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In addition to having either written, arranged, or conducted for numerous respected pop artists, Lee Holdridge has penned countless scores for both TV shows and motion pictures. Born in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti (but raised in Costa Rica), Holdridge began studying music at the age of ten by taking violin lessons with a conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica. By the time he was a teenager, Holdridge decided he wanted to become a composer, and relocated to Boston to study composition. A few years later, he moved once more, this time to New York City, where Holdridge penned chamber works, rock compositions, theater music, and background scores for films. His work gained the attention of Neil Diamond, who convinced Holdridge to move to Los Angeles and write for him, which resulted in numerous hit albums (including both Diamond and Holdridge collaborating together on the film score for Jonathan Livingston Seagull).
This led to scoring for film and TV, including such movies as Splash, Big Business, Mr. Mom, Micki & Maude, 16 Days of Glory, The Other Side of the Mountain, Pt. II, Mustang Country, The Beastmaster, Jeremy, the Cannes Festival-award-winning Sylvester, A Tigers' Tale, and El Pueblo del Sol; and the TV shows Moonlighting, Beauty and the Beast, the complete eight-hour remake of East of Eden, The Tenth Man, Dreamer of Oz, Hallmark Hall of Fame's One Against the Wind, and The Story Lady. This led to work with such pop artists as Barbra Streisand, Brian May of Queen, Stevie Wonder, John Denver, Al Jarreau, Dionne Warwick, Diana Ross, Natalie Cole, and opera tenor Placido Domingo. Over the years, Holdridge has issued several albums, including El Pueblo del Sol, the Grammy-award-winning Symphonic Hollywood, Film Music, and Into Thin Air: Death on Everest, among others.
Wikipedia:
Lee Holdridge (born March 3, 1944) is a Haitian-born American composer and orchestrator.
Biography
He was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, of a Puerto-Rican mother and an American father, the botanist and climatologist Leslie Holdridge. While living in Costa Rica, at age ten, he studied the violin with Hugo Mariani, who was at the time the conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica. Holdridge then moved to Boston, where he finished high school and studied composition with Henry Lasker.
As an adult, Holdridge moved to New York City to continue his music studies and begin his career as a professional composer. There, he composed chamber works, rock pieces, songs, theater music and background scores for short films, and eventually came to Neil Diamond's notice. Diamond then brought Holdridge with him to Los Angeles to write arrangements for his forthcoming albums. After several gold and platinum hits, the two collaborated on the film score for Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
Holdridge has composed, conducted, and orchestrated for many films, some of the most notable being American Pop, The Beastmaster, Mr. Mom, Puerto Vallarta Squeeze, Unlikely Heroes, A Tiger's Tale, Beautiful Music, Ever Again, Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport and Brothers at War. He has also composed for several television series, including The Mists of Avalon, American Family, The Brooke Ellison Story, and Moonlighting.
Holdridge has performed and recorded in several concerts, including The Golden Land, the Jefferson Tribute, his suite from the opera Lazarus and His Beloved, the Concerto for Viola and Chamber Orchestra, the Concertino for Violoncello and Strings, the Serenade for Oboe and Strings, the Fantasy Sonata for ‘Cello and Piano, the Elegy for Strings and Harp, and Sonnet for soprano and orchestra.
He has also written, arranged and / or conducted for recording artists such as Helen Reddy, Plácido Domingo, Barbra Streisand, Brian May of Queen, Stevie Wonder, John Denver, Neil Sedaka, The Angels, Daniel Rodriguez, Al Jarreau, George Benson, Peabo Bryson, Dionne Warwick, Diana Ross, Natalie Cole, Whitney Houston and Jane Olivor. Lee is married to ex ballet dancer Elisa Justice. She is presently Western Region Audition Co-Director of the Metropolitan Opera National Council, hosts her own classical music radio show called "Eclectic Classics" and is co-producing a new album.