Randy Edelman was born on June 10, 1947, in Paterson, New Jersey, USA. He is a composer and actor, known for his collaboration with composer Trevor Jones on the Daniel Day Lewis movie The Last of the Mohicans, (1992), and scores in his own right such as Come See the Paradise (1990), XXX (2002) and Six Days, Seven Nights (1998).
He works with both conventional or symphonic instrumentation and electronic elements, often fusing these to create haunting and action-packed musical scores. Edelman attended the University of Cincinnati, upon his graduation Edelman travelled back to New York where he was signed by CBS April Blackwood Music as a staff writer. It was at this time that he started to perform piano in various Broadway pit orchestras and continued his interest as a music arranger. He went on tour from time to time as Music Director for many entertainers.
It was while traveling that Randy began writing both his own music and lyrics looking to one day produce his own solo projects and albums. These albums would eventually lead him to work with the likes of The Carpenters, Frank Zappa, and The Mothers of Invention. His songs began being recorded by such popular recording artists as Barry Manilow (“Weekend In New England”), Olivia Newton-John, Patti LaBelle, The Carpenters, The 5th Dimension, Jackie DeShannon, Blood Sweat and Tears, Kool & The Gang, Agnetha Faltskog (ABBA), and Bing Crosby to name a few.
Subsequent success of his records in the United Kingdom led to appearances on the BBC show Top of the Pops, concerts at the London Palladium and Drury Lane Theatres, and tours throughout Europe, Japan and Australia. He had hit records in the UK with ‘Concrete and Clay’ and ‘Uptown, Uptempo Woman’. His main theme composed for Dragonheart (1996) and Dragon; The Bruce Lee story (1993) were both heavily used in movie trailers, at the end of the 90s. Several of the themes from his score for the epic movie Gettysburg (1993) (e.g. the cue entitled Fife and Gun) are used frequently in various film trailers and television programming, particularly sports coverage. His theme from The Adventures of Brisco County Jnr. (1993) was used in coverage of the Olympics in 2002, and again by NBC during its coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. The composer Scored seven movies for director Rob Cohen. From Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story to The Boy Next Door. He was also credited in early trailers for scoring Cohen’s Stealth, but his score never appeared in the movie.
It was shortly after arriving in Los Angeles that Randy became interested in using his background as a classical musician and arranger to pursue his interest in film scoring. In between his album recording he began scoring several television and feature films. His TV scoring work included MacGyver, Maximum Security, Mr. Sunshine, Brisco County Jr. to name but a few. Children’s projects included PBS Wonderworks, The Care Bears album and several award-winning after school specials. After working predominantly on pop songs Edelman found the work, he did for film more liberating and decided to devote his time to pursuing composing music for motion pictures. He has now composed over one hundred scores for film and television. His music has been performed by such orchestras as, The Boston Pops, Charleston Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, and the London Symphony Orchestra, to name a few.
His score from The Last Of The Mohicans was nominated for both the British Academy Award and the Golden Globe. His movie themes have become a backbone of numerous sports broadcasts. And he has written the NBC’s NFL Football Theme, ESPN’s Sports Century documentary series theme, and the on-air Olympic theme for NBC. His scores have opened the Super Bowl and closed the Olympic broadcast for which he received an Emmy Award. In 200 he scored the comedy western Shanghai Noon, in which the composer fused the style of the old western as made in Hollywood with the sound of the Euro western, whilst also placing his own musical fingerprint upon the production.
In 2003 Randy received BMI’s highest honour, the Richard Kirk Award for Outstanding Career Achievement. In June 2004 Randy Edelman was awarded an Honourary Doctor of Fine Arts from the University of Cincinnati. He received the Ph.D. along with three other distinguished honourees from various fields, including Coretta Scott King. In 2005 Randy had his biggest chart record with Nelly’s My Place. It reached the top of the pile on Billboard’s Rap and Hip Hop charts and achieved a number four position on the Pop chart. In 2007, Edelman was nominated by the IFMCA (International Film Music Critics Association) for “Best Original Score For Television” for ABC’s mini-series The Ten Commandments.
MOVIE MUSIC INTERNATIONAL. (MMI) . 