Miles Goodman

Miles Goodman (August 27, 1949 – August 16, 1996) was an American musician who composed music for television and motion pictures, the latter of which included Teen Wolf, Footloose (1984) and the incidental music to Little Shop of Horrors (1986). As a producer, Goodman specialized in light jazz and classics. Los Angeles-born and raised, Goodman majored in theater at Antioch College. It was his cousin Johnny Mandel who led Goodman to a music career. Goodman studied under Albert Harris during the early '70s and cut his composer's teeth as an orchestrator for a few of Mandel's scores, including Being There (1979). He officially launched his career in 1977, scoring the critically acclaimed but short-lived NBC series James at 15. On this program, he created his signature technique of combining popular songs with original orchestral music. By 1991, after over a decade of scoring an average of four major feature films a year, Goodman decided to take a break to become a record producer. His first production featured harmonicist Toots Thielemans working with a variety of famed Brazilian artists on The Brasil Project (1992).

Miles Goodman composed scores for numerous TV shows and films, particularly with director Frank Oz including the 1986 musical adaptation of Little Shop of Horrors, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, HouseSitter, and What About Bob?.

Goodman died at age 46 on August 16, 1996, following a heart attack in his Los Angeles home.