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Andy Paley

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Andy Paley
Birth nameAndrew Douglas Paley[1]
Born(1951-11-01)November 1, 1951
Washington, D.C., U.S.
OriginHalfmoon, New York, U.S.
DiedNovember 20, 2024(2024-11-20) (aged 73)
Colchester, Vermont, U.S.
Genres
Occupations
  • Songwriter
  • record producer
  • multi-instrumentalist
Instruments
  • Keyboards
  • piano
  • organ
  • guitar
  • drums
  • harmonica
  • accordion
  • ukulele
  • banjo
  • autoharp
  • string bass
  • vibraphone
  • marimba
  • vocals
Formerly ofThe Paley Brothers
SpouseHeather Crist
Websiteandypaley.com[dead link‍]

Andrew Douglas Paley (November 1, 1951 – November 20, 2024) was an American songwriter, record producer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist who formed the Paley Brothers, a 1970s power pop duo, with his brother Jonathan Paley. Following their disbandment, Paley was a staff producer at Sire Records, producing albums for artists, such as Brian Wilson, Jonathan Richman, NRBQ, John Wesley Harding, the Greenberry Woods, and Jerry Lee Lewis. He also worked in film and television, composing scores and writing songs mostly for animated series, such as The Ren & Stimpy Show, Digimon, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Camp Lazlo.

Early life and career

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Andrew Douglas Paley was born in Washington, D.C., on November 1, 1951,[2][3] the son of Henry Paley, a college administrator and lobbyist, and Cabot Barber Paley, a teacher and therapist.[4][5] He was the third of five children and grew up in Crescent, New York, near Albany.[2][5] His younger sister Sarah is married to former U.S. senator Bob Kerrey. In 2010, he married Heather Crist in a ceremony officiated by Kerrey.[6]

"These snappy, hard-hitting songs are what rock and roll used to sound like back when singles were singles and boys would be boys."

—Review of The Sidewinders in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981)[7]

Paley began performing in his early teens as a drummer and singer for local Albany-area bands before moving to Boston. He was a founding member and the drummer of the Boston, Massachusetts band, Catfish Black, which also included future Modern Lovers members Jerry Harrison and Ernie Brooks. The band was renamed the Sidewinders and was later joined by Billy Squier. The band performed around Boston and in New York City at venues like Max's Kansas City.[2] They released an album, produced by Lenny Kaye, which featured songs written and sung by Paley. The Sidewinders broke up in the mid-1970s. Paley then played on Elliott Murphy's album Night Lights, and performed with Jonathan Richman after the break-up of the original Modern Lovers.[8]

The Paley Brothers

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Main article: The Paley Brothers

Paley went on to form The Paley Brothers[9] with his younger brother Jonathan, a guitar/bass player and singer who also was part of the early Boston punk scene and had played with Boston and New York bands such as Mong. They disintegrated as an act in 1979 when Jonathan joined the Nervous Eaters. Although the Nervous Eaters collapsed after Ric Ocasek, who had produced their demo, was not permitted to produce their second album,[10] the Paley Brothers did not reform. Said Jonathan, "It was more of an evolution. Andy went on the road with Patti Smith's band and got into production work; I went and sailed around the world."[11]

Collaborative work

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In 1979, Andy Paley played guitar on Jonathan Richman's album Back in Your Life, and continued to perform on and off with Richman and later incarnations of the Modern Lovers, and produce many of their recordings, through the 1980s. He produced Richman's 1985 album Rockin' and Romance. Paley then focused on songwriting, session work and record production while working with Madonna, k.d. lang, Mandy Barnett, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elton John, Brenda Lee, Little Richard, and many others.[2]

In 1988, Paley produced and co-wrote songs on Wilson's solo comeback album Brian Wilson, and continued to work with him on unreleased material in the 1990s.[12] Wilson described Paley as a multi-instrumentalist with "a lot of talent for anything you can think of. ... Andy Paley is the most frighteningly talented person I’ve ever worked with, and he has an unparalleled seriousness about music."[13]

