Music artist Mike Melvoin dies at 74

Jazz pianist, composer, arranger, former Recording Academy leader and prolific studio music artist Mike Melvoin died on Feb. 23 in Burbank. He was 74. Sporting a recording resume that incorporated the Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" additionally to key tracks from Frank Sinatra, John Lennon, the Jackson 5 and Tom Waits, Melvoin appeared to become active just like a film and tv composer and released numerous respected jazz tracks under their very own title. Born in Oshkosh, Wisc., Melvoin began singing at 2 and playing piano at 3. He told William Grimm in the 2003 interview, "(I believed) the alphabet ended with G." He attended Dartmouth College inside the late 19 fifties too as with 1961 gone after La, where he increased to become fixture inside the city's jazz scene, getting fun using the type of Joe Williams and Peggy Lee. Melvoin released his first album just like a bandleader, "Secrets for the Mind," round the Liberty label in 1966, yearly which saw him notch studio time round the Beach Boys' "Good Shake" single and "Pet Sounds" LP, additionally to Sinatra's "That's Existence." Studio concentrate on Lennon's "Uphold Me," Barbra Streisand's "Evergreen," the Jackson 5's "ABC" and Waits' live album "Nighthawks within the Diner" would follow. Melvoin began creating for TV and film at the begining of '70s and brought scores to skeins "Fame" and "MacGyver." He'd just a little role inside the Robert P Niro-directed "The Truly Amazing Shepherd" in 2006. Melvoin was the initial active music artist for everybody as topper in the Recording Academy. He received a Grammy nomination in 2003 for his recording of "Any Nothing whatsoever," additionally to lifetime achievement honours within the Pals of Jazz at UCLA and La Jazz Society. Ongoing your family tradition, Melvoin's twin kids Wendy and Susannah carried out and recorded with Prince inside the eighties (while using former developing half from the Wendy & Lisa duo), and also the boy Jonathan will be a touring part of the Smashing Pumpkins until his dying in 1996. Contact the number newsroom at news@variety.com