| Marty's Bio |
Marty’s career as a lyricist began when an unknown piano player (and his best
friend), Barry Manilow, asked him to collaborate. Though they were born
and raised just blocks apart, they actually met while working together in the
CBS-TV mail room in New York.
Barry was determined to
have a career in music, and they began by writing commercial jingles.
This collaboration resulted in over 30 songs recorded by Barry, many of which
have become standards of American popular song. These include "It’s A
Miracle," "This One’s For You," "All the Time," and
"Even Now
."
Barry’s appearance on
"Murphy Brown," singing their first "real" song ("I Am Your Child
"), attracted nation-wide media attention.
Today, "I Am Your Child
" serves as title and theme, of Rob Reiner’s
Some of their greatest
hits, are included on the chart topping CD
They are also featured on the multi-platinum DVD
"Ultimate Manilow," as well as
"Manilow Live from Las Vegas," "First and Farewell,"
and the just-released
"Legendary Greek Theatre Concert."
"Barry Manilow: The First Television Specials," a boxed set
including five of Barry's historic programs, has also just been released.
Their songs are featured on Barry's critically acclaimed Concord CD,
"Here at the Mayflower,"
Marty and Barry wrote
3 songs for Diane, including "I’ll Be There" (a duet with
Brian McKnight, written with co-producer Eddie Arkin), and a song which
quickly become Diane’s "theme" song, "Life Is Good."
With Steve Dorff, Marty
wrote the Kenny Rogers classic, "Through the Years."
These songs, along with
recordings by Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight, Julio Iglesias, Frankie Valli,
Dusty Springfield, Michael Crawford, Teddy Pendergrass, Dolly Parton, Davis
Gaines, Daft Punk (Daft Punk?
), and many others, have garnered Marty 35 gold and platinum albums, four BMI
million-play awards, a 3 million-play award, and record sales in excess of 70
million units.
Marty’s collaborators
have included Richard Kerr, Charlie Fox, Tom Snow, Michael Masser, Randy
Goodrum, Ramon Arcusa, Stephen Schwartz, and Larry Grossman.
His first theatrical
dialogue was written for the "Houdini" segment of the MGM Grand Hotel’s
47-million dollar production,
Marty’s collaboration
with Don Grady continues, and they've written a new theme for Disney’s Marty and Don have also
written and produced three complete CDs for Disney:
"Disney's Princess Christmas Album" will be re-released in October, and will include another new song for Snow White, "Christmas Eve Dinner."
In addition, Marty and Don completed production of the first two episodes of the direct-to-DVD series "History's Heros" ("Patrick Henry" and "Paul Revere"), for American Animation Studios.
Marty received an Annie
Award nomination for "We Are One,"
from the Disney sequel to "The Lion
King" – "Simba’s Pride,"
and created lyrics for the score of another Disney sequel,
"Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World."
Marty wrote lyrics AND
music, for two CD’s (and companion DVD’s), for the widely popular children’s series,
Having succeeded Glen
Frey at UCLA, this winter, Marty will teach his
This semester, he is honored to present (along with Concord Records), "The Hal Gaba Scholarship." This scholarship is dedicated to Marty's beloved friend and mentor, Hal Gaba... who envisioned and established the first scholarships for this course, seven years ago.
"An Evening With Marty Panzer," featuring songs, stories, and performances by many guest composers and artists (including John Boswell, David Burnham, Tami Damiano, Steve Dorff, Davis Gaines, Don Grady, Tessa Grady, Brian Lane Green, Larry Grossman, Phillip Ingram, Monica Mancini, Eric McCormack, Bobbi Page, Diane Schuur, and a special appearance by Barry Manilow), had its world premier at the Coronet Theatre in Los Angeles, on January 17th, 2005. This performance was a benefit for the Academy For New Musical Theatre.
The second performance of this show was on May 14th, 2005, at the Dean Lesher Center for the Arts, in Walnut Creek, California. Marty received the first "Foster A Dream Award" , at this benefit for the Foster A Dream organization.
Future performances of this production, are currently being developed. The next is tentatively scheduled for early 2010, in Las Vegas.
All this, while he completes his book of observations and personal experiences in the world of popular music. This book will include many of his favorite lyrics.