Gary Portnoy

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Gary Portnoy

Background information
Born 1 January 1956 (1956-01-01) (age 52)
Genre(s) Pop music, Country music
Occupation(s) Vocalist, Musician, Songwriter
Years active 1980 - present
Website http://garyportnoy.com/

Gary Portnoy (born January 1, 1956)[1] is a singer/ songwriter, best known for singing the theme songs to two U.S. television sitcoms:

Both songs were written by Portnoy and Judy Hart Angelo. (They also composed the theme to the long running television series Mr Belvedere.) In addition, both shows aired on NBC.

Contents

[edit] Career

Gary Portnoy and Judy Hart Angelo were composing the score to an off-Broadway musical, Preppies, in the early 1980s when one of the producers of Cheers heard their opening number, "People Like Us". He wanted to use the song as the theme for his upcoming show, Cheers. However, the producers of Preppies wouldn't release it. Portnoy and Angelo then set out to write a new theme for Cheers. After their first two attempts were rejected, "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" was finally selected as the theme song for Cheers.[2]

Prior to writing the Cheers theme, Mr. Portnoy had found success as a highly regarded young songwriter. His songs had been recorded by Dolly Parton) ("Say Goodnight" from Dolly, Dolly, Dolly, co-written by Susan Sheridan) and Air Supply ("I'll Never Get Enough" co-written by Jeanne Napoli), and he had recorded a self-titled album for Columbia Records that was released in 1980 (which was recently re-released on CD by Sony Japan). He had also written several songs for the critically acclaimed NBC series Fame. One song he co-composed from Fame, "I Still Believe In Me" (co-written by Susan Sheridan), went on to be nominated for an Emmy Award for best original song. He also co-wrote the song "It's Gonna Be a Long Night" for Fame with Estelle Levitt. Both Fame songs were featured on the album The Kids from Fame

In 1983, he co-wrote some of the songs for the Broadway musical Marilyn: An American Fable which was nominated for a Drama Desk Award.

During his television work of the 1980s Mr. Portnoy received an Emmy nomination for "Cheers" and six consecutive ASCAP awards for the Most Performed Television Themes of the year.

After that, Mr. Portnoy took an extended hiatus from the music business. In the late 1990's he and co-writer Gloria Nissension began making regular visits to Nashville and some of the songs that they wrote there appear on Portnoy's 2004 CD Keeper. Keeper also includes the original full-length version of the Cheers theme that had never before been available on CD.

January 2007 brought the release of Gary Portnoy's latest CD Destiny. It includes 11 new songs and a never before released full length version of the Mr. Belvedere theme as sung by Gary Portnoy (Leon Redbone's recorded version of the song was Mr. Belvedere's original theme).

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] Destiny (2007, Argentum Records)

  1. "I Wanna Sing Again"
  2. "Destiny"
  3. "A Younger Time"
  4. "Big Brother"
  5. "Talk Of Jesus"
  6. "Life On The Outside"
  7. "Mr Belvedere"
  8. "Oh, Jessie"
  9. "I Know Something"
  10. "Manhattan Heartache"
  11. "The Only One"
  12. "Jeanne"


[edit] Keeper (2004, Argentum Records)

  1. "What Day"
  2. "Today"
  3. "Keeper"
  4. "This Is Forever"
  5. "Where Everybody Knows Your Name (Cheers Theme)"
  6. "Simple"
  7. "The Best Days"
  8. "Exitwounds"
  9. "Mess When I´m In Love"
  10. "Alien"
  11. "God Bless This Day"
  12. "Yes"


[edit] Gary Portnoy (1980, Sony Music)

  1. "It's Gonna Be A Long Night"
  2. "The Driver"
  3. "Half Moon"
  4. "The Lady Is A Liar"
  5. "Late Night Confession"
  6. "When The Night Ends"
  7. "You Can't Get Away With That"
  8. "Goodbye Never Felt This Good"
  9. "Come To Me Tonight"
  10. "Say Goodbye"
  11. "Say Goodbye (Reprise)"

[edit] Recorded by other artists

  • "When the Night Ends" (co-written with Ruth Rosen)
recorded by Engelbert Humperdink for his 1981 album Don't You Love Me Anymore
  • "Say Goodnight" (co-written with Susan Sheridan)
Recorded by Dolly Partong for her 1980 album Dolly, Dolly, Dolly
Recorded by Engelbert Humperdink for his 1981 album Don't You Love Me Anymore
  • "I Still Believe In Me" (co-written with Susan Sheridan)
Recorded by Debbie Allen and Erica Gimpel as featured on the album The Kids from Fame
  • "It's Gonna Be a Long Night" (co-written with Estelle Levitt)
Recorded by Lori Singer as featured on the album The Kids from Fame
  • "Best Days" (co-written with Carol Ann Brown and Gloria Nissenson)
Recorded by Aaron Pritchett for his 2003 album Something Goin' on Here
  • "I'll Never Get Enough of You" (co-written with Jeannie Napoli and Judy Quay)
Recorded by Air Supply for their 1981 album The One that You Love
  • "Come to Me Tonight" (co-written with Susan Sheridan)
Recorded by Roberto Carlos on his 1990 album From Brazil with Love
  • "Rush In" (co-written with Carol Ann Brown and Gloria Nissenson)
Recorded by April Taylor for her 2007 album I Wanna Live Like That

[edit] External links

[edit] References