Song:Manhattan Skyline
Album:Saturday Night Fever: The Original Soundtrack
Film composer David Shire is probably best known for the three songs that appear on the soundtrack of the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever. Of course he's done plenty of other films and Broadway musicals. He was born July 3, 1937 in Buffalo, NY. His father was a local bandleader and piano teacher. He met lyricist Richard Maltby Jr. while attending Yale. They wrote several musicals together. Shire's goal at the start of his career was to write a hit Broadway musical. When that wasn't working out, he started composing for TV shows like The Virginian and McCloud. And that led to made for TV movies and films. The two films that got him on the map were The Conversation and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three followed by All the President's Men. At the time Shire was married to Francis Ford Copolla's sister Talia. Shire wrote the score for the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever. While the film was in post production, producer Robert Stigwood brought The Bee Gees in to write songs for the film. This is why only three of Shire's songs including Manhattan Skyline are on the soundtrack. His other songs from the film have never been released. These days some films have two CDs, one for the songs and the other for the score. That wasn't done in 1977. Manhattan Skyline was still memorable. The musicians are Lee Ritenour on lead guitar, Mitch Hoder on rhythm guitar, Michael Boddicker on synthesizer, Sonny Burke on piano, Abraham Laboriel on bass, James Gadson on drums and Steve Forman on percussion. Of course Saturday Night Fever was a big seller. Then Shire won a Best Original Song Oscar for It Goes Like It Goes from Norma Rae. He also has five Emmy nominations and two Tony nominations. He wrote the music for the Time Warner Cable interview series The Legacy Project. His latest film Love After Love was released Apr. 2017. I guess his last big film was Zodiac in 2007. Here's a video for Manhattan Skyline by David Shire.
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