Composers

1. Alexandre Desplat

Composer and conductor Alexandre Desplat, Oscar winner and seven-time Academy Award nominated, for his prolific filmography and his collaborations with Stephen Frears, Terrence Malick, Ang Lee, Kathryn Bigelow, Jacques Audiard, Wes Anderson, Roman Polanski, George Clooney or Matteo Garrone is one ...

Stanley Myers was born on October 6, 1930 in Birmingham, England, UK. He was a composer, known for The Witches (1990), The Deer Hunter (1978) and Prick Up Your Ears (1987). He was married to Brigitta Stroeh and Eleanor Fazan. He died on November 9, 1993 in London, England, UK.

3. Mark Isham

Composer | Crash

From his days as one of the pioneering icons of electronic music to his current status as a world-renowned legendary film composer, Mark Isham continues to be one of the most prolific and provocative artists on the scene. His gift for creating unforgettable melodies and his love of fresh, ...

4. Ryuichi Sakamoto

Composer | The Last Emperor

Ryuichi Sakamoto was born on January 17, 1952 in Tokyo, Japan. He was a composer and actor, known for The Last Emperor (1987), The Revenant (2015) and Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983). He was married to Akiko Yano. He died on March 28, 2023 in Tokyo, Japan.

5. Alva Noto

Composer | The Revenant

Alva Noto was born on September 18, 1965 in Karl-Marx-Stadt, German Democratic Republic [now Chemnitz, Saxony, Germany]. He is a composer and director, known for The Revenant (2015), Future Past Perfect Pt. 02: Cité Radieuse (2012) and This Stolen Country of Mine (2022).

6. Frank Zappa

Soundtrack | Baby Snakes

Of all the qualities that typified Frank Zappa, perhaps the most striking is that he was a paradox. A workaholic perfectionist rock star who eschewed the hippie culture of the 1960s, deploring its conformism, spurious ideals and drug use, Zappa was not only a brilliant rock guitarist but an ...

7. Ralph Blane

Soundtrack | Meet Me in St. Louis

Ralph Blane was born on July 26, 1914 in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, USA. He was a composer and actor, known for Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), Jurassic World (2015) and The Godfather (1972). He was married to Emajo Stage. He died on November 13, 1995 in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, USA.

8. Hugh Martin

Soundtrack | Meet Me in St. Louis

Hugh Martin was born on August 11, 1914 in Birmingham, Alabama, USA. He was a composer and writer, known for Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), Jurassic World (2015) and The Godfather (1972). He died on March 11, 2011 in Encinitas, California, USA.

9. Alan Price

Soundtrack | O Lucky Man!

At one time he was playing in three bands and at the same time holding down a job as a tax inspector. He and Eric Burdon used to go round the clubs as if they were in a Western. Eric used to sit in the band and sing the blues while Alan would play the piano and before long the five piece Alan Price...

10. Elton John

Soundtrack | Kingsman: The Golden Circle

Sir Elton John is one of pop music's great survivors. Born 25 March, 1947, as Reginald Kenneth Dwight, he started to play the piano at the early age of four. At the age of 11, he won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. His first band was called Bluesology. He later auditioned (...

11. Steve Allen

Actor | Casino

Steve Allen was born on December 26, 1921 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for Casino (1995), The Player (1992) and College Confidential (1960). He was married to Jayne Meadows and Dorothy Goodman. He died on October 30, 2000 in Encino, Los Angeles, California, USA.

12. David Carradine

Actor | Kill Bill: Vol. 2

David Carradine was born in Hollywood, California, the eldest son of legendary character actor John Carradine, and his wife, Ardanelle Abigail (McCool). He was a member of an acting family that included brothers Keith Carradine and Robert Carradine as well as his daughters Calista Carradine and ...

