Randy Newman

About Randy Newman

The recipient of the 2002 Academy Award for Best Original Song, 17 Oscar nominations, five Grammy awards, and 13 Grammy nominations, Newman is a singular figure who over the course of his career has explored various styles and sounds of the canon of 20th-century American music.

A Los Angeles native, Randy Newman became famous during the 1960s and '70s for writing quirky, darkly funny, or sharply satirical songs detailing the lives of characters of his own making. This idiosyncratic style alternated between sweeping cinematic pop and rolling R&B, a style heavily influenced by time spent in New Orleans during his youth. Beginning with his eponymous debut album in 1968, Newman’s solo records have been widely acclaimed, and his film composing took flight with Ragtime, directed by Milos Forman. He has since been involved with numerous film scores, and has received a total of fourteen Oscar nominations, for films like The Natural, Avalon, Toy Story, Toy Story 2, and Monsters, Inc., among others.

Harps and Angels, released in August 2008, is Newman’s first album of new material on Nonesuch Records and second Nonesuch release following 2003’s Randy Newman Songbook, Volume 1, which celebrated some of Newman’s best-known work in solo performances by the songwriter at the piano.