Randy Newman

Sound

Randy Newman

Born 1943-11-28 · Los Angeles, California, USA

Randall Stuart Newman (born November 28, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter, pianist, composer, and arranger. Born in Los Angeles to an extended family of Hollywood film composers, he is known for his Americana-inspired songs, non-rhotic Southern-accented singing, and lyrics that are often mordant or satirical and delivered by an unreliable narrator. Since the 1990s, he has worked mainly in film scoring, most popularly for Disney and Pixar. Newman began his professional career in the early 1960s composing incidental music for television and later penning UK hits for acts such as Cilla Black, Gene Pitney, and the Alan Price Set. After he formed part of a creative circle at Warner Bros. Records in 1966, the company released his first solo album, Randy Newman (1968). Other artists subsequently enjoyed chart success with recordings of his songs "Mama Told Me Not to Come" (1967), "I Think It's Going to Rain Today" (1968), and "You Can Leave Your Hat On" (1972). His own hits as a recording artist include "Short People" (1977), "I Love L.A." (1983), and "You've Got a Friend in Me" (1995). Three of his eleven studio albums have charted in the U.S. top 40: Good Old Boys (1974), Little Criminals (1977), and Harps and Angels (2008). Newman has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards (out of 22 nominations), three Emmys, seven Grammy Awards as well as nominations for a BAFTA Award and seven Golden Globe Awards. His award-winning film work includes Ragtime (1981), The Natural (1984), Toy Story (1995), A Bug's Life (1998), Pleasantville (1998), Monsters, Inc. (2001), Cars (2006), The Princess and the Frog (2009), Toy Story 3 (2010), and Marriage Story (2019). He was honored with the Recording Academy's Governors Award in 2003, a Disney Legend award in 2007,[5][6] and inductions into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013. Description above from the Wikipedia article Randy Newman, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Acting credits

Everything Everywhere All at Once poster
7.7

An aging Chinese immigrant is swept up in an insane adventure, where she alone can save what's important to her by connecting with the lives she could have led in other universes.

Everything Everywhere All at Once

2022

The Princess and the Frog poster
7.2

A waitress, desperate to fulfill her dreams as a restaurant owner, is set on a journey to turn a frog prince back into a human being, but she has to face the same problem after she kisses him.

The Princess and the Frog

2009

¡Three Amigos! poster
6.3

A trio of unemployed silent film actors are mistaken for real heroes by a small Mexican village in search of someone to stop a malevolent bandit.

¡Three Amigos!

1986

The Pixar Story poster
7.5

A look at the first years of Pixar Animation Studios - from the success of "Toy Story" and Pixar's promotion of talented people, to the building of its East Bay campus, the company's relationship with Disney, and its remarkable initial string of eight hits. The contributions of John Lasseter, Ed Catmull and Steve Jobs are profiled. The decline of two-dimensional animation is chronicled as three-dimensional animation rises. Hard work and creativity seem to share the screen in equal proportions.

The Pixar Story

2007

The Making of Toy Story poster
6.3

Documentary of the making of the groundbreaking Disney/Pixar animated hit movie.

The Making of Toy Story

1995

The Last Critic poster
5.0

Sixty years & a million records ago, Robert Christgau invented Rock music criticism. Anyone who has ever read or written a Pop music review has been influenced by Christgau, who canonized legends from The Ramones to Public Enemy & infuriated icons from Lou Reed to Billy Joel. Now in his eighties, Bob is still at it—amazingly with the same vigor, wit, concision and craft that has defined his expansive career. But in a world where albums are irrelevant, where print is dead & where algorithms have eclipsed critics we are forced to ask: What happens next—for Bob, but also for all music criticism? Is this the end of something? Is Robert Christgau the last critic?

The Last Critic

2026

Score: A Film Music Documentary poster
7.2

Music is an integral part of most films, adding emotion and nuance while often remaining invisible to audiences. Matt Schrader shines a spotlight on the overlooked craft of film composing, gathering many of the art form’s most influential practitioners, from Hans Zimmer and Danny Elfman to Quincy Jones and Randy Newman, to uncover their creative process. Tracing key developments in the evolution of music in film, and exploring some of cinema’s most iconic soundtracks, 'Score' is an aural valentine for film lovers.

Score: A Film Music Documentary

2017

The Story Behind 'Toy Story' poster
7.5

The documentary short of Toy Story of why and how the feature length blockbuster sleeper movie became a success and helps to boost Pixar's popularity of making one of the few animation movie production companies in the world today, especially in North America.

The Story Behind 'Toy Story'

1996

Monty and the Movies poster
NR

An in-depth look at embattled filmmaker Alex “Monty” Canawati uncovers the indelible mark he's left on Hollywood.