13. Hedy Lamarr

Actress | Samson and Delilah

Hedy Lamarr, the woman many critics and fans alike regard as the most beautiful ever to appear in films, was born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler in Vienna, Austria. She was the daughter of Gertrud (Lichtwitz), from Budapest, and Emil Kiesler, a banker from Lemberg (now known as Lviv). Her parents were ...

14. Michel Legrand

Composer | The Thomas Crown Affair

Michel Legrand is a three-time Academy Award-winning French composer, conductor and pianist who composed over 200 film and television scores as well as recorded over a hundred albums of jazz, popular and classical music.

He was born on February 24, 1932, in Becon-les-Bruyeres, in the Paris suburbs, ...

15. Johnny Mandel

Music_department | MASH

Inducted into the ASCAP Jazz Wall of Fame in 2009 and the Songwriters Hall of Fame a year later, Johnny Mandel is perhaps best known as the composer of the iconic M*A*S*H (1972) theme song, "Suicide is Painless". Born and raised in Manhattan, he was the son of a garment manufacturer and an opera ...

16. Bob Crosby

Soundtrack | Raging Bull

An orchestra leader renowned for his Dixieland group, Bob Crosby Orchestra, and Bob Crosby and the Bobcats, Bob Crosby is Bing's younger brother. His band continues to perform today. His daughter, Cathy Crosby, appeared with him on his television program and sang in a few movies of her own, ...

17. Harold Arlen

Music_department | The Wizard of Oz

No American has written more first-rate songs than Arlen. He grew up in a musical family (his father was a cantor), and disappointed but didn't surprise his parents by dropping out of high school to become a musician. A stint as pianist and singer with a dance band, the Buffalodians, allowed him to...

18. Stephen Sondheim

Soundtrack | Dick Tracy

He did his pre college training at George School, Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, then was in a class of 50 at Williams College majoring in music as an undergraduate distinguishing himself by writing a book, lyrics and music for two college shows based on the adaption of 'Beggar on Horseback'....

19. Alfred Newman

Music_department | The King and I

Alfred Newman is an American composer, arranger, and conductor of film music.

From his start as a music prodigy, he came to be regarded as a respected figure in the history of film music. He won nine Academy Awards and was nominated 45 times, contributing to the Newmans being the most nominated ...

20. Georges Delerue

Composer | Platoon

Georges Delerue was born on March 12, 1925 in Roubaix, Nord, France. He was a composer and actor, known for Platoon (1986), Twins (1988) and The Day of the Dolphin (1973). He was married to Micheline Gautron. He died on March 20, 1992 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

21. Max Steiner

Composer | Casablanca

Austrian composer Max Steiner achieved legendary status as the creator of hundreds of classic American film scores. He was born Maximilian Raoul Walter Steiner in Vienna, Austria, the son of Marie Mizzi (Hasiba) and Gabor Steiner, an impresario, and the grandson of actor and theater director and ...

22. William Lava

Soundtrack | A Serious Man

He was an extremely prolific and capable film composer, educated at Northwestern University. He studied conducting with Albert Coates, and came to Hollywood in 1936. His chief collaborators were Harry Tobias, Stan Jones, Max Steiner, Sammy Cahn, Franz Waxman, Henry Mancini, Ray Heindorf, and Frank ...

23. C. Bakaleinikoff

Music_department | Notorious

Constantin Bakaleinikoff was born in Moscow in 1896 and studied music at the Moscow Conservatory. Trained as a violoncellist and conductor, he formed a trio with fellow young conservatory graduates and toured Russia, until enlistment in the infantry during World War I forced a temporary stop to his...

24. Gary Stockdale

Music_department | Star Trek Beyond

Gary Stockdale is known for Star Trek Beyond (2016), Mamma Mia! (2008) and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018).

25. Ella Fitzgerald

Soundtrack | Sphere

On Saturday, June 15th, 1996, an era in jazz singing came to an end, with the death of Ella Fitzgerald at her home in California. She was the last of four great female jazz singers (including Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, and Carmen McRae) who defined one of the most prolific eras in jazz vocal ...

