William Lava

William Lava

William "Bill" B. Lava (March 18, 1911, St. Paul, Minnesota - February 20, 1971, Los Angeles, California) was a musical composer and arranger who worked on the Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies animated cartoons from 1962 to 1969, replacing the deceased Milt Franklyn, making him the last musical composer and arranger in the classic era of Warner Bros. Cartoons. Lava's music was different from that of Franklyn and previous composer Carl Stalling. It has a tendency towards atonality. A sense of tension is often created in Lava's scores using sequences based on the notes of the diminished seventh chord. Lava also sang the theme to the popular T.V. western series Cheyenne.