Robert Kraft (composer)

Robert Kraft is an American songwriter, film music composer, recording artist and record producer. He has been the chief executive of Fox Music Inc. since 1994, becoming President in 1998.

Backgrounds and personal life

Robert Kraft attended the Lawrenceville School and graduated cum laude from Harvard University in 1976. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Beth, and his two sons, Noah and Lucas.

Career

As a recording artist and songwriter

Kraft has worked extensively in the recording industry, producing or co-producing such artists as Linda Ronstadt, Dr. John, Bette Midler, Celia Cruz, Tito Puente, Johnny Mathis, Bruce Willis, Jimmy Buffett, Don Henley, George Benson, Ozzy Osbourne, Southside Johnny, Albert Collins, Vonda Shepard, and Melissa Manchester. His songs have been recorded by The Manhattan Transfer, Bette Midler, Roberta Flack, Los Lobos, Diane Schuur, Bruce Willis, Joy Enriquez, Dr. John, and Kermit the Frog. As a solo artist and with his band, Robert Kraft and The Ivory Coast, he has released four albums on RCA, RSO, and Sonic Edge Records.

As a composer for film

In 1989, Kraft co-produced the Academy Award-winning song, "Under The Sea", plus the Grammy Award-winning double-platinum soundtrack of "The Little Mermaid", along with co-authors Howard Ashman and Alan Menken. Kraft also co-produced the long-charting soundtrack on Billboard's Jazz charts, "Swing Kids".

In 1992 Kraft founded the record label, Jim Henson Records, and as the Vice President of Music at Jim Henson Productions, inaugurated their music division. In 1992, Kraft was nominated for an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, and a Golden Globe Award for co-writing "Beautiful Maria of My Soul", the theme song from the Warner Bros. feature, "The Mambo Kings". Kraft was also the film's composer and Executive Music Producer, producing the Gold soundtrack, which spent four weeks at Number One on Billboard's Latin Music chart. In 1999, with songwriter Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds and film composer George Fenton, Kraft was nominated for a second Golden Globe for co-writing the song, "How Can I Not Love You" for the 20th Century Fox film, "Anna and the King".

As a writer, Robert Kraft's other feature film credits include story co-author (with Bruce Willis) and score co-composer (with Michael Kamen) on the Tri-Star film, "Hudson Hawk". He produced the Grammy-nominated soundtrack for the Jim Henson Productions' film, "The Muppet Christmas Carol", and composed the score to the Warner Bros. feature, "Seven Minutes in Heaven". Kraft was songwriter and musical producer on "Adventures in Babysitting" and "Heartbreak Hotel". His television credits include co-writing theme songs for "Who's The Boss?" and "Day by Day", as well as writing new themes for "Wide World of Sports" and songs for "Fame".

As an executive with Fox

Kraft supervises the music for all Fox Filmed Entertainment motion pictures. During his tenure at Fox, dozens of Fox scores and soundtracks have become platinum or gold records. Highlights include the record-breaking soundtracks from " Titanic", "Waiting to Exhale", "Moulin Rouge!", "Garden State", "Romeo + Juliet", "The Full Monty", "Hope Floats", "Dr. Dolittle", "Bulworth", "Anastasia", "Walk the Line", "Juno" and "Alvin" . [http://www.reuters.com/article/industryNews/idUSN2841369920080429] Kraft's division, Fox Music, has also supervised the music for Twentieth Century Fox Television hits such as "Ally McBeal" and "X-Files", as well as current shows "24", "Family Guy", and "The Simpsons". Since 1994, television soundtracks from Fox Music have included the worldwide platinum albums from "Ally McBeal" and "X-Files", plus hit compilations from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "Dark Angel", "The Simpsons", "Roswell" and "24".

Since Kraft became chief executive in 1994, Fox Music has been responsible for the worldwide sales of over 60 million albums, producing 3 Platinum, 6 Multi-Platinum and 6 Gold records. Fox Music has garnered 10 Academy Award nominations, winning 4 Academy Awards, 14 Golden Globe nominations (including 4 Golden Globe Awards), 58 Emmy nominations with 11 wins, and 46 Grammy nominations including 12 Grammy Awards.

Other projects and activities

In 1994, Kraft was elected to the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences' Board of Governors, Los Angeles Chapter. In 1995, Kraft became a member of the Music Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Kraft was honored with the City of Hope Spirit of Life Award in 2002. As co-chairman of the Grammy Host Committee for the 2001 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, Kraft and co-chair Tim Leiweke raised money to support Grammy In The Schools. In addition, Kraft founded entermusic.org in 2001, a Music Mentoring organization, and is currently on the Los Angeles Mentoring Partnership Board. He is also on the Advisory Committee of the Harvard-Radcliffe Office of The Arts, and in 2008, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the Harvard Alumni Association. Kraft has conducted seminars on film music at Harvard University, Brown University, New York University, UCLA, and the University of Southern California. In 2005, he spoke on "Music and Images" at MIDEM, the international music conference.

*Donahue, Ann. [http://www.reuters.com/article/industryNews/idUSN2841369920080429 "Chipmunks help revive movie soundtracks"