26. Chuck Berry

Soundtrack | Men in Black

Charles Edward Anderson Berry was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the "Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive with songs such as "Maybellene" (1955), "Roll ...

27. Nat 'King' Cole

Soundtrack | The Nat King Cole Show

Nat King Cole was born Nathaniel Adams Coles (he later dropped the "s" in his surname) in Montgomery, Alabama. He received music lessons from his mother and his family moved to Chicago when he was only five, where his father, Edward James Coles, was a minister at the True Light Baptist Church and ...

28. Rudy Vallee

Actor | The Palm Beach Story

Rudy Vallee started his career as a saxophone player and singer and later became a bandleader. In the 1920s and early '30s he had a hit radio program, The Fleishmann's Yeast Hour (although his explosive, ego-driven personality made his cast and crew hate him). In the early 1930s he was ranked with ...

29. Peter Nero

Soundtrack | Sunday in New York

Peter Nero was born on May 22, 1934 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was a composer, known for Sunday in New York (1963), Ciranda de Pedra (1981) and My Six Loves (1963). He was married to Peggy Altman, Marcia Dunner and Rebecca Edie. He died on July 6, 2023 in Eustis, Florida, USA.

30. Tiny Tim

Soundtrack | Insidious

Tiny Tim, the ukulele-playing singer of 1920s ditties who was a true icon of the 1960s, was born Herbert Khaury on April 12, 1932, in New York City. The son of a Lebanese father and Jewish mother, the young Khaury grew up in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan. A high school dropout, his ...

31. Sonny Bono

Soundtrack | The Sonny and Cher Show

Sonny Bono was born on February 16, 1935 in Detroit, Michigan, USA. He was an actor and composer, known for The Sonny and Cher Show (1976), Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) and Hairspray (1988). He was married to Mary Bono, Susie Coelho, Cher and Donna Rankin. He died on January 5, 1998 in South Lake Tahoe...

32. Lou Rawls

Soundtrack | Payback

Rawls was born on 1st December 1933 in Chicago, Illinois. His father abandoned his family and Lou was raised by his grandmother. His first meeting with music was when he was seven years old, in a Baptist church choir. He was mostly influenced by the Chicago Regal theatre where he had the ...

33. Neil Sedaka

Soundtrack | Deadpool

Neil Sedaka was born on March 13, 1939 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He is an actor and composer, known for Deadpool (2016), Transsiberian (2008) and Better Off Dead (1985). He has been married to Leba Strassberg since September 11, 1962. They have two children.

34. Paul Anka

Soundtrack | No Way Out

Canadian-born Paul Anka first achieved success in the 1950s as a teenage singing star (and, for the times, an unusual one in that he wrote many of his own songs). Although he appeared in several films, and was quite believable as a nervous, hyper young soldier in The Longest Day (1962) (for which ...

35. José Feliciano

Soundtrack | Moulin Rouge!

José Feliciano was born on September 10, 1945 in Lares, Puerto Rico. He is a music artist and composer, known for Moulin Rouge! (2001), Fargo (1996) and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978). He has been married to Susan Omillian since August 2, 1982. They have three children. He was ...

36. Cher

Actress | Moonstruck

The beat goes on ... and on ... and as strong as ever for this superstar entertainer who has well surpassed the half-century mark while improbably transforming herself from an artificial, glossy "flashionplate" singer into a serious, Oscar-worthy, dramatic actress ... and back again! With more ups ...

37. Cass Elliot

Soundtrack | Free Guy

Cass Elliot was born Ellen Naomi Cohen on September 19, 1941, in Baltimore, Maryland. She grew up in the Washington D.C. environs and in her senior year of high school, performed in a summer stock production of "The Boyfriend" at the Owings Mills Playhouse, where she played the French nurse who ...

38. Marvin Hamlisch

Composer | The Spy Who Loved Me

Musical talent ran in Marvin Hamlisch's family - his father was an accordionist, and at seven Hamlisch was the youngest student ever accepted by Manhattan's Julliard School of Music. Hamlich furthered his education by taking night classes at Queens College and working during the day as a rehearsal ...

