Alec Puro - Life and Career

Life and Career

Puro is married to actress Marla Sokoloff.

Alec Puro has played varying keynotes in the music world for over fifteen years.

Born and raised in Santa Monica, California, Alec began studying piano at age eight endowing him with the skills to which he would later return to when pursuing a career as a composer for film and television.

As a seventh grader at Crossroads School for the Arts he began exploring percussion when a friend told Alec he was starting a band and was looking for a drummer.

Alec was intrigued and honed his skills playing drums in numerous local bands. Within a few years he started doing sessions, playing a wide variety of genres for a wide array of media ranging from television commercials to records and playing alongside an even broader range of artists from Robby Krieger of The Doors to Jackson Browne.

In 1996, as a student of music composition and jazz drums at California Institute of the Arts, Alec launched the band Deadsy with longtime friend Elijah Blue, providing the impetus to write more songs and not just play the drums.

Deadsy landed a record deal with DreamWorks Records and released their freshman album “Commencement” which debuted on The Billboard Top 200 at #99, selling fifteen thousand copies in its first week. Deadsy went on several world tours, opening for bands such as Linkin Park, Korn and Stone Temple Pilots, performing to sold out crowds in large arenas such as the legendary Madison Square Garden. They released a second album, “Phantasmagore” and after more touring Alec had the realization that being in a band had a shorter shelf life than he had thought.

Combining his hard-earned experience and a lifelong passion for music, Alec began composing for film and television. Starting out by licensing music to popular television shows like “Chicago Hope” and “NYPD Blue”, industry icons such as Michael Mann began taking an interest in his work.

A big break came when he composed the score for the 2007 Sundance hit film “The Good Night” starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Penélope Cruz. At the premiere of the film, Alec received personal accolades from Steven Spielberg, as well as a rave review from Variety Magazine which stated, “Alec Puro’s unobtrusively melodic score – which incorporating a tender composition Gary (the film’s protagonist) writes late in the picture – plays an especially significant role...”

2011 has proven to be a banner year for Alec. Astoundingly, two of the feature films that he scored, The Art of Getting By, starring Freddie Highmore and Emma Roberts, and “Higher Ground,” the critically acclaimed directorial debut from Academy Award Nominated Actress Vera Farmiga premiered at the Sundance Film Festival as contenders in the dramatic competition category. Both films were quickly sold to major studios with Fox Searchlight Pictures snatching up “The Art of Getting By” within hours of its premiere and Sony Pictures Classics nabbing “Higher Ground” shortly thereafter. "The Art of Getting By" and "Higher Ground" are summer 2011 releases.

More recently, Alec composed the original score for “Like Water,” the widely anticipated documentary about legendary MMA fighter Anderson Silva which premiered at the Tribeca film festival in April 2011 and won Best New Director.

Alec continues to score numerous independent films, documentaries and television shows working with such esteemed producers as Steven Bochco and Simon Fuller.

Additional notes: In 2006, Alec founded Gramoscope Inc. Since its inception, Gramoscope has created an extensive catalog of music covering all genres for film and television. In 2009, Alec and Gramoscope formed a partnership with The Music Collective, combining their talent and experience and putting both companies in a position to better serve the needs of their clients and projects.