Tina Majorino
Majorino at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con
Born	Tina Marie Majorino (1985-02-07) February 7, 1985 (age 27) Westlake, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1992–1999, 2004–present

Tina Marie Majorino^[1] ( /meɪdʒɵˈriːnoʊ/;^[2] born February 7, 1985) is an American film and television actress. She started her career as a child actor, starring in films such as Andre; When a Man Loves a Woman; Corrina, Corrina; and Waterworld.

Despite her early success she retired in 1999. She returned several years later in what would become one of her best known roles, the character Deb in the 2004 film Napoleon Dynamite. Since her return to acting, Majorino has also starred in television series such as Veronica Mars and Big Love.

Personal life [link]

Majorino, of Italian descent (from her paternal grandfather),^[3] was born in Westlake, California, the daughter of Sarah (née Black) and real estate agent Robert "Bob" Majorino.^[4] She has an older brother, Kevin, with whom she has formed a rock band, The AM Project.^[5]

Career[link]

Majorino began her acting career in a 1992 sitcom^[6] called Camp Wilder. Her first film role was in 1994's When a Man Loves a Woman. She subsequently starred in leading roles in the family films Corrina, Corrina and Andre, both of which were released in August 1994.^[7] Her next film was the 1995 action film Waterworld, playing a child named Enola.^[8]

She played the title role in the 1999 television film, Alice in Wonderland. After Alice, Majorino took time off from the business. She has since cited burnout as the reason for her hiatus from acting. Majorino did not appear in another film until 2004's cult film Napoleon Dynamite.^[9] From 2004 onward, she played a recurring role on UPN's series, Veronica Mars, as the computer-savvy Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie. Show creator Rob Thomas created the role with her in mind. Majorino had met Thomas while interviewing him for a report on one of his books.^[7] Majorino became a series regular in the show's third and final season.^[10] During her time on Veronica Mars, she also started appearing in a recurring role on the cable television series Big Love with Waterworld costar Jeanne Tripplehorn and fellow Veronica Mars cast members Amanda Seyfried and Kyle Gallner.^[9]

In 2005, she appeared in the music video for the song "Blind" by rock group Lifehouse.^[11][12]

In 2009, she started filming The Deep End, a new television show for ABC.^[13] The show was canceled after only six episodes were aired.

In 2011, she returned to television in the role of Special Agent Genny Shaw on Bones; this role is recurring. She also starred in the music video for "Fuckin' Perfect" by Pink.

In 2012 she reprised her role as Deb in the animated TV version of Napoleon Dynamite. She was also seen in an uncredited role as a pregnant woman in the Fox show, Raising Hope (Ep. "Tarot Cards").

Filmography and Television[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Tina Majorino at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview in Stumped? Magazine

Keith Carradine
Keith Carradine in 2006 at Torino Film Festival
Born	Keith Ian Carradine (1949-08-08) August 8, 1949 (age 62) San Mateo, California, US
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1971–present

Keith Ian Carradine (born August 8, 1949) is an American actor who has had success on stage, film and television. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Wild Bill Hickok in the HBO series Deadwood and FBI agent Frank Lundy in Dexter. In addition, he is a Golden Globe and Academy Award winning songwriter. As a member of the Carradine family, he is part of an acting "dynasty" that began with his father, John Carradine.

Early life[link]

Keith Carradine was born in San Mateo, California. He is the son of actress and artist Sonia Sorel (née Henius) and actor John Carradine.^[1] His paternal half-brothers are Bruce and David Carradine. His maternal half-brother is Michael Bowen, and his full brothers are Christopher and Robert Carradine. His maternal great-grandfather was biochemist Max Henius, and his maternal great-grandmother was the sister of historian Johan Ludvig Heiberg.^[2]

Carradine's childhood was difficult. He said that his father drank and his mother “was a manic depressive paranoid schizophrenic catatonic — she had it all.”^[3] His parents were divorced in 1957, when he was eight years old. A bitter custody battle led to his father gaining custody of him and his brothers, Christopher and Robert, after the children had spent three months in a home for abused children as wards of the court. Keith said of the experience, "It was like being in jail. There were bars on the windows, and we were only allowed to see our parents through glass doors. It was very sad. We would stand there on either side of the glass door crying."^[4] He was raised primarily by his maternal grandmother, and he rarely saw either of his parents.^[5] His mother was not permitted to see him for eight years following the custody settlement.^[3]

After high school, Carradine entertained the thought of becoming a forest ranger, but opted to study drama at Colorado State University. He dropped out after one semester and drifted back to California moving in with his older half-brother, David. David encouraged Keith to pursue an acting career, paid for his acting and vocal lessons, and helped him get an agent.^[5]

Career[link]

Stage[link]