Film and television work

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Paley produced the soundtracks for Dick Tracy (1990) and A Walk on the Moon (1999) and wrote the original music for Traveller (1997, starring Bill Paxton). In 2009, he contributed to the soundtrack of World's Greatest Dad, directed by Bobcat Goldthwait and starring Robin Williams. He also wrote the musical score for the first season of Showtime's The L Word.[citation needed]

Paley also scored for cartoons such as The Ren & Stimpy Show,[14] and later wrote and produced the music for Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants. He and Tom Kenny – the voice of SpongeBob – co-wrote the It's a SpongeBob Christmas! Album (2012). Paley and Kenny were also both members of Tom Kenny and the Hi-Seas.[citation needed] He led the Andy Paley Orchestra, which provided the music for The Thrilling Adventure & Supernatural Suspense Hour, a theater group in Los Angeles that performs original stage productions in the style of old radio melodramas. Additionally he provided music for The Dana Gould Hour podcast.[15]

Personal life and death

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Paley and his wife, Heather Crist Paley, have twin sons and lived in Grand Isle, Vermont.[2][3]

In July 2024, Paley was diagnosed with throat cancer. Though he was successfully treated and had been cancer-free from September, it was found to have returned on November 7, after he was admitted to a hospital in Burlington, Vermont. Heather Crist Paley wrote on her Substack blog that her husband's health steadily deteriorated over the following days, and he was eventually admitted to a hospice facility in Colchester, Vermont.[16] He died there on November 20, at the age of 73.[3][17]

Discography

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Albums produced

References

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  1. ^ "Andrew Douglas Paley". sesac.com. SESAC.
  2. ^ a b c d e Williams, Alex (November 27, 2024). "Andy Paley, Whose Imprint Was All Over Pop Music, Dies at 73". The New York Times. Retrieved November 27, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c Wood, Mikael (November 21, 2024). "Andy Paley, who produced for Brian Wilson and composed for 'SpongeBob SquarePants,' dies at 73". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 27, 2024.
  4. ^ "Henry Paley obituary". New York Times. April 17, 1984. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  5. ^ a b "Cabot Paley Obituary". New York Times. February 9, 2010. Retrieved April 21, 2015.
  6. ^ Vincent M. Mallozzi (June 25, 2010). "Heather Crist, Andrew Paley". New York Times. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  7. ^ Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: S". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 12, 2019 – via Robertchristgau.com.
  8. ^ Tim Mitchell, There’s Something About Jonathan, 1999, ISBN 0-7206-1076-1
  9. ^ Tim Sendra. "Paley Brothers | Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
  10. ^ Ginger Coyote (2010). "Jonathan Paley Interview". Punk Globe. Retrieved April 21, 2015.
  11. ^ Quoted by Gene Sculatti in liner notes for "The Paley Brothers: The Complete Recordings"
  12. ^ Verna, Paul (April 22, 1995). "From Brian Wilson to Jerry Lee Lewis, Andy Paley's Career Defies Description". Billboard. Vol. 107, no. 16. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. pp. 88–89. ISSN 0006-2510.
  13. ^ Pareles, Jon (November 27, 2024). "Andy Paley, Multi-Instrumentalist and Songwriter, Dies at 70". The New York Times.
  14. ^ Lester, Paul (June 1998). "Brain Wilson: Endless Bummer". Uncut.
  15. ^ "Podcast". Dana Gould. Retrieved November 21, 2024. Comedian Dana Gould takes a look at our world… through his eyes… for your benefit. Joined by fellow comedians and other interesting people with a focus on the weird and the real. Conversation. Music. Monologues. With Ken Daly, Andy Paley and more.
  16. ^ Crist, Heather. "Heather Crist Substack".
  17. ^ Merlis, Bob; Aswad, Jem (November 20, 2024). "Andy Paley, Brian Wilson Collaborator, 'Spongebob' Composer and Veteran Producer, Dies at 72". Variety.
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