John Lissauer

John Lissauer is an American composer, producer, and performer. At the age of 19, he arranged the first recordings of Al Jarreau. Lissauer went on to produce and arrange a pair of Leonard Cohen albums, including the song "Hallelujah" which was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2019. He has been a composer or music producer for record albums, films, and radio and TV commercials. Lissauer received a Clio "Campaign of the Decade" award for his work for Polaroid.

Early life and education Lissauer was raised in Hauppauge, New York. From age 11 until he graduated from Yale College, Lissauer studied with Joseph Allard at the Juilliard School. Lissauer attended Yale University and graduated with honors in music.

Career Lissauer plays piano, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and saxophone. He began arranging music for Al Jarreau while still at Yale. He taught at Yale for a year, and then became a session piano player.

As a composer and music producer, he has worked with Al Jarreau, Bette Midler, Whitney Houston, and Luther Vandross.

In Canada to produce a record for Lewis Furey, Lissauer was approached by Cohen at a Furey concert. The two met again several weeks later in New York to produce the New Skin for the Old Ceremony album. John Miller, who played bass on the album, described Lissauer's approach to music as "very particular, European, simple but complex, highly imaginative". New Skin for the Old Ceremony would make the Top Thirty in the United Kingdom.

After the album was completed, Cohen appointed Lissauer as the musical director for his next two tours; Lissauer played piano, organ, saxophone, and percussion on the tours.

In 1983, Lissauer again worked with Cohen to produce the album Various Positions, including the arrangement of "Hallelujah", which would go on to become one of the most recorded songs of its time. Disappointed when Columbia Records decided against a U.S. release of the album, Lissauer decided to focus his efforts on composing for films and TV.

Although he had given up record producing, in 2006 Lissauer arranged several songs on Blue Alert by Anjani as a favor for Cohen.

In 2022, Lissauer appeared in the documentary Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song, and composed the score.

Personal life Lissauer was married to Erin Dickins, with whom he restored an overgrown 35-acre property an hour north of New York City that had been owned previously by composer Frederick Loewe. In 1984, he married Lilian, with whom he had one son.

Select composer/production discography Artist Release Label Credit Leonard Cohen Various Positions Columbia Producer/Arranger/Performer Leonard Cohen New Skin for the Old Ceremony Columbia Producer/Arranger/Performer Mary Fahl Love & Gravity BMI Publishing Producer/Arranger/Performer Mary Fahl Four Sings BMI Publishing Producer/Arranger/Performer Mary Fahl The Other Side of Time Odyssey Producer/Arranger/Performer Bette Midler Songs From the New Depression Atlantic Records Arranger/Conductor Loudon Wainwright III Final Exam Arista Records Producer/Arranger/Performer Loudon Wainwright III T-shirt Arista Records Arranger/Performer Lewis Furey Lewis Furey Aquarius Records Producer/Arranger/Conductor/Performer Lewis Furey The Sky is Falling Aquarius Records Producer/Arranger/Conductor/Performer Tony Bird Bird of Paradise Columbia Producer/Arranger/Performer Anjani Blue Alert Columbia Arranger/Performer Kiss Peter Criss Solo Album Casablanca Records Conductor The Hotel Orchestra Swings Digital A & M Records Arranger/Performer/Composer Carole Laure Alibis RCA Victor Arranger/Conductor/Performer Carole Laure She Says Move On Fnac Music Arranger/Performer Leata Galloway Leata Ariola Producer/Arranger/Conductor/Performer Clara Ponty The Embrace Philips Classics Co-Producer/Arranger/Performer Ayo Joyful Polydor Records Producer/Arranger/Performer Daniel Rodriguez In The Presence Blix Street Records Arranger/Conductor Eddie Brigati Lost in the Wilderness Elektra Arranger/Conductor/Performer Fred Stark Time After Time New Central Music Company, LLC Arranger/Performer Kenny Karen This Day Big Tree Records Arranger/Performer Lisa Gutkin From Here On In Independent Producer/Performer Ten Feet Deep Ten Feet Deep Independent Producer

Select filmography Films Threebound (Exit 74 Productions) David & Layla (Newroz Films) Seven (Cecchi Gori Pictures) The Last Godfather (TLG) Watchmen (Warner Bros.) That Thing You Do! (Clavius Base) Pokémon: The First Movie (4Kids Entertainment) Pokémon the Movie 2000 (4Kids Entertainment) Managua (Logo Entertainment) Apartment 1303 (Amuse) All American Bikini Car Wash (Meridien Films) End Call (MonteCristo International Entertainment) Gods and Generals (Ted Turner Pictures) So This is Christmas (Foster Entertainment) Fantastica (E.I. Productions) Dark Disciple (Ambassador Motion Pictures) The Rubber Gun (St. Lawrence Film Productions) L'Ange et la Femme (Films RSL) Montreal Main (Canadian Film Development Corporation) Beyond Paradise (New Roz Films) Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang (1978 film) (Gulkin Productions) La Tete de Normande St. Onge (Cinépix) Rosewater (Busboy Productions) Pikachu's Vacation (4Kids Entertainment) Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns (Anime World Osaka) Apartment 1303 3D (1303 Productions) Pokémon Detective Pikachu (Warner Bros.)

Short films/documentaries Leonard Cohen: Dance Me to the End of Love (A-Acme Film Works) The Truce (Independent, NYU) Gone into the Clearing (Veech Productions) Remember (Colassalvision) På danske læber live (Auditorium) Susanna (Hidden Layers) Rooster (Jamison Newlander Productions) Mickey Lee (Lawnrunner Films) Crackshot Stu (Lawnrunner Films) Clever Grete (Tabularassa Productions) Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song (Sony)

Television Pokémon (TV Series) (Pokémon USA) Supernova (Hallmark Entertainment) Flood: A River's Rampage (Hallmark Entertainment) An American Girl on the Home Front (American Girl) No Big Deal (Cinétudes Films) Shinchan (JPS Producties; Shin Ei Animation; TV Asahi)

Self Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love (Sundance) Leonard Cohen: Under Review 1934–1977 (Chrome Dreams Media) Hallelujah: It Goes Like This (Geller/Goldfine Productions) Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song (Sony)