As a youth, Carradine had opportunities to appear on stage with his father, John Carradine, in the latter's productions of Shakespeare.^[6] Thus, he had some background in theater when he was cast in the original Broadway run of Hair (1972), which launched his acting career. In that production he started out in the chorus and worked his way up to the lead roles^[7] playing Woof and Claude. He said of his involvement in Hair, "I really didn't plan to audition. I just went along with my brother, David, and his girlfriend at the time, Barbara Hershey, and two of their friends. I was simply going to play the piano for them while they sang, but I'm the one the staff wound up getting interested in."^[8]

His stage career is further distinguished by his Tony-nominated performance, for Best Actor (Musical) as the title character in the Tony Award winning musical, the Will Rogers Follies in 1991, for which he also received a Drama Desk nomination. He won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Foxfire with Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, and appeared as Lawrence in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at the Imperial Theater. In 2008, he appeared as Dr. Farquhar Off-Broadway in Mindgame, a thriller by Antony Horowitz, directed by Ken Russell, who made his New York directorial debut with the production.^[9]

Film[link]

Carradine's first notable film appearance was in director Robert Altman's McCabe & Mrs. Miller, in 1971. He then starred in Altman's 1974 film Thieves Like Us, and went on to play one of the principal characters, a callow, womanizing folk singer, Tom Frank, in Altman's critically acclaimed 1975 film, Nashville (See "Music and song writing"). He had difficulty shaking the image of Tom Frank following the popularity of the film. He felt the role gave him the reputation of being "a cad."^[10]

In 1977, Carradine starred opposite Harvey Keitel in Ridley Scott's The Duellists. He has also acted in several offbeat films of Altman's protégé Alan Rudolph, playing a disarmingly candid madman in Choose Me (1984), an incompetent petty criminal in Trouble in Mind (1985), and an American artist in 1930s Paris in The Moderns (1988).

Other works include Emperor of the North Pole (1973) and Pretty Baby (1978). He also appeared with his brothers David and Robert as the Younger brothers in Walter Hill's 1980 film, The Long Riders. Keith played Jim Younger in that film. In 1981, he appeared again under Hill's direction in Southern Comfort. In 1994, he had a cameo role as Will Rogers in Rudolph's 1994 film about Dorothy Parker, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle. He co-starred with Daryl Hannah as homicidal sociopath John Netherwood in the 1995 thriller The Tie That Binds.

Music and song writing[link]

In addition to acting, the Carradine family is musically gifted. This is particularly true of Keith. His brother, David, said in an interview that Keith could play any instrument that he wanted to, including bagpipes and the French horn.^[7] Like David, Keith integrated his musical talents with his acting performances. In 1975, he performed a song he wrote, I'm Easy, in the movie Nashville. It became a popular hit, and Carradine won a Golden Globe and an Oscar for Best Original Song for the tune. This success led to a brief singing career, as he signed a contract with Asylum Records and released two albums – I'm Easy (1975) and Lost & Found (1978). In 1984 he appeared in the video for Madonna's single Material Girl. In the early 1990s he played the lead role in the Tony Award winning musical, The Will Rogers Follies.

Television[link]

In 1972, Keith Carradine appeared briefly in the first season of the hit television series, Kung Fu, which starred his brother, David. He played a younger version of David's character, Kwai Chang Caine. In 1987, he starred in the highly-rated CBS miniseries Murder Ordained with JoBeth Williams and Kathy Bates. Other TV appearances include My Father My Son, a television film in 1988. In 1983, he appeared as Foxy Funderburke, a murderous pedophile, in the television miniseries Chiefs, based on the Stuart Woods novel of the same name. His performance in Chiefs earned him a nomination for a Emmy Award in the "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or a Special" category.^[11] Carradine starred in the ABC sitcom Complete Savages, and played Wild Bill Hickok in the HBO series Deadwood.

Carradine hosted the documentary Wild West Tech series on the History Channel during the 2003-2004 season, before handing the duties over to his brother, David. In the 2005 miniseries Into the West, produced by Steven Spielberg and Dreamworks, Carradine played Richard Henry Pratt. During the second and fourth seasons of the Showtime series Dexter, he appeared numerous times on as FBI Special Agent Frank Lundy. Carradine is also credited with guest starring twice on the suspense-drama Criminal Minds, as the psychopathic serial killer Frank Breitkopf. A few other shows that he has guest starred in include The Big Bang Theory and the Starz series Crash.

Games[link]

He will do a voice over for the character Blake Dexter in the upcoming video game Hitman: Absolution.