39. Kenny Rogers

Soundtrack | Polar

Born in Houston, Texas on August 21, 1938, Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, actor, record producer and entrepreneur Kenneth Ray Rogers was the fourth of eight children born to a carpenter father who worked in a shipyard and a mother who was a hospital nurse's assistant. Of humble Irish and Native...

40. Louis Armstrong

Actor | High Society

Louis Armstrong grew up poor in a single-parent household. He was 13 when he celebrated the New Year by running out on the street and firing a pistol that belonged to the current man in his mother's life. At the Colored Waifs Home for Boys, he learned to play the bugle and the clarinet and joined ...

41. Liberace

Soundtrack | Behind the Candelabra

Most remembered for his extravagant costumes and trademark candelabra placed on the lids of his flashy pianos, Liberace was loved by his audiences for his music talent and unique showmanship. He was born as Wladziu Valentino Liberace on May 16, 1919, into a musical family, in Wisconsin. His mother, ...

42. Victor Borge

Actor | Higher and Higher

Pianist, composer, songwriter, entertainer and actor, educated at Borgerdydskolen and the Conservatory of Copenhagen. He studied with Egon Petri and Frederic Lammond. His concert career began in 1922, and he performed in a musical revue in 1934, and in films by 1937. Arriving in the US in 1940, he ...

43. Anne Murray

Soundtrack | Zodiac

Anne Murray is a major recording star. She has won numerous Grammy Awards, American Music Awards, as well as a number of Juno Awards in her native Canada. Anne lives in Toronto, Canada with her husband and two children. She has sold over 24 million records. She is known for such hits as "Snowbird",...

44. Hoagy Carmichael

Soundtrack | To Have and Have Not

Award-winning songwriter ("Stardust", "Ole Buttermilk Sky", "Georgia on My Mind"), composer, pianist, actor and singer, educated at Indiana University (LL.B). He played piano in the college bands, and later gave up a law practice for a career in songwriting. He joined ASCAP in 1931, and his chief ...

45. Quincy Jones

Producer | The Color Purple

Considered to be one of the greatest minds in music and television history, Quincy Delight Jones, Jr. was born on March 14, 1933 in Chicago, Illinois. He is the son of Sarah Frances (Wells), a bank executive, and Quincy Delight Jones, Sr., a carpenter.

Jones found his love for music while he was ...

46. Robert Emmett Dolan

Producer | White Christmas

Composer, songwriter ("A Home in the Meadow"), film executive and conductor, educated at Loyola College (on scholarship) and a piano student of his mother, and later, Letonal, Mortimer Wilson, Joseph Schillinger, and Ernst Toch. He became music director for MGM in 1941, and also was the music ...

47. Frankie Avalon

Soundtrack | Grease

One of a spate of teen idols to come out of Philadelphia in the 1950s and 1960s, Frankie Avalon--unlike many of the others--actually had a musical background, having been taught to play the trumpet at a very young age by his father. As a youth Avalon performed in local clubs and theaters. He won a ...

48. Lyle Lovett

Actor | Short Cuts

A singer-songwriter who plays guitar, Lyle Lovett won a 1989 Grammy for Best Male Country Vocal Performance. His albums, the first of which was released in 1986, incorporate elements of country, Western, folk, swing, jazz, bebop, blues and gospel music. He graduated from Texas A&M with degrees in ...

49. Pearl Bailey

Soundtrack | The Fox and the Hound

Her father Joseph was a minister and her mother was named Ella Mae. Her birth name was Pearly Mae but her parents anticipated she would be a boy and when a girl was born she was nicknamed "Dickie". Her brother was entertainer Bill Bailey (1912-1978). She spent her early life in Washington DC where ...

