David Newman - following his father's footsteps

It would be an enormous task for David Newman to follow exactly in his father's footsteps as Alfred Newman made such a huge impression on an evolving industry. That David has managed to produce the goods under this shadow is testament to his own skills, and the fact that his CV is not as long is perhaps solely due to the fact that he has only been scoring for the last decade and a half. David's brother Thomas is doing very well as a film composer, and in comparison David is sometimes under-appreciated. However he is capable of some great scores such as "Galaxy Quest" and "Ice Age". Many of David's most recent movie scores have tended to be comedies, family movies or animations (sometimes all three) with a number of requests for sequels: "102 Dalmations", "The Nutty Professor II", "The Flintstones II", "Dr. Dolittle II" and the "Scobby-Doo" sequel. However, it should be remembered that comedy is not necessarily an easy genre to score, and the frequent requirement for pastiche demonstrates his flexibility.

Perhaps his soundtracks for Joss Whedon's "Serenity" and the fantasy-triller "The Spirit" are the start of a trend into other genres. The well-crafted soundtrack for "Serenity" is available from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. Apart from some early excursions into TV music, the composer has largely stayed away from this medium. However his track record on the live-action big-screen "Scooby-Doo" movies has resulted in his scoring two recent movies for the small-screen: "Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins" and "Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster".

Films by David Newman:

• Frankenweenie - with co-composer Michael Convertino, the Tim Burton short (included on some versions of The Nightmare Before Christmas DVD)
• Critters
• Vendetta
• Coneheads
• Wise Guys - orchestration
• Dragnet - orchestration and additional music
• Throw Momma from the Train - the music evokes Hitchcock thrillers just like the movie's visuals and storyline
• Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure
• The War of the Roses
• Duck Tales: The Movie
• The Flintstones and The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas
• Galaxy Quest - lots of Star Trek like music for this Star Trek spoof
• Jingle all the Way
• Anastasia
• The Nutty Professor and Nutty Professor II: The Klumps
• Matilda
• The Phantom
• Dr. Dolittle 2
• 102 Dalmations
• Ice Age - the family CGI animation movie
• Scooby-Doo 1 and 2 ("Monsters Unleashed") - lots of spooky goings on in these live-action cartoons
• How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
• The Cat in the Hat - the original score, with songs by Marc Shaiman
• Serenity - some similarities to the style of the Firefly TV series, with western sounds and some multicultural influences
• Monster-in-Law
• Norbit - another Eddie Murphy vehicle
• Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins
• The Spirit
• My Life in Ruins
• Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
• Crazy on the Outside
• The Spy Next Door
• Animals United - David Newman provides the score and the songs are written by Naturally 7 and Xavier Naidoo
• Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son

Television Music by David Newman:

• Faerie Tale Theatre - the episode "Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp"
• Amazing Stories - one episode from the series "Such Interesting Neighbors"
• Tales from the Crypt - again a single episode "The Thing from the Grave"
• The Flamingo Rising - TV movie
• Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins and Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster - two TV movie sequels to the big-screen films