Monty and the Movies

The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story poster
7.4

The troubled fraternal relationship between songwriters Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman, the Oscar and Grammy-winning Sherman Brothers, famous for the iconic hits they wrote for Disney.

The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story

2009

Geared-Up poster
NR

The Making of "Life is a Highway". A musical Road Trip with Rascal Flatts.

Geared-Up

2006

Shelter from the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast poster
2.0

A one-hour, commercial-free benefit concert television special that aired simulcast worldwide on September 9, 2005, at 8 pm ET/CT live.

Shelter from the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast

2005

Toy Story at 20: To Infinity and Beyond poster
7.1

Retrospective looking at the revolutionary computer-animated feature film Toy Story.

Toy Story at 20: To Infinity and Beyond

2015

Darlin' Clementine poster
NR

Clementine is the sole woman in her mining camp who cares for everyone around her until her selfish father learns a valuable lesson.

Darlin' Clementine

1986

Funny, You Don't Look 200: A Constitutional Vaudeville poster
8.0

An all-star cast lead by Richard Dreyfus perform sketches celebrating the bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution, including new animation done by Disney.

Funny, You Don't Look 200: A Constitutional Vaudeville

1987

Randy Newman: Live in Germany 2006 poster
NR

The multi-talented, multi-faceted Randy Newman, singer-songwriter extraordinaire, performing some of the greatest songs in his considerable catalogue at the Jazz Open Festival in Stuttgart, Germany, in 2006. Many of Newman's best-loved and best-known songs arfe here: "You've Got A Friend In Me," from the "Toy Story" film franchise; "Louisiana 1927," which was revived throughout the world in the wake of Hurricane Katrina; Ï Think It's Going To Rain Today," from Newman's first album (and made famous by Judy Collins's cover), the controversial hits "Short People" and "I Love L.A."; and many more. Newman also delves into less obvious corners of his repertoire: the autobiographical "Dixie Flyer," for example, and more recent songs like "I'm Dead (But I Don't Know It)." A fascinating, funny, compelling event from one of our greatest musical talents.

Randy Newman: Live in Germany 2006

2013

Magic in the Bayou: The Making of a Princess poster
8.0

Featurette on the making of Disney's Princess and the Frog

Magic in the Bayou: The Making of a Princess

2010

For Our Children poster
7.7

Benefit concert with an incredible group of stars and musicians.

For Our Children

1993

Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin' About Him?) poster
7.1

The life and work of the enigmatic singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson.

Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin' About Him?)

2010

The Natural: The Best There Ever Was poster
6.0

An average baseball film in the making comes out of seemingly nowhere to become one of the best sports films made of all time. A true testament to the real beauty of Hollywood filmmaking, the way it used to be.

The Natural: The Best There Ever Was

2016

The Art of Imagination: A Tribute to Oz poster
5.3

"The Art of Imagination: A Tribute to Oz" - a featurette narrated by Sydney Pollack.

The Art of Imagination: A Tribute to Oz

2005

Randy Newman: Live at the Odeon poster
NR

Recorded live at New York's legendary Odeon nightclub, this one-hour 1983 concert features award-winning songwriter Randy Newman, with guests Ry Cooder and Linda Ronstadt. Mingling humorous lyrics with a blend of New Orleans R&B, traditional pop, and folk, Newman sings his favorites, including "I Love L.A.," "Burn On, Big River," "Short People," "Political Science," "Rednecks," "Guilty," "My Life Is Good" and "I Think It's Going to Rain Today."

Randy Newman: Live at the Odeon

1982

Joe Cocker: Mad Dog with Soul poster
7.2

The turbulent life of soul and blues singer, the late Joe Cocker. A former gas fitter from Sheffield, catapulted to world stardom in 1969 at Woodstock with his legendary performance of the Beatles song, "A Little Help from My Friends". But in the early 1970s, Joe Cocker's inner demons nearly killed him. Overcoming his struggles with alcohol and drugs, he rebuilt his reputation as "one of the great primal rock and roll vocalists of all time" (Billy Joel's description). The film mixes Joe Cocker's own words, with rare archive. His wife (Pam Cocker) & family, friends and the legendary songwriters and musicians he collaborated with, tell Joe Cocker's story. The film has raw, historic, electric performance footage throughout. Extensive interviews of key people through his life include: Pam Cocker, Ben Fong-Torres (Rolling Stone magazine editor), Randy Newman, Jimmy Webb, Billy Joel, Rita Coolidge, Deric Dyer, Glyn Johns, and numerous others.

Joe Cocker: Mad Dog with Soul

2017

I Am, Unfortunately, Randy Newman poster
NR

A short documentary on the life and songs of Randy Newman

I Am, Unfortunately, Randy Newman

2003

Behind the camera