Personal life[link]

Keith Carradine met Shelley Plimpton when they both were in the Broadway musical Hair. Though she was married (but separated at the time) to actor Steve Curry, she and Keith became romantically involved. After Keith left the show and had gone back to California he learned that Shelley was pregnant and had reunited with Steve. “I said, ‘You’re on your own,’ basically,” Carradine admitted. "I said, ‘I can’t deal with this.’ I was 19 and, as I said, it was probably my low point.” He had a change of heart and met his daughter, Martha Plimpton, when she was four years old, after Shelley and Steve had divorced. He said of Shelley, "She did a hell of a job raising Martha. I was not there. I was a very young man, absolutely terrified. She just took that in, and then she welcomed me into Martha’s life when I was ready.”^[3]

Carradine married Sandra Will on February 6, 1982. They were separated in 1993 and subsequently divorced. They had two children: Cade Richmond Carradine, (born July 19, 1982) and Sorel Johannah Carradine (born June 18, 1985). In 2006, Sandra Will pled guilty to two counts of perjury for lying to a grand jury about her involvement in the Anthony Pellicano wire tap scandal. Sandra Will hired, and then became romantically involved with, Pellicano after her divorce from Carradine. According to FBI documents, Pellicano tapped Keith Carradine's telephone and recorded calls between him and girlfriend Hayley DuMond at Sandra Will Carradine's request, as well as DuMond's parents.^[3] On November 18, 2006, Keith Carradine married actress Hayley DuMond, in Turin, Italy.^[12] They met in 1997 when they co-starred in the Burt Reynolds film The Hunter's Moon.^[13]

Filmography[link]

Awards[link]

• 1998: Honoree — The 16th Annual Golden Boot Awards (along with brothers David and Robert)

See also[link]

• Carradine family

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Pilato, Herbie J. The Kung Fu Book of Caine: The Complete Guide to TV's First Mystical Eastern Western. Boston: Charles A. Tuttle, 1993. ISBN 0-8048-1826-6

External links[link]

• Keith Carradine at the Internet Movie Database
• Keith Carradine at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• Keith Carradine at the Internet Broadway Database
• Keith Carradine at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Keith Carradine at AllRovi
• Official site Mindgame
• BroadwayWorld.com interview with Keith Carradine, October 16, 2008

This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. Specific concerns may be found on the talk page. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions. (December 2010)

Peter Andre
Andre in 2010
Background information
Birth name	Peter James Andrea [1]
Born	(1973-02-27) 27 February 1973 (age 39) Brent, London, England[2]
Origin	Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
Genres	R&B, pop, pop rock, urban
Occupations	Musician, singer-songwriter, television personality, author, businessman
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1991[3]–present (singer) 2004–present (presenter) 2009–present (business)
Labels	Melodian (1991–96) Mushroom (1995–98) EastWest (1997–2004) K&P Recordings (2006) Conehead (2009–11)
Website	peterandre.com

Peter James Andre (born 27 February 1973) is an English and Australian musician. Andre is best known for his singles "Mysterious Girl" and "Flava". He is the ex-husband of glamour model Katie Price, with whom he had two children.

In 2009, he made a successful musical comeback after the release of his 2006 album with then-wife Price, A Whole New World. In 2009, he released his first album in four years, Revelation with a new single "Behind Closed Doors" which reached #3 on the UK Singles Charts. This was followed by Accelerate in 2010.

Early life[link]

Andre was born at Northwick Park Hospital in Brent, London on 27 February 1973.^{[citation needed]} The family emigrated to Australia when he was six years old.^{[citation needed]} 3 years later, they moved back to England for just 18 months, only to move back to Australia.^{[citation needed]} At the age of 13, Peter wrote his first song 'Dream a Little' along with his older brother Chris. The song later became part of his debut album Peter Andre. By the time he was 16, Andre had written many songs, some co-written with his brother Michael. At age 16, Peter became a contestant on Hey Hey It's Saturday 'New Faces' on which he was offered a recording contract for £46,000 live on Australian television.

Career[link]

1991–2004: Early Singing Career[link]

Along side his Andre's first top 50 single in the United Kingdom was called "Only One", which reached number 16^{[citation needed]} and then gained further success with the song "Mysterious Girl" (featuring Bubbler Ranx), which reached number 2 in the UK singles chart and number 8 in Australia.^{[citation needed]} He then had a number 1 album Natural and two U.K. number 1 singles Flava and I Feel You, both produced by Richard Pascoe (RP Management) . His last single from the album was "Natural", the song peaked at number 6 in the UK singles chart.^{[citation needed]}

In November 1997, Andre release his second album Time. The album saw three singles released - "All About Us", released in August 1997 and peaked at number 3 in the UK singles chart; "Lonely" reached number 6 in the charts; and, "All Night, All Right", peaking at number 16. The album peaked at number 28 in the UK album charts.

