Sam Spiegel (musician)

Sam Spiegel (musician)

Sam Spiegel (also known as Squeak E. Clean) is an American producer/DJ/composer from New York who grew up in Manhattan and Westchester County.

As a child, Sam studied classical voice, cello, and flute, but by his teens, he enjoyed hip hop music.

In addition to creating his own material, Spiegel has worked with musicians such as Ben Lee, Maroon 5, Del tha Funkee Homosapien, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. He has also scored commercials for companies including Converse, Levi's, Reebok, ESPN, T Mobile, Jose Cuervo, and Saturn, and his production company scored the video game Skate 2. Though he attempts to create music free of record label restraints, Spiegel also licenses his songs whenever possible so as to maximize exposure for his work.

Spiegel is brother of film director Spike Jonze. They collaborated on the Adidas TV commercial Hello Tomorrow, for which Sam Spiegel created the score sung by Jonze's then-girlfriend Karen O. The titular song briefly reached #1 on the iTunes singles chart. Spiegel also wrote the score for Jonze's 2010 short film I'm Here.

Sam Spiegel most recently worked on a “psycho-opera”, entitled “Stop The Virgens”, spearheaded by his good friend and front woman of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Karen O . The show has been dubbed as “an assault on the tragic joys of youth”. The opera premiered at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn on October 12 for 8 performances, concluding on October 22. It was produced The Creators Project and directed by the amazing Adam Rapp. The opera serves as a live version of the songs from an album that Sam produced and wrote with Karen. Sam and Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner served as musical directors. Also contributing to the “original live experience” were musicians Money Mark, the YYY’s drummer Brian Chase, Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler of the Greenhornes/Racanteours as well as sound design by Andres Velasquez.