Alf Clausen
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Alf Clausen (born March 28, 1941) is an American film and television composer. He is best known for his work scoring many episodes of The Simpsons, of which he has been the sole composer since 1992. Clausen has scored or orchestrated music for more than 30 films and television shows, including Moonlighting, The Naked Gun, ALF, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. He was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and grew up in Jamestown, North Dakota.
[edit] Biography
Clausen was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and raised in Jamestown, North Dakota. He received his training at North Dakota State University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Boston's Berklee College of Music, earning degrees in Arranging & Composition. He began his musical career as a French Hornist and Bassist, going on to become an instructor at Berklee.
He has composed scores for several television series and TV movies, including Moonlighting (for which he received six Emmy nominations), The Simpsons (for which he received two Emmy awards, three Annie awards, three International Monitor Awards, 18 additional Emmy nominations and three additional Annie nominations), Bette, The Critic, ALF, Christine Cromwell, Dads, Double Agent, Fame, Harry, Lime Street, My First Love, Murder In Three Acts, Police Story, She Knows Too Much, Stranded, and Wizards & Warriors.
His feature film credits include Half-Baked and Number One With a Bullet. He has contributed additional music and orchestrations to numerous feature films, including Airplane II: The Sequel, The Beastmaster, Ferris Beuller's Day Off, Dragnet, Into The Night, Micki + Maude, Mr. Mom, The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!, Splash, Weird Science, and Wise Guys. He has been musical director, composer and arranger for numerous television variety shows including The Donny & Marie Show, Mary and The Mary Tyler Moore Hour.
His CD credits (as songwriter, conductor and producer) include the hit Rhino Records The Simpsons releases Songs in the Key of Springfield, Go Simpsonic with The Simpsons, and The Simpsons: Testify, and the 2005 CD with the Alf Clausen Jazz Orchestra, Swing Can Really Hang You Up The Most.
He later composed the music for the parody songs for the Rita and Runt Episode: "Les Miseranimals", who worked with the writer and lyricist of the show, Deanna Oliver.
His compositions and arrangements have been featured by many recording artists and commercial advertisers. His music is featured on the Universal Studios Tram Tour 2000. He has also composed for musicians such as Buddy Rich, Thad Jones, Mel Lewis, Ray Charles, Woody Herman, Stan Kenton, and Denny Christianson. His memberships include AFM, ASCAP, ATAS, IAJE, NARAS, Society of Composer & Lyricists (former Vice President and member, Board of Directors), Songwriters Guild, SAG, Who's Who In The West, Who's Who In California, and Who's Who In Entertainment.
Awards include two Emmy awards, twenty-seven Emmy nominations, three Annie awards, three Annie nominations, three International Monitor Awards, Grammy and CLIO nominations, Honorary Doctor of Music Degree-Berklee College of Music, Honorary Doctor of Music Degree-North Dakota State University, Alumnus Recognition Award-Berklee College of Music, “One of Top 50 Alumni” Award-Berklee College of Music, the Alumni Achievement Award-North Dakota State University, the “1:00 O'Clock” Award-North Texas State University, two National Endowment For The Arts Composition Fellowship Grants, and seven times recipient of the ASCAP Popular Award For Music Composition. He is also a recipient of several ASCAP Film and Television Music awards.