In 1998, he released his last single, a cover of the song "Kiss the Girl" from Disney's The Little Mermaid, before being dropped by his record company and taking a long break from his music career.^{[citation needed]} It peaked at number 9 in the UK singles chart.^{[citation needed]} He also appeared on the Childliners record The Gift Of Christmas and in the following years he spent some time in Cyprus.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] 2004–07: The Long Road Back, A Whole New World and hiatus

He returned to the British media with a stint on the British reality TV series I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!; during which he met, fell in love with and subsequently married former glamour model Katie Price. He re-released his hit song Mysterious Girl in 2004, the single finally reaching number 1, eight years after it was originally released in 1995 which reached number 2 on the charts.^{[citation needed]} He released a follow-up song, "Insania", which reached number 3 in the United Kingdom in June 2004.^{[citation needed]} A follow-up album entitled The Long Road Back was also released that month, reaching number 44 in the UK album charts. The next single from the album was "The Right Way", featuring Price in the video.^{[citation needed]} This reached number 14 in September 2004.^[4]

Andre and wife Price released a duet album, A Whole New World, on 27 November 2006. The album consisted largely of cover versions and finally peaked at number 20 in the UK album charts. The album was followed by a single, "A Whole New World", on 14 December 2006. The single peaked at number 12.^[4]

[edit] 2009–10: Revelation & Unconditional: Love Songs

In 2008, Andre began working on his new album with executive producer Richard Pascoe (RP Management) and producer AC Burrell (Black Smoke Productions). Revelation was released on 14 September 2009. The first single, Behind Closed Doors, was released in August 2009 and peaked at number 4 in the UK singles chart. He performed the song at T4 on the Beach. The album Revelation peaked at number 3 in the UK album charts. It has sold over 300,000 copies. The second single from the album was Unconditional, which peaked at number 50 in the UK singles chart.^[5]

On 1 February 2010, he released the album Unconditional: Love Songs. It entered the UK album charts at number 9, and the following week peaked at number 7. As part as promotion for the album, Andre made a video for the song I Can't Make You Love Me and released it for the music channels. Also as part of promotion, Peter sang the song Sign Your Name on GMTV.^{[citation needed]} Both the songs were recorded as covers for the album.^[5]

On 18 July 2010, Andre performed at The Midlands Music Festival in Tamworth. He also performed at the V Festival and packed out the Nissan Juke tent during which he gave an emotional performance thanking his fans for sticking by him during a tough few years.^[5] In February, March and April 2010, Andre embarked on a 38-date tour of the UK. The tour was announced after the success for the album Revelation.^[6]

[edit] 2010–present: Accelerate

The first single from Andre's new album "Accelerate", titled "Defender" was released on 25 October 2010.^{[citation needed]} The song peaked at number 14 in the UK singles chart.^{[citation needed]} The album was released on 1 November 2010. It reached number 10 in the UK album charts in its first week.^{[citation needed]} Songs from the album were performed on a 14-date Arena tour across the UK in December.^{[citation needed]}

The second single "Perfect Night" will be released in July 2011.^{[citation needed]}

He has recently announced a 2012/2013 UK tour called "Up Close and Personal" which will see him play at a variety of venues around the UK whilst working on his new album.

Non-acting ventures[link]

Andre released a fragrance for women called Unconditional.^[7] Later, Andre released a male fragrance Conditional.^[8]

In 2010, Andre released a book, My World: In Pictures and Words, which reached number two on the UK book charts.^[9] In 2010, Andre released a second perfume, called Mysterious Girl, named after his hit single.^[10]

Andre was a reporter for daytime magazine show This Morning, hosting the show with Kate Thornton in October 2009.^[11]

Andre hosted "The 5 O'Clock Show" show in June 2010.^[12]

He is a regular on the ITV game show Odd One In.^[13]

Andre opened the New York Coffee Club in East Grinstead, West Sussex on November 10, 2011,^[14] and four months after it had been opened, the Food Standards Agency gave it one star.^[15]

Filmography[link]

Personal life[link]

Peter Andre and Katie Price during the 2009 London Marathon.

Andre married Katie Price on 10 September 2005. They have two children - a son, Junior Savva Andrea (born 13 June 2005)^[17] and a daughter, Princess Tiaamii Andrea (born 29 June 2007).^[18] While married to Price, Andre was stepfather to her son Harvey, a blind and autistic child from Price's earlier relationship with football player Dwight Yorke.^[19]

In May 2009, it was announced that Andre and Price had separated after three and a half years of marriage.^[20] Andre and Price were officially divorced on 8 September 2009.^[21]

On 27 April 2007, it was reported in several newspapers in the United Kingdom that Andre had been diagnosed with meningitis.^[22] He was discharged from hospital on 3 May 2007.^[23]

Discography[link]

• Peter Andre (1993)
• Natural (1996)
• Time (1997)
• The Long Road Back (2004)
• A Whole New World (2006)
• Revelation (2009)
• Unconditional: Love Songs (2010)
• Accelerate (2010)

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Peter Andre

External links[link]

• Official website
• Peter Andre: The Next Chapter at itv.com
• Peter Andre at Allmusic
• Peter Andre at the Internet Movie Database

Gil Shaham (born February 19, 1971) is an Israeli-American violinist.