50. Rubén Blades

Actor | Once Upon a Time in Mexico

Rubén Blades was born on July 16, 1948 in Panama City, Panama. He is an actor and composer, known for Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003), The Counselor (2013) and Safe House (2012). He has been married to Luba Mason since 2006. He was previously married to Lisa Lebenzon.

51. Dave Grusin

Music_department | The Fabulous Baker Boys

Dave Grusin was born on June 26, 1934 in Littleton, Colorado, USA. He is a composer and actor, known for The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), The Firm (1993) and The Graduate (1967). He was previously married to Edith Ruth Price, Sara Jane Tallman and Barbara Jo Davidson.

52. Bob James

Soundtrack | The Big Hit

Bob James was born on December 25, 1939 in Marshall, Missouri, USA. He is a composer and actor, known for The Big Hit (1998), Double Jeopardy (1999) and Cop Out (2010). He has been married to Judy Heric since September 1963. They have one child.

53. Paul Shaffer

Actor | Hercules

Paul Shaffer was born on November 28, 1949 in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. He is an actor and composer, known for Hercules (1997), This Is Spinal Tap (1984) and Blues Brothers 2000 (1998). He has been married to Catherine Maria Vasapoli since August 19, 1990. They have two children.

54. Hans Zimmer

Composer | Gladiator

German-born composer Hans Zimmer is recognized as one of Hollywood's most innovative musical talents. He featured in the music video for The Buggles' single "Video Killed the Radio Star", which became a worldwide hit and helped usher in a new era of global entertainment as the first music video to ...

55. James Horner

Music_department | Titanic

James Horner began studying piano at the age of five, and trained at the Royal College of Music in London, England, before moving to California in the 1970s. After receiving a bachelor's degree in music at USC, he would go on to earn his master's degree at UCLA and teach music theory there. He ...

56. Ray Charles

Soundtrack | Radio Days

Ray Charles was born on September 13, 1918 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was a composer, known for Radio Days (1987), The First Nine Months Are the Hardest (1971) and Three's Company (1976). He was married to Bernice P Rosengarden. He died on April 6, 2015 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California,...

57. Peggy Lee

Actress | Lady and the Tramp

Peggy Lee was Born Norma Dolores Egstrom in Jamestown, North Dakota, on May 26, 1920. At age four her mother died. Peggy's father, a railroad station agent, remarried but later left home, leaving Peggy's care entrusted to a stepmother who physically abused her. Peggy later memorialized this in the ...

58. Jimmy Durante

Actor | It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

First wife Jeanne died in 1943. Wed second wife, Marjorie Little after 16 year courtship when she was 39 and he 67 Marjorie Little had been the hatcheck girl at the Copacabana. Durante and his second wife adopted a baby girl, Cecelia Alicia on Christmas day 1961. Durante doted on "CeCe" until his ...

59. Johnny Mercer

Soundtrack | Breakfast at Tiffany's

Johnny Mercer started his career as singer and songwriter for Paul Whiteman. He started writing songs for Hollywood in 1935, where he also had a few small parts in musicals. Among his famous songs is the inoffical anthem of Hollywood, "Hooray For Hollywood" that he wrote for the movie "Hollywood ...

60. Al Hirt

Soundtrack | Kill Bill: Vol. 1

Al Hirt was born on November 7, 1922 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. He was an actor, known for Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), 21 Jump Street (2012) and The Green Hornet (1966). He was married to Beverly Essel , Zide Bowers Jahncke and Mary Patureau. He died on April 27, 1999 in New Orleans, Louisiana, ...

61. André Previn

Music_department | My Fair Lady

German-American pianist, composer, arranger and conductor André George Previn (born Andreas Ludwig Priwin, in Berlin) was for eight decades a hugely influential and prolific figure in jazz, as well as classical and film music. Being Jewish, Previn's family was forced to leave Hitler's Germany in ...

