Newman built up his career as a composer too. It all began with the film Cold Turkey in 1971. He worked with Steve Martin and Lorne Michaels on Three Amigos! It was when he worked on the movie Toy Story that he broke through as a credible composer in his own right. It is from his scores on the Disney Pixar films that he earned at least one Academy Award nomination. He won his Academy Awards for “If I Didn’t Have You” from Monsters Inc, and then for “We Belong Together” in the film Toy Story 3. He won a Grammy Award for the score of Toy Story 3, for the “Best Song Written for a Motion Picture with the song “Our Town” in Cars, for the same award for “If I Didn’t Have You” in Monsters Inc. Also for “When She Loved Me” featured in Toy Story 2.

Little Criminals (1977) contained the surprise hit " Short People", which also became a subject of controversy. In September 1977, the English music magazine NME reported the following interview with Newman talking about his then-new release. "There's one song about a child murderer," Newman deadpans. "That's fairly optimistic. Maybe. There's one called 'Jolly Coppers on Parade' which isn't an absolutely anti-police song. Maybe it's even a fascist song. I didn't notice at the time. There's also one about me as a cowboy called 'Rider in the Rain.' I think it's ridiculous. The Eagles are on there. That's what's good about it. There's also this song 'Short People.' It's purely a joke. I like other ones on the album better but the audiences go for that one." [26] The album proved Newman's most popular to date, reaching No. 9 on the US Billboard 200 chart. Another somewhat controversial Randy Newman number, recorded by both Harpers Bizarre and The Nashville Teens, was "The Biggest Night of Her Life", a song about a schoolgirl who is "too excited to sleep" because she has promised to lose her virginity on her sixteenth birthday to a boy whom her parents like "because his hair is always neat". Newman's parents were non-observant Jews: Newman himself is an atheist. [14] He has said that religion or any sense of religious identity was completely absent in his childhood. To illustrate this, he has often recounted in interviews an antisemitic incident that occurred when he was young: he was invited by a classmate to be her date to a cotillion at her Los Angeles country club, the Riviera Country Club. [14] He accepted the invitation but was subsequently disinvited by the girl's father, who told Newman that his daughter should never have invited him because Jews were not allowed at the club. Newman hung up the phone, then went to ask his own father what a "Jew" was. [14] [15] [16] Career [ edit ] Newman playing piano in 1972 Songwriter [ edit ] Peppard, Alan (October 13, 1997). "Archives | The Dallas Morning News, dallasnews.com". Nl.newsbank.com. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014 . Retrieved February 11, 2014.In October 2016, Newman released the song "Putin". The Washington Post wrote: "inspired by the Russian leader's penchant for bare-chested photo ops and a geopolitical approach that's somewhat short of soft and cuddly, Newman has crafted a song that tells Putin's story from multiple perspectives." [29] Newman explained that the song was from a new album that would be released in 2017, but he was putting out this song early because "I think that people will lose interest after this surfeit of political talk and attention after the election.... I've got the thing done. I just want to see what happens. I'm curious to see how the thing is received." [29] The song earned Newman a Grammy Award for Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals. [30] NPR called Newman a “national treasure” in its album review, saying that he “remains first and foremost a craftsman of song, capable of telling ordinary stories in ways no one quite has before,” and the Chicago Tribune said, “Newman is one of the best songwriters of the last half-century … a master of orchestrating mood and playing a range of flawed characters, depicted in mini aural movies compressed into three verses and three minutes.” In the 1970s, Newman co-wrote with Jake Holmes the "Most Original Soft Drink Ever" jingle for Dr Pepper. [21]

In 1970, Harry Nilsson recorded an entire album of Newman compositions (Newman played piano) called Nilsson Sings Newman. The album was not a commercial success, but critics liked it (it won a "Record of the Year" award from Stereo Review magazine), and it paved the way for Newman's 1970 release, 12 Songs, a more stripped-down sound that showcased Newman's piano. Ry Cooder's slide guitar and contributions from Byrds members Gene Parsons and Clarence White helped to give the album a much rootsier feel. 12 Songs was also critically acclaimed (6th best album of the seventies according to Rolling Stone critic Robert Christgau), but again found little commercial success, though Three Dog Night made a huge hit of his " Mama Told Me Not to Come". The following year, Randy Newman Live cemented his cult following and became his first LP to appear in the Billboard charts, at No. 191. Newman also made his first foray into music for films at this time, writing and performing the theme song " He Gives Us All His Love" for Norman Lear's 1971 film Cold Turkey. a b c "Randy Newman". Salon.com. August 24, 1999. Archived from the original on January 13, 2014 . Retrieved February 11, 2014.

Credits

In 2000, South Coast Repertory (SCR) produced The Education of Randy Newman, a musical theater piece that recreates the life of a songwriter who bears some resemblance to the actual Newman. Set in New Orleans and Los Angeles, it was modeled on the American autobiography, The Education of Henry Adams. In 1970, in his song Lonely at the Top, Newman wrote: "Listen all you fools out there/Go on and love me - I don't care." The final song on his most recent album, nearly 30 years later, is called I Want Everyone to Like Me. He may not be perfect, but heaven knows he tries. Newman's song compositions are represented by Downtown Music Publishing. [24] Recording artist [ edit ] BBC/MMVIII, under license to Nonesuch Records Inc. for the United States and WEA International Inc. for the world outside of the United States.

Born in 1943, Randy Newman grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana, before the family moved to Los Angeles when he was 11. Randy Newman rescheduled ‘An Evening with Randy Newman’ live, in concert 2022 European Tour dates. They’re now on for 2023. Winkler, Peter. "Randy Newman's Americana," in Middleton, Richard, ed. Reading Popular Music (2000, Oxford University Press) ISBN 978-0198166115. originally published in Popular Music [Great Britain], vii (1988), 1–26 Dunne, Sara. "Randy Newman and the Extraordinary Moral Position", Popular Music and Society, xvi (1992), 53–61, doi: 10.1080/03007769208591487 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – Howard Shore& John Kurlander (engineer/mixer) (2002)

He studied music at the University of California in the same city, but dropped out shortly before completing his B.A.