Biography[link]

Gil Shaham was born in Urbana, Illinois, while his parents, Israeli scientists, were on an academic fellowship at the University of Illinois. His father Jacob was an astrophysicist,^[1] and his mother, Meira Diskin, was a cytogeneticist. His sister is the pianist Orli Shaham. He is a graduate of the Horace Mann School in Riverdale, New York. The family returned to Jerusalem when Gil was two. At the age of seven, Shaham began taking violin lessons from Samuel Bernstein at the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem. In 1980, when Shaham was nine years old, he played for Isaac Stern, Nathan Milstein and Henryk Szeryng, and attended the Aspen Music School in Colorado, studying with Dorothy DeLay (the teacher of many other leading artists, including Itzhak Perlman and Sarah Chang) and Jens Ellerman.

Shaham is married to the Australian-born violinist Adele Anthony. They have two children, Elijah and Ella Mei.

Music career[link]

At age 10, Shaham debuted as soloist with the Jerusalem Symphony, conducted by the violinist Alexander Schneider. Less than a year later Shaham performed with Israel's foremost orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic, which was conducted by Zubin Mehta. At age 11, in 1982, Shaham won first prize in the Claremont Competition and was admitted to the Juilliard School in New York, where he studied with Dorothy DeLay and Hyo Kang. In addition, both he and his younger sister, the pianist Orli Shaham, attended Columbia University.

Shaham's career took off in 1989 when he was called to replace an ailing Itzhak Perlman for a series of concerts with Michael Tilson Thomas and the London Symphony Orchestra. Flying to London at short notice, having had to take time out from his studies at the Horace Mann School where he was a senior,^[2] he played both the Bruch and the Sibelius concertos to glowing reviews.^[3]

In 1990 he received the Avery Fisher Career Grant. In 1992 he was awarded the Premio Internazionale of the Accademia Chigiana in Siena.

Shaham has performed with many of the world's leading orchestras, among them the New York Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and Philadelphia Orchestra.

Shaham plays a Stradivarius violin from the "long pattern" period, the "Comtesse de Polignac" of 1699. It was offered to Shaham on loan, in 1989, by the Stradivarius Society of Chicago.

Discography[link]

• Mendelssohn, Bruch: Violin Concertos (1990)
• Schumann: Works for Violin and Piano (1990)
• Franck/Saint-Saëns: Violin Sonatas (with Gerhard Oppitz) (1991)
• Paganini: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (1992)
• Wieniawski: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 (1992)
• Sibelius/Tchaikovsky: Violin Concertos (1993)
• Barber: Concerto (1994)
• Paganini for Two (with Goran Sollscher) (1994)
• Vivaldi: The Four Seasons (with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra) (1995)
• Prokofiev: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 (1996)
• Violin Romances (with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra) (1996)
• Dvořák for Two (with Orli Shaham) (1997)
• The Fiddler of the Opera (with Jascha Heifetz) (1997)
• Israel Philharmonic 60th Anniversary Gala Concert (1997)
• Berlin Gala: A Salute to Carmen (with Anne Sofie von Otter and Roberto Alagna) (1998)
• American Scenes (Works of Copland, Previn, Barber, Gershwin) (1998)
• Glazunov/Kabalevsky: Meeting in Moscow (1998)
• Bartok: Violin Concerto No. 2 (1999)
• Pärt: Tabula Rasa (1999)
• Devil's Dance (2000)
• Two Worlds (with Lee Ritenour and Dave Grusin) (2000)
• John Williams: Treesong (2001)
• Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time (with Myung-Whun Chung) (2001)
• Brahms: Violin Concerto in D Major (with Jian Wang) (2002)
• Schubert for Two (with Goran Sollscher) (2003)
• The Fauré Album (2003)
• Prokofiev: Works for Violin and Piano (with Orli Shaham) (2004)
• Beethoven: Triple Concerto/Septet (with David Zinman and Yefim Bronfman) (2006)
• The Butterfly Lovers' Concerto for Violin/Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto (2007)
• Mozart in Paris (with Orli Shaham) (2008)
• Elgar: Violin Concerto (2008)
• Tchaikovsky: Piano Trio in A Minor (with Yefim Bronfman and Truls Mørk) (2008)
• Sarasate: Virtuoso Violin Works (with Adele Anthony) (2009)
• Haydn and Mendelssohn: Violin Concertos (with the Sejong Soloists) (2010)

Awards[link]

• Avery Fisher Career Grant (1990)
• Premio Internazionale of the Accademia Chigiana in Siena (1992)

Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance: Andre Previn & Gil Shaham for American Scenes (Works of Copland, Previn, Barber, Gershwin) (1999)

Avery Fisher Award (2008) Presented by his dear friend Gustavo Dudamel at a Live from Lincoln Center private presentation of the music of Pablo de Sarasate in the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Canary Classics (Gil Shaham's Record Label)
• Gil Shaham in Conversation from WGBH Radio Boston

André George Previn, KBE (born Andreas Ludwig Priwin; April 6, 1929^[1]) is a German-American pianist, conductor, and composer. He is considered one of the most versatile musicians in the world and is the winner of four Academy Awards for his film work and ten Grammy Awards for his recordings.

