Walter Murphy

Walter Anthony Murphy Jr. (born December 19, 1952) is an American composer, keyboardist, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for the instrumental "A Fifth of Beethoven", a disco adaptation of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony which topped the charts in 1976 and was featured on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack in 1977. Further classical-disco fusions followed, such as "Flight '76", "Toccata and Funk in 'D' Minor" "Bolero", and "Mostly Mozart", but were not as successful.

In a career spanning over five decades, Murphy has written music for numerous films and TV shows, including The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Savage Bees, Stingray, Wiseguy, The Commish, Profit, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Looney Tunes, and How Murray Saved Christmas. He has had a long-running partnership with Seth MacFarlane, composing music for his films and TV shows such as Family Guy, American Dad, The Cleveland Show, Ted, Ted 2 and the Ted television series.

Early life Murphy was born on December 19, 1952, in New York City, and grew up in Manhattan. At age four, he attended music lessons hosted by Rosa Rio, studying an array of instruments, including the organ and piano. Rio frequently opted for him to star in television advertisements for the Hammond organ. with Nicolas Flagello and Ludmila Ulehla. often at the New Rochelle club Pearly's.

During an appointment with Bobby Rosengarden, bandleader of the Dick Cavett Show orchestra, Murphy convinced the group to play some of his arrangements when he found Rosengarden to be absent. Looking back on the situation, he stated "I still can't believe I did it. I'm not a very forward person." —and mailed it to various record labels in New York City. Response was generally unimpressive, but "Fifth" caught the interest of Private Stock Records owner Larry Uttal.

Murphy signed on to Private Stock and recorded the album A Fifth of Beethoven. The first single and title track, "A Fifth of Beethoven", was released on May 29, 1976. It was a hit, starting out at number 80 on the Billboard Hot 100 and eventually reaching number 1 within 19 weeks, where it stayed for one week. The single sold two million copies, while the album sold about 750,000 copies. The second single, a rendition of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee" titled "Flight '76", was less successful, reaching only number 44 on the Hot 100 and number 35 in Canada.

The single was initially credited to "Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band" upon encouragement from Private Stock, who believed it would become a hit if credited to a group rather than an individual. However, two days following the record's release, Private Stock discovered the existence of another Big Apple Band (which promptly changed its name to Chic). As result, the record was later re-released and credited to "The Walter Murphy Band", then just "Walter Murphy". Two singles were released: a disco treatment of George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue", and the self-penned instrumental "Uptown Serenade." The former narrowly missed the top 100, but received significant play on easy-listening stations, according to Billboard. (In 2019, it was employed in the opening mise-en-scène of episode 8 of the HBO Watchmen series, set in an alternate-historica l Saigon on the anniversary of the American victory in the Vietnam War.)

In 1978, Murphy recorded the album Phantom of the Opera, a concept album telling the story of The Phantom of the Opera, featuring Gene Pistilli as Erik/The Phantom, B.G. Gibson as Raoul, and Renée Geyer as Christine. The album spawned three singles: "Dance Your Face Off"/"Gentle Explosion" (a double A-side), "Toccata and Funk in 'D' Minor", and "The Music Will Not End". These singles failed to make the Hot 100, club, or radio charts.

1979–1982: RCA and MCA years, Uncle Louie Murphy signed on to RCA in 1979, and released the album Walter Murphy's Discosymphony. The album spawned the singles "Bolero" and "Mostly Mozart"; the latter failed to chart, indicating that Murphy had taken the "classical disco" concept as far as it could go.

Also in 1979, Murphy and Gene Pistilli joined with brothers Eddie and Frank Dillard, forming the band Uncle Louie. They signed on to TK Records and released one album, Uncle Louie's Here, which explored a more aggressive, funk-based angle than Murphy's solo albums. The album spawned three singles: "Full-Tilt Boogie", which reached number 19 on the Billboard R&B chart, "I Like Funky Music", and "Sky High".

Around this time, Murphy and Pistilli wrote and/or produced songs for other artists, including "Something to Hold Onto" (1981) by Harry Belafonte and "What's Wrong With This Picture?" (1980) by Lora Lee Cliff. Murphy also contributed arrangements to Jack Jones's Nobody Does It Better (1979) and Pia Zadora's Rock It Out (1984).

In 1982, Murphy signed on to MCA Records and recorded Themes from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and More. The album contained disco- and pop-tinged arrangements of themes to popular movies of the time, such as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Indiana Jones, and Poltergeist. The album spawned one single, a medley of "Themes from ET (The Extra-Terrestrial)", which climbed to number 47 on the Billboard Hot 100.

1982–1999: Move to behind-the-scenes roles Following Themes from E.T., Murphy largely ceased touring and recording studio albums of original material. He instead began focusing more exclusively on composing for film and television, and producing for other artists, in a more behind-the-scenes role.

