| Richard Perlmutter | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Richard Howard Perlmutter |
| Born | August 8, 1949 |
| Origin | Born: Newark, New Jersey, USA Raised: Plainfield, New Jersey, USA |
| Genres | classical, childrens |
| Occupations | singer-songwriter, producer, writer |
| Years active | 1994 - Present |
| Labels | Rounder (2002–Present) Choo Choo Records (1986–1996) |
| Website | beethovenswig.com |
Richard Perlmutter (August 8, 1949) is an American songwriter, musician, singer, producer and author. He was born in Newark, New Jersey and raised in Plainfield, New Jersey.
He is best known as the creator, writer, lead singer and producer of Beethoven's Wig, a vocal group that performs with symphony orchestras and has recorded four albums. Beethoven's Wig songs feature Perlmutter's lyrics set to the greatest hits of classical music. The lyrics often refer to the pieces or their composers.[1]
The four Beethoven's Wig albums have each received a nomination for a Grammy Award for Best Children's Album and three of them have also been named American Library Association Notable Recordings. In all, the albums have won 46 National awards.
Perlmutter has also recorded two solo albums and has produced albums for the Grammy Award winning group Nickel Creek, and for Victoria Jackson, former cast member on Saturday Night Live.
Perlmutter is married and has three children. He lives in Los Angeles, California.
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After earning degrees from Cornell University, Rhode Island School of Design, and Yale University, and then teaching at Yale, Perlmutter formed Radio Play, a commercial production company. He wrote and produced radio commercials and music for radio and TV. Clients included Hertz, Hewlett Packard, Traveler's Insurance, Ringling Bros., Hunt's Foods, Sprint, NBC TV, and Olive Garden. His radio commercials won numerous advertising awards including the International Broadcasting Award, Mobius Award, New York Festivals Award, and Clio Award Finalist. As a founding partner of the Woo Agency, in Culver City, California, he expanded into producing television commercials and print advertising. Perlmutter served as Creative Director at the agency, writing and producing work for clients included Gold's Gym, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, and Good Guys. He left the agency in 2003.
Perlmutter's musical career as an artist and producer began in 1992 when he recorded his first album "Tin Pan Alley Songs for Children." He then co-founded Choo Choo Records with producer and musician Charlotte Lansberg. The two discovered the Grammy Award winning band Nickel Creek performing at the Autry Museum in Los Angeles, and recorded their first commercial release "Little Cowpoke." The team also produced an album for Saturday Night Live cast member Victoria Jackson called "Ukelele Lady" and a second album for Perlmutter called "Hot Diggity." During the early 1990s, Perlmutter performed with his backup band the Shining Pearls.
In 2002 Perlmutter released his first Beethoven's Wig album on Rounder Records. A week after its release, Perlmutter was featured on NPR's "All Things Considered," and then appeared on NBC's Today Show. The album shot to #6 on Amazon's Hot 100 Sales Chart and held the #1 position on both the Amazon Classical and Children's Music Sales Charts for four months. Pulse magazine called Beethoven's Wig, "Brilliant, absolutely brilliant!"[2] The LA Times said it was, "an irreverent approach to music appreciation."[3] US News and World Report said, "Perlmutter's got goofball charm...the lyrics are truly hilarious!"[4] Over the next year, Beethoven's Wig received 15 national awards including a Grammy Nomination for Best Musical Album for Children, and a Parent's Choice Award. It was also designated an American Library Association Notable Recording. When "Beethoven's Wig 2" was released in 2004, Perlmutter appeared on NPR's "Morning Edition," and his two albums took over the #1 and #2 spot on Amazon's Hot 100 Sales Chart simultaneously. Perlmutter put together a touring group to perform with orchestras. The group featured Elin Carlson, soprano; Susan Boyd, alto; Jonathan Mack, tenor and Jon Joyce, bass. A breakthrough came in May 2006, when Perlmutter and Beethoven's Wig performed to a sold out audience at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
The next year, Perlmutter released "Beethoven's Wig: Read Along Symphonies," a children's book illustrated by Maria Rosetti. He also co-produced "Hear and Gone In Sixty Seconds," featuring one minute songs by some of the top recording artists in children's music, including Grammy Award winners Bill Harley, Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer, and Grammy Lifetime Achievement Winners Tom Paxton and Ella Jenkins. The album won 8 National Awards.
In 2006 Perlmutter released Beethoven's Wig 3, a concept album in which each song featured lyrics set to a classical composition highlighting a different instrument. Then in 2008, he released Beethoven's Wig 4, another concept album in which each song featured lyrics for classical pieces written for dances and marches. Perlmutter co-produced the album with Michael Geiger, a bass in the Los Angeles Opera, who has also sung on three of the Beethoven's Wig albums. In 2011, the first “Beethoven’s Wig Songbook” was published by Alfred Music Publishing. The songbook is collection of all the songs from the first Beethoven’s Wig album in a piano/vocal edition for pianists of early intermediate level and above.
To date, the Beethoven's Wig series has won a record 46 National Awards. And each one of the four Beethoven's Wig albums has received a Nomination for a Grammy Award for Best Musical Album for Children. Perlmutter continues to perform with his group of four Beethoven's Wig singers.