Early life[link]

Previn was born in Berlin, Germany, the son of Charlotte (née Epstein) and Jack Previn, who was a lawyer, judge, and music teacher.^[2] He is said to be "a distant relative of" the composer Gustav Mahler.^[3] However, In a pre-concert public interview at the Lincoln Center, in May 2012, Previn laughed at the suggestion that he is related to Mahler. The year of his birth is uncertain. Whilst most published reports give 1929,^[1] Previn himself has stated that 1930 is his birth year.^[4] This situation is a consequence of his the family losing Previn's birth certificate when they left Germany in 1938.^{[citation needed]} His elder brother was director Steve Previn.^{[citation needed]} The Previn family, which was Jewish,^{[citation needed]} emigrated to the United States in 1939 to escape the Nazi regime in Germany.^{[citation needed]}

In 1939, his family moved to Los Angeles, where his great-uncle, Charles Previn, was music director of Universal Studios. André grew up in Los Angeles and became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1943. At Previn's 1946 graduation from Beverly Hills High School he played a musical duet with Richard M. Sherman; Previn played the piano, accompanying Sherman (who played flute). He first came to prominence by arranging and composing Hollywood film scores in 1948. Coincidentally, 21 years later, both composers won Oscars for different films, both winning in musical categories.

Work as a pianist[link]

In the mid-to-late 1950s, and more recently, Previn toured and recorded as a jazz pianist. In the 1950s, mainly recording for Contemporary Records, he worked with Shelly Manne, Leroy Vinnegar, Benny Carter, and others. An album he recorded with Manne and Vinnegar of songs from My Fair Lady was a best-seller (see My Fair Lady (Shelly Manne album)). As a solo jazz pianist, Previn largely devoted himself to interpreting the works of major songwriters such as Jerome Kern (recorded in 1959), Frederick Loewe, Vernon Duke (recorded in 1958), and Harold Arlen (recorded in 1960). Previn made two albums with Dinah Shore as arranger, conductor, and accompanist in 1960, and another, the unjustly neglected "Duet", with Doris Day in 1961. He made appearances on The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford as well as The Dinah Shore Chevy Show. He collaborated with Julie Andrews on a collection of Christmas carols in 1966, focusing on rarely heard carols. This popular album has been reissued many times over the years and is now available on CD. His main influences as a jazz pianist include Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, and Horace Silver. Previn has also recorded classical piano compositions by Mozart, Gershwin, Poulenc, Shostakovich, and others.

Work as a conductor[link]

In 1967, Previn succeeded John Barbirolli as music director of the Houston Symphony Orchestra. In 1968, he began his tenure as principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO)^[5], serving in that post until 1979. During his LSO tenure, he and the LSO appeared on the BBC Television programme André Previn's Music Night. From 1976 to 1984, he was music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO) and, in turn, had another television series with the PSO entitled Previn and the Pittsburgh. He was also principal conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra from 1985 to 1988.

In 1985, he became music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Although Previn's tenure with the orchestra was musically satisfactory, other conductors including Kurt Sanderling, Simon Rattle, and Esa-Pekka Salonen, did a better job at selling out concerts. Previn clashed frequently with Ernest Fleischmann (the orchestra's Executive VP and General Manager), most notably when Fleischmann failed to consult him before naming Salonen as Principal Guest Conductor of the orchestra, complete with a tour of Japan. Because of Previn's objections, Salonen's title and Japanese tour were withdrawn; however, shortly thereafter, in April 1989, Previn resigned. Four months later, Salonen was named Music Director Designate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, officially taking the post of Music Director in October 1992.^[6]

Compositions[link]

Previn has composed film scores and other musical works, including concertos for piano, violin, cello, and guitar. He has also adapted and conducted the music for several films, some of them stage-to-film adaptations, such as My Fair Lady, Kismet, Porgy and Bess, and Paint Your Wagon. Several were written especially for film, including the Academy Award-winning Gigi. Several of the film scores were collaborations with his second wife, Dory Previn.

In later years, he has concentrated on composing classical music. He collaborated with Tom Stoppard on Every Good Boy Deserves Favour,^[7] a play with substantial musical content, which was first performed in London in 1977 with Previn conducting the LSO. His first opera, A Streetcar Named Desire, premiered at the San Francisco Opera in 1998. His second opera, Brief Encounter, based on the 1945 movie of the same name, was premiered at Houston Grand Opera on May 1, 2009. His numerous other classical works include vocal, chamber, and orchestral music.

