Michael Z. Gordon

Michael Zane Gordon (born April 4, 1941) is an American screenwriter, producer, musician and composer.

Early life

Gordon was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and grew up in Rapid City, South Dakota. He has two sisters. He and his family moved to Glendale, California in 1957, and moved to Los Angeles, California shortly thereafter. Gordon graduated from Fairfax High School in 1958.

Music career

Gordon, a self-taught musician, formed his first rock band, the Marketts (originally spelled "Mar-Kets") in 1961. Gordon wrote and co-produced the band's first hit song, "Surfer's Stomp," shortly after the group was formed. In 1961 the band signed with co-producer Joe Saraceno under the Warner Bros. label.

Gordon formed his second band, the Routers, in 1962. The Routers and the Marketts were contemporaries and Gordon worked with both groups over the same time period using different musicians for each group. The Routers are best known for their 1962 hit, "Let's Go (Pony)."

While on tour with the Routers, Gordon wrote the Marketts' first release on the Warner Bros. label, "Outer Limits" (later changed to "Out of Limits" for legal reasons). The song sold over a million copies, topped the charts on stations nationwide, and earned Gordon a BMI award. "Out of Limits" is a popular choice for TV and film soundtracks; it can be heard in Pulp Fiction (1994), Slayground (1983),The Outsiders (1983) and Mafioso: The Father, the Son, (2004). The Marketts' music is also credited on "Saturday Night Live," The Name of the Game is Kill (1968),A Killing on Brighton Beach (2009), and Dirty Little Trick (2011), among others.

The Marketts

The Marketts were an American instrumental pop group, formed in January 1961 in Hollywood, California by Michael Z. Gordon. They are best known for their 1963 million-seller, "Out of Limits".

Biography

The Marketts' line-up featured Michael Z. Gordon and various session musicians from the Los Angeles area, including drummer Hal Blaine. The group name was originally spelled "Mar-Kets". The group's direction was spearheaded by producer Joe Saraceno and Michael Z. Gordon, although Saraceno could not arrange or play on any of the group's material. Gordon's songs which were composed for the Marketts are best remembered for their surf rock sound, though not all of their material has this sound; Gordon took the group's style in whatever direction he thought would catch the record-buying public's ear. In the U.S., the group had three Top 40 hits and had two popular albums, many of the songs composed by Gordon.

The Marketts' surfer sound started with "Surfer's Stomp", which was by written by and produced by Gordon and Saraceno. Gordon also wrote their biggest hit, "Out of Limits", which was originally entitled "Outer Limits", named after the television program of the same name. Rod Serling sued the Marketts for quoting the four-note motif from his television show, The Twilight Zone, without his approval, which resulted in the change of the title to "Out of Limits". It reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1964. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. The band name was used as late as 1977 for further releases, though their last hit came in 1966.

Gordon

Gordon may refer to:

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Education

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Australia

Canada

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The Outer Limits

The Outer Limits or Outer Limits may refer to:

Michael

Michael /ˈmaɪkəl/ is a male given name that comes from the Hebrew: מִיכָאֵל / מיכאל‎ (Mīkhāʼēl, pronounced [miχaˈʔel]), derived from the question מי כאל mī kāʼēl, meaning "Who is like God?" (literally, "Who is like El?). In English, it is sometimes shortened to Mike, Mikey, Mickey, or Mick.

Female forms of Michael include Michelle, Michele, Michaela, Mechelle, Micheline, and Michaelle, although Michael is occasionally seen as a female name; women named Michael include actresses Michael Learned and Michael Michele. Another form is Mychal, which can either be a male or female name.

Patronymic surnames that come from Michael include Michaels, Carmichael, MacMichael, McMichael, Micallef, Michaelson, Mikkelsen, DiMichele, Mikhaylov, Mykhaylenko, Mikeladze, Michels, and Mitchell.

Religion

The name first appears in the Hebrew Bible in the Book of Numbers, 13:13 where Sethur the son of Michael is one of 12 spies sent into the Land of Canaan. The archangel Michael features in the Book of Daniel 12:1, and in the Qur'an as Mikhail.