62. Chet Atkins

Soundtrack | Michael

Chet Atkins was an A&R (artist and repertoire) executive for RCA Victor Records from 1958 until 1974, producing recordings for such artists as Elvis Presley, Bobby Bare, Eddy Arnold, Jim Reeves, Skeeter Davis, Waylon Jennings, Duane Eddy, The Browns, Charley Pride, Hank Snow and The Everly Brothers...

63. Sergio Mendes

Music_department | Rio

Sergio Mendes was born on February 11, 1941 in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He is an actor and composer, known for Rio (2011), Never Say Never Again (1983) and The Brothers Grimsby (2016). He has been married to Gracinha Leporace since 1964. They have two children.

64. Les Paul

Soundtrack | Speed Racer

Les Paul was born on June 9, 1915 in Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Speed Racer (2008), Casino (1995) and Carol (2015). He was married to Mary Ford and Virginia Webb. He died on August 12, 2009 in White Plains, New York, USA.

65. Guy Lombardo

Soundtrack | Never Let Me Go

He was an actor, known for Never Let Me Go (2010), Angel Heart (1987) and The Green Mile (1999). " Guy Lombardo was not an actor, he was a bandleader, and died in 1977 long before these films were released. His music however is on the soundtrack of these films.

66. Fats Domino

Soundtrack | The Blues Brothers

Antoine Dominique Domino Jr. (February 26, 1928 - October 24, 2017), known as Fats Domino, was an American pianist and singer-songwriter. One of the pioneers of rock and roll music, Domino sold more than 65 million records. Born in New Orleans to a French Creole family, Domino signed to Imperial ...

67. Benny Goodman

Soundtrack | Allied

The King of Swing! Famed clarinetist, composer ("Stompin' at the Savoy") and conductor, educated at the Lewis Institute in Chicago and a student of Schillinger and Schoepp. He was a clarinetist with the orchestras of Bix Beiderbecke, Jules Herbuveaux, Arnold Johnson and Ben Pollack, and also played...

68. Conway Twitty

Soundtrack | Limitless

Conway Twitty was born on September 1, 1933 in Friars Point, Mississippi, USA. He was a music artist and actor, known for Limitless (2011), Punch-Drunk Love (2002) and Hollywoodland (2006). He was married to Dolores Virginia Henry, Temple Medley and Ellen Matthews. He died on June 5, 1993 in ...

69. Erroll Garner

Soundtrack | Manhattan Murder Mystery

Composer ("Misty") and pianist, the younger brother of Linton S. Garner. He was a professional pianist at age seven over KDKA radio in Pittsburgh. After his high school education, he entertained in high schools and theatres in New York and California, and was featured with the Slam Stewart Trio. ...

70. Bronislau Kaper

Composer | Mutiny on the Bounty

Born: February 5, 1902 in Warsaw, Poland Died: April 25, 1983 in Los Angeles, California, USA Kaper displayed musical talent as early as the age of seven when his family acquired a piano. His inclination to music led him to study both piano and composition, while also taking courses in law to ...

71. Bobby Sherman

Soundtrack | Shindig!

Bobby started in the hit television program Shindig as the house singer from 1964 to 1966. After it was canceled, he did guest appearances in shows like The Monkees, Honey West and The FBI before starring in his breakout role in Here Come The Brides from 1968 to 1970. He also performed in an ...

72. Pat Metheny

Soundtrack | Training Day

Pat Metheny was born on August 12, 1954 in Lee's Summit, Missouri, USA. He is a composer and producer, known for Training Day (2001), Toys (1992) and Wild (2014). He is married to Latifa. They have three children.

73. Lyle Mays

Soundtrack | Training Day

Lyle Mays was born on November 27, 1953 in Wausaukee, Wisconsin, USA. He was a composer, known for Training Day (2001), Wild (2014) and The Falcon and the Snowman (1985). He died on February 10, 2020 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

74. Antonio Sanchez

Composer | Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Antonio Sanchez was born on November 1, 1971 in Mexico City, Mexico. He is a composer, known for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014), Don't Breathe 2 (2021) and The Hippopotamus (2017).