Opera[link]

• A Streetcar Named Desire (1997, premiered in San Francisco in 1998)
• Brief Encounter (2007, premiered in Houston in 2009)

Theater[link]

• A Party with Betty Comden & Adolph Green (1958) – a revue with Previn as featured songwriter
• Coco (1969) – a musical with words by Alan Jay Lerner
• The Good Companions (1974) – a musical with a book by Ronald Harwood and lyrics by Johnny Mercer
• Incidental Music for Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (1976) – a play for actors and orchestra with words by Tom Stoppard

Orchestral Music[link]

• Cello Concerto 1 (1960)
• Guitar Concerto (1971)
• Principals for Orchestra (1980)
• Piano Concerto (1984)
• Diversions for Orchestra (1999)
• Violin Concerto 1 “Anne-Sophie” (2001)
• Concerto for Violin, Double Bass and Orchestra (2004)
• Night Thoughts for Orchestra (2005)
• Harp Concerto (2007)
• Owls for Orchestra (2008)
• Concerto for Violin, Viola and Orchestra (2009)
• Cello Concerto 2 (2010)
• Violin Concerto 2 (2010)
• Triple Concerto for French Horn, Trumpet and Tuba (2012)

Chamber Music[link]

• Four Outings for Brass (1974)
• Peaches for Flute and Piano (1978)
• Triolet for Brass (1985)
• Trio 1 for Piano, Oboe and Bassoon (1985)
• A Wedding Waltz for 2 Oboes and Piano (1986)
• Cello Sonata (1993)
• Violin Sonata “Vineyard” (1994)
• Bassoon Sonata (1997)
• Trio 2 for Piano, Violin and Cello (2008)
• Octet for Eleven (2010)
• Clarinet Sonata (Prague, 2010)
• Clarinet Quintet (2011)

Piano Music[link]

• Paraphrase on a Theme of William Walton (1973)
• Matthew's Piano Book (10 pieces for students) (1979)
• Variations on a Theme by Haydn (1990)

Songs and Song Cycles[link]

• You’re Gonna Hear From Me (for ‘Inside Daisy Clover’) (1965)
• Gotta Get Off, Gonna Get (Theme from ‘Valley of the Dolls’) (1967)
• Five Philip Larkin Songs (1977)
• Song Cycle “Honey and Rue” (1992)
• Sallie Chisum Remembers Billy the Kid (1994)
• Four Toni Morrison Songs (1994)
• Three Emily Dickinson Songs (1999)
• Sieben Lieder (Seven Songs) (2006)

Film Scores[link]

Original Scores[link]

• Three Little Words (1950) — together with composer Harry Ruby
• The Girl Who Had Everything (1953)
• Bad Day at Black Rock (1954)
• It's Always Fair Weather (1955)
• The Subterraneans (1960)
• Elmer Gantry (1960)
• Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1961)
• Long Day's Journey into Night (1962)
• Two for the Seesaw (1962)
• Dead Ringer (1964)
• Inside Daisy Clover (1965)

Arrangement of Original Scores by Others[link]

• The Secret Garden (1949) — arrangement of Bronislau Kaper's music
• Gigi (1958) — arrangement of Loewe's music
• Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967) — arrangement of Elmer Bernstein's music

Arrangement for Film of Stage Musical or Opera[link]

• Kiss Me, Kate (1953) — after Porter's musical
• Silk Stockings (1957) — after Porter's musical
• Porgy and Bess (1959) — after Gershwin's opera
• Bells Are Ringing (1960) — after Styne's musical
• My Fair Lady (1964) — after Loewe's musical
• Paint Your Wagon (1969) — after Loewe's musical
• Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) — after Webber's musical

Arrangement for Film of Music by Others[link]

• The Music Lovers (1970) — arrangement of Tchaikovsky's music
• Rollerball (1975) — arrangement of music by Bach, Shostakovich, and Tchaikovsky

Jazz[link]

• My Fair Lady (1956)
• Double Play! (1957)
• Pal Joey (1957)
• Gigi (1958)
• André Previn Plays Songs by Vernon Duke (1958)
• André Previn Plays Songs by Jerome Kern (1959)
• King Size! (1959)
• West Side Story (1959)
• Like Previn! (1960)
• André Previn Plays Songs by Harold Arlen (1960)
• Duet (1962)
• Nice Work if You Can Get It (1983) with Ella Fitzgerald
• After Hours (1989)
• Uptown (1990)
• Old Friends (1992)
• Kiri Sidetracks: The Jazz Album (1992)
• Alone: Ballads for Solo Piano (2007)

Recordings[link]

Previn's many recordings include the three ballets of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker), and the complete symphonies of Ralph Vaughan Williams, all with the LSO. With the Los Angeles Philharmonic, he made other recordings of music by Sergei Prokofiev (most notably, the Symphonies 1 and 5, the score to Alexander Nevsky, and the Symphony-Concerto for Cello & Orchestra with Heinrich Schiff as soloist), symphonies and other pieces by Antonín Dvořák, and works by contemporary composers including William Kraft, John Harbison, and Harold Shapero. His recordings of works by Rachmaninoff, Gershwin, William Walton, and Shostakovich have been particularly prized.