Artists that Murphy has recorded and/or produced for include Dolly Parton, Sylvester Stallone, Jennifer Warnes, Siedah Garrett, Tim Schmitt, Richie Havens, Isaac Hayes, Taj Mahal, Paul Williams, and Kenny Rankin. He was also a guest conductor for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, during their successful Summer Pops series.

In 1984, Murphy and television composer Mike Post co-produced Alabama's "Rock on the Bayou", the B-side to the band's hit single "(There's A) Fire in the Night". "Rock on the Bayou" was featured in the independent film The River Rat, which Post also composed the music for.

In 1985, Murphy collaborated with Post, Rick James, and Issac Hayes on scoring music for The A-Team episode "The Heart of Rock 'N Roll".

In 1997, Murphy composed music for the Norman Lear produced Kids' WB animated show, Channel Umptee-3.

1999-present: Collaborations with Seth MacFarlane Since 1999, Murphy has served as one of the two main composers for the animated series Family Guy, the other being Ron Jones until the 12th season in 2014. He has described his scores for Family Guy as "a combination of [big-band swing and action-orchestral]." In 2005, Murphy scored music for the offshoot album Family Guy: Live in Vegas.

Since 2005, Murphy is one of the composers for MacFarlane's American Dad!, the other two being Joel McNeely and Ron Jones, as well as composing the series' theme song "Good Morning USA".

From 2009 to 2013, Murphy composed music for MacFarlane's series The Cleveland Show, including the main title theme. In 1989, Murphy arranged the song "The Gift" on Rotella's album Home Again. In 2014, Murphy and Rotella wrote and recorded a four-track big band project, inspired by the Wes Montgomery and Verve-era Oliver Nelson records of the 1960s that the two of them had grown up on. The project was recorded in Capitol Studio A with engineer Al Schmitt, and performed by renown Los Angeles session musicians.

Filmography Guest appearances Don Kirshner's Rock Concert (1976) The Midnight Special (1976–77) American Bandstand (1976) The Mike Douglas Show (1976–77; 1979) The Merv Griffin Show (1976–77) Dinah! (1976–77) Dick Clark's Live Wednesday (1978) 21st Annual Grammy Awards (1979) Score! The Music of 'Family Guy''' (2005) Family Guy: Creating the Chaos (2009) Seth & Alex's Almost Live Comedy Show (2009) 85th Academy Awards (2013)

Composer/arranger

The Dick Cavett Show (1972) The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1972) Big Blue Marble (1974–83) The Savage Bees (1976) The Night They Took Miss Beautiful (1976) Raw Force (1982) The New Leave It to Beaver (1983–89) Rhinestone (1984) The A-Team (1985) Pulsebeat (1985) ABC Weekend Special (1985) Stingray (1985–87) Tricks of the Trade (1988) Wiseguy (1988–90) The Lady Forgets (1989) Hunter (1990–91) The Commish (1991–96) Crow's Nest (1992) Jumpin' Joe (1992) Profit (1996–97) Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) Channel Umptee-3 (1997) Family Guy (1999–2003; 2005–present) Por un beso (2000) Changing Hearts (2002) Fillmore! (2002) Looney Tunes (2003–04) The Kennedy Center Honors ("That's Pure Mike Nichols" song, 2003) American Dad! (2005–present) The Winner (2007) Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy (2008–09) Foodfight! (2012) The Cleveland Show (2009–13) Ted (2012) 85th Academy Awards (2013) How Murray Saved Christmas (2014) Ted 2 (2015) The Late Bloomer (2016) Mrs. America (theme song; 2021) Ted (TV Series) (2024) Never Too Soon (TBA)

Orchestrator Teacher's Pet (2004) Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas'' (2004)

Discography Albums Studio albums TitleAlbum details A Fifth of Beethoven (as The Walter Murphy Band) Released: June 1, 1976 (US) Label: Private Stock Formats: LP, cassette, digital download, 8-track, CD Rhapsody in Blue Released: 1977 Label: Private Stock Formats: LP, cassette, digital download, 8-track, CD Phantom of the Opera Released: August 8, 1978 (US) Label: Private Stock Formats: LP, cassette, digital download, 8-track Walter Murphy's Discosymphony Released: 1979 Label: New York International Formats: LP, 8-track Uncle Louie's Here (with Uncle Louie) Released: 1979 Label: Marlin/TK Formats: LP, CD, digital download Themes from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and More Released: 1982 Label: MCA Formats: LP, cassette Family Guy: Live in Vegas (as Walter Murphy and His Orchestra) Released: April 26, 2005 Label: Geffen Formats: CD, digital download Ted: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (with Various Artists) Released: June 26, 2012 Label: Universal Republic Formats: CD, digital download Ted 2: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (with Various Artists) Released: June 23, 2015 Label: Universal Republic Formats: Digital download

Compilation albums TitleAlbum details The Best of Walter Murphy: A Fifth of Beethoven Released: 1996 Label: Hot Productions Formats: CD

Singles

Awards and nominations