75. Steve Rodby

Music_department | The Falcon and the Snowman

Steve Rodby is known for The Falcon and the Snowman (1985), Pat Metheny: The Unity Sessions (2015) and A Map of the World (1999).

76. Richard Bona

Soundtrack | All About E

Richard Bona was born on October 28, 1967 in Minta, Cameroon. He is an actor and composer, known for All About E (2015), Ruben Brandt, Collector (2018) and Masai: The Rain Warriors (2004).

77. Bob Geldof

Soundtrack | Pink Floyd: The Wall

Bob Geldof was frontman for the late '70s to mid '80s Irish punk rock band the Boomtown Rats. He also conceived and co-wrote Band Aid's tune "Do They Know It's Christmas?" with his friend, musician Midge Ure of Ultravox, which became the 1984 Christmas number one in the UK and the best-selling ...

78. Tina Turner

Soundtrack | Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

With almost fifty years in the music business, Tina Turner became one of the most commercially successful international female rock stars. Her sultry, powerful voice, her incredible legs, her time-tested beauty and her unforgettable story all contributed to her legendary status.

Born to a ...

79. Paul Williams

Soundtrack | Phantom of the Paradise

Known for timeless classics such as "We've Only Just Begun," "Rainy Days and Mondays," "Evergreen," "Just an Old Fashioned Love Song," and "Rainbow Connection," Paul Williams is responsible for what will remain part of our popular culture for many years to come. His music has been recorded by some ...

80. Kris Kristofferson

Actor | Blade

Kris Kristofferson was born in Brownsville, Texas, to Mary Ann (Ashbrook) and Lars Henry Kristofferson. His paternal grandparents were Swedish, and his father was a United States Air Force general who pushed his son to a military career. Kris was a Golden Gloves boxer and went to Pomona College in ...

81. Rod Taylor

Actor | Inglourious Basterds

Suave and handsome Australian actor arrived in Hollywood in the 1950s, and built himself up from a supporting actor into taking the lead in several well-remembered movies. Arguably his most fondly remembered role was that as George (Herbert George Wells), the inventor, in George Pal's spectacular ...

82. Nat Wolff

Actor | Paper Towns

Nat Wolff is an American actor, musician, and singer-songwriter. He was born in Los Angeles, to jazz pianist Michael Wolff and actress/writer Polly Draper. He is the older brother of actor/musician Alex Wolff, and grew up in New York City.

Nat is known for his work starring in the television series ...

83. Ray Anthony

Soundtrack | Sixteen Candles

Ray Anthony (real name Raymond Antonini) was born in Bentleyville, PA, on Jan. 20, 1922. His family moved to Cleveland, where he spent most of his early life. There he studied trumpet with his father. From 1940-1941 he played in Glenn Miller and His Orchestra. He enlisted in the US Navy in 1942 and...

84. Christian Wibe

Composer | What Happened to Monday

Christian Wibe is a diversely talented TV and film composer whose music has bolstered a wide variety of projects. His most celebrated project was his score for Netflix's acclaimed original film, What Happened to Monday, starring Willem Dafoe and Glenn Close. The score featured big, orchestral ...

85. Helen Reddy

Actress | Pete's Dragon

The #1 Grammy-winning "I Am Woman" became not only THE anthem of the feminist movement during the radical 1970s, but also the signature song for its lovely, crop-haired, reddish-haired composer and singer Helen Reddy. Many decades later this is the hit people still remember her for, despite the ...

86. Michael Jackson

Soundtrack | Michael Jackson: Thriller

Michael Joseph Jackson was born on August 29, 1958 in Gary, Indiana, and entertained audiences nearly his entire life. His father, Joe Jackson (no relation to Joe Jackson, also a musician), had been a guitarist, but was forced to give up his musical ambitions following his marriage to Michael's ...