He has made jazz recordings in two periods of his career: in the 1950s and early 1960s and then again since the 1980s. With bassist David Finck he has recorded a collection of George Gershwin standards ("We Got Rhythm: Gershwin Songbook") and Duke Ellington classics ("We Got It Good & That Ain't Bad: an Ellington Songbook"), both on the Deutsche Grammophon label.

Television[link]

Previn became known to a broad public through his television work. In the United Kingdom he worked on TV with the London Symphony Orchestra. In the United States the TV show "Previn and the Pittsburgh" (1977) featured him in collaboration with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

Previn is particularly remembered in Britain for his performance as "Mr. Andrew Preview" (or "Privet") on the Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show in 1971, which involved his conducting a performance of Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto with Eric Morecambe as the comically inept soloist. At one point during the sketch "Mr Preview" accuses Eric Morecambe of playing all the wrong notes; Eric retorts that he has been playing "all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order".^[8] Because of other commitments the only time available for Previn to learn his part in the show was during a transatlantic flight but the talent he showed for comedy won high praise from his co-performers. At a concert with the Grieg Concerto in Britain afterwards, Previn had to pause the playing to allow the audience time to stop giggling as they remembered the sketch. Previn himself notes that people in Britain still recall the sketch years later: "Taxi drivers still call me Mr Preview".^[1]

Personal life[link]

Previn has been married five times. His first three marriages, to Betty Bennett (with whom he had two children), to Dory Langan, and then to Mia Farrow, kept him in the public eye. He is the father of Lovely Previn, who was violinist for the Irish band In Tua Nua. Previn and Farrow had three children together, twins Matthew and Sascha, born February 26, 1970, and Fletcher, born March 14, 1974. In 1973 and 1976, respectively, Previn and Farrow adopted Vietnamese infants Lark Song and Summer "Daisy" Song (born October 6, 1974). Lark died on Christmas Day of 2008.^[9] He is also the adoptive father of Soon-Yi Previn, who was adopted from Korea at age 8 (born October 8, 1970). After his fourth marriage (to Heather Sneddon in 1982, with whom he had one child) ended in 2002, Previn wed the German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, and later wrote a violin concerto for her. They divorced in 2006, but remain on amicable terms and have continued to work together in concerts.^[10][11] Previn wrote a memoir of his early years in Hollywood, No Minor Chords, which was published in 1991.

Awards and recognitions[link]

Previn has received a total of thirteen Academy Award nominations, winning in 1958, 1959, 1963 and 1964. He is one of few composers to accomplish the feat of winning back-to-back Oscars, and one of only two to do so on two occasions (the other being Alfred Newman). In 1970 he was nominated for a Tony Award as part of Coco's nomination for Best Musical. In 1977 he became an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music.^[12] The 1977 television show Previn and the Pittsburgh was nominated for three Emmy awards. Previn was appointed an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1996.^[13] (Not being a citizen of a Commonwealth Realm, he may use only the post-nominal letters KBE and not the title "Sir André".) Previn received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1998 in recognition of his contributions to classical music and opera in the United States. In 2005 he was awarded the international Glenn Gould Prize and in 2008 won Gramophone magazine's Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in classical, film, and jazz music.^[14] In 2010, the Recording Academy honored Previn with a Lifetime Achievement Grammy.

Academy Awards[link]

Best Music – Scoring of a Musical Picture

• 1958 Gigi
• 1959 Porgy & Bess

Best Score – Adaptation or Treatment

• 1963 Irma la Douce
• 1964 My Fair Lady

Grammy Awards[link]

Best Instrumental Soloist

• 2005 Previn: Violin Concerto; Bernstein: Serenade for Solo Violin, Strings, Harp and Percussion

Best Classical Crossover Album

• 2003 Korngold: The Sea Hawk, Captain Blood with the London Symphony Orchestra

Best Chamber Music Performance

• 1999 American Scenes: Copland, Previn, Barber, Gershwin

Best Choral Performance

• 1974 William Walton: Belshazzar's Feast with the London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus
• 1977 Rachmaninoff: The Bells with the London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus

Best Performance by an Orchestra

• 1960 Like Young with the David Rose Orchestra

Best Sound Track Album

• 1959 Gigi
• 1960 Porgy and Bess

Best Jazz Performance – Soloist or Small Group

• 1961 West Side Story
• 1962 Previn Plays Harold Arlen

References[link]

External links[link]

Biography portal

Videos[link]