Dave Grusin

Dave Grusin

Robert David "Dave" Grusin (born June 26, 1934) is an American composer, arranger and pianist. Grusin has composed many scores for feature films and television, and has won numerous awards for his soundtrack and record work, including an Academy award and 12 Grammys. He has had a prolific recording career as an artist, arranger, producer and executive producer.

Born in Littleton, Colorado, he studied music at the University of Colorado at Boulder and was awarded his bachelor's degree in 1956. He produced his first single, "Subways are for Sleeping" in 1962 and composed the score to his first feature film, Divorce American Style five years later. Other scores followed including Winning in 1969, The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973), The Midnight Man (1974) and Three Days of the Condor in 1975.

In the late 70s, he formed GRP records along with his partner, Larry Rosen, and began to create some of the first commercial digital recordings. Grusin was also at the forefront of soundtrack albums. He was the composer for the legendary Mike Nichols Oscar-winning film, The Graduate. The film is noted for being one of the first films to integrate popular songs into a film score. Later scores included On Golden Pond (1981), Tootsie (1982) and The Goonies (1985).

From 2000 through 2011, Grusin has concentrated on composing classical and jazz compositions, touring, and recording with collaborators, among others, guitarist, Lee Ritenour. Together they have recorded several projects including the Grammy-winning Brazilian album, “Harlequin” in 1985. In recent years, they have released two classical crossover albums that were nominated for Grammys including, the Universal Decca recordings,'“Two Worlds” and "Amparo". He is married and has four children.