87. Cab Calloway

Soundtrack | The Blues Brothers

Bandleader, songwriter ("Minnie the Moocher", "Are You Hep to That Jive?"), composer, singer, actor and author, educated at Crane College. While studying law, he sang with the band The Alabamians, and took over the group in 1928. He led The Missourians orchestra, then organized and led his own ...

88. James Brown

Actor | The Blues Brothers

James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 - December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer, and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honorific nicknames "Godfather of Soul", "Mr. Dynamite", and ...

89. Ray Charles

Actor | The Blues Brothers

A tragic fate may have given this visionary a heightened sensitivity, perception, awareness, even expansion to his obvious musical gifts that he may have never touched upon had he not suffered from his physical affliction. Whatever it was, Ray Charles revolutionized American music and was ...

90. Aretha Franklin

Actress | The Blues Brothers

Grammy-winning Queen of Soul and the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Aretha Louise Franklin was born in Memphis, Tennessee, to Barbara Vernice (Siggers) and C. L. Franklin, a Baptist minister, who preached at the New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit for over thirty ...

91. B.B. King

Actor | Blues Brothers 2000

Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 - May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shimmering vibrato and staccato picking that influenced many ...

92. David Bowie

Soundtrack | Labyrinth

David Bowie was one of the most influential and prolific writers and performers of popular music, but he was much more than that; he was also an accomplished actor, a mime and an intellectual, as well as an art lover whose appreciation and knowledge of it had led to him amassing one of the biggest ...

93. Marcus Miller

Music_department | Marshall

Marcus Miller was born on June 14, 1959 in New York. He is a Grammy winning musician, composer, arranger and producer. With more than 200 film and television credits as a musician and composer, he recently appeared in the Emmy winning documentary American Masters: Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool (...

94. G.E. Smith

Soundtrack | Wayne's World

G.E. Smith was born on January 27, 1952 in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, USA. He is an actor and composer, known for Wayne's World (1992), The Departed (2006) and Wayne's World 2 (1993). He has been married to Taylor Barton since November 1990. They have one child. He was previously married to Gilda ...

95. Malcolm Arnold

Composer | The Bridge on the River Kwai

Born in Northampton on 21st October 1921, Malcolm Arnold studied composition with Gordon Jacob and trumpet with Ernest Hall at the Royal College of Music. In 1941 he joined the trumpet section of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, becoming principal by 1943. After two years of war service and one ...

96. Bobby Short

Soundtrack | Hannah and Her Sisters

Bobby Short was an attraction at Manhattan's Cafe Carlyle for three decades (he doubtless got his greatest exposure there in a scene from Woody Allen's film Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)). Short is the quintessential New Yorker, the Fred Astaire of saloon singers, an international icon of style and ...

97. Mick Ronson

Soundtrack | Fright Night

Michael "Mick" Ronson was an English guitarist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, arranger, and producer. He achieved critical and commercial success while working with David Bowie as the lead guitarist and band leader for Bowie's backing band, the Spiders From Mars. Ronson was also a session ...

98. Rick Wakeman

Music_department | Lawrence: After Arabia

Rick Wakeman's work on the classic albums of the progressive rock band Yes, his hugely successful solo albums, as well as his contributions to classic David Bowie songs, has earned him a reputation as one of rock's greatest ever keyboardists. Wakeman was educated at Drayton Manor County Grammar ...

99. Lou Reed

Soundtrack | V for Vendetta

He formed the group The Velvet Underground with Welsh multi-instrumentalist John Cale, second guitarist Sterling Morrison, and drummer Maureen Tucker in New York in 1965. The group soon became a part of Andy Warhol's Factory scene, which housed a great number of the most freaked and experimental ...

100. Alan Silvestri

Composer | The Polar Express

In his ongoing, decades-long career as a composer, Alan Silvestri has blazed an innovative trail with his exciting and melodic scores, winning the applause of Hollywood and movie audiences the world over. With a credit list of over 100 films Silvestri has composed some of the most recognizable and ...