins, and The Doodletown Pipers, and worked on stage in Las Vegas and on the showroom circuit with such icons of the day as Phyllis Diller, Perry Como, Bobby Darin, Raquel Welch, Mitzi Gaynor, Leslie Uggams, Jim Nabors, Sally Struthers, Teresa Graves, Peggy Fleming, Frankie Avalon, and Ed Ames.
Beginning in the late 1970s, he composed original music for numerous hit television series, including Vegas with Robert Urich, Eight Is Enough with Dick Van Patten and Betty Buckley, Happy Days with Ron Howard and Henry Winkler, Laverne & Shirley with Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams, Goodtime Girls with Annie Potts and Georgia Engel, Legmen with Bruce Greenwood and John Terlesky, and Chicago Story with Dennis Franz and Craig T. Nelson. His feature films included Zero to Sixty (1978) starring Darren McGavin and Joan Collins, The Funhouse (1981) from director Tobe Hooper, Terror in the Aisles (1984) starring Donald Pleasence and Nancy Allen, and Killer Party (1986) starring Sherry Willis-Burch.
At the suggestion of Gary LeMel (President, Worldwide Music for Warner Bros.), Beal was tapped by Hollywood's marketing guru and "Godfather of Trailers," Andrew J. Kuehn of Kaleidoscope Films (Jaws and other major hit films) to work with him in the film trailer industry. Kuehn and Beal collaborated on the very inception of today's modern film trailer format and Beal has long been recognized as the man who gave contemporary trailers their musical voice. Beal has composed original scores for over 2,000 trailers. His list of major studio credits includes campaigns for such hit films as JFK, Titanic, The Matrix, Forrest Gump, The Last Samurai, Aladdin, the Star Wars trilogy, The Hunt for Red October, True Lies, In the Line of Fire, Patriot Games, The Mask of Zorro, Black Rain, Ghost, Finding Neverland, and hundreds more. Daily Variety box office results show the financial success of film campaigns to which he contributed original music is literally measured in hundreds of billions of dollars, and he is considered by the New York Times as the pioneer of original scores for film trailer music.
Conducting professionally since he was 23 years old, Maestro Beal is a highly sought-after conductor and has conducted a wide and diverse variety of shows and live-to-film scores with many of the world's greatest musicians in venues stretching from London to Tokyo, from the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, the National Orchestra of Belgium and The City of Prague Philharmonic, to the National Symphony of Malaysia Kuala Lumpur and the Evergreen Symphony of Taiwan, as well as major symphony orchestras throughout the United States, including several decades in Los Angeles with the Hollywood Studio Symphony Orchestra. Recently, John Beal has been conducting live to film concerts that include such films as Star Wars Return of the Jedi, Top Gun: Maverick, Toy Story, The Godfather, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Goonies, Home Alone, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone [aka Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone], Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Music Directed the world premiere of Respect Film in Concert, Music Directed and conducted the world premiere of Chicago Live to Film and Music Directed and conducted the world premiere of Rocketman: Live in Concert. and Music Directed and conducted the world premiere of Serengeti: Live in Concert
In December 2017 John Beal began working with AIVA and NVIDIA. and in February 2018, John Beal became the conductor on the Deadmau5 studio album "where's the drop?" and its subsequent concerts beginning in March 2018 with deadmau5 and a large symphony orchestra.
Working with one of his mentors, Buddy Baker, and the Walt Disney Imagineering Team led by Marc Davis, John Beal composed and arranged music for the Carousel of Progress, Country Bear Jamboree, and America Sings rides at Disneyland and Walt Disney World (Orlando). He was also the music director for live stage acts during the opening of Walt Disney World in Florida and the musical conductor for the park's grand opening ceremony television presentation on NBC. According to his official bio, Beal composed original music for Gentle Jungle and Enchanted Village theme parks. Beal also composed and produced the music for commercials from Apple, NASDAQ, Ben & Jerry's, AMGEN, Dr. Pepper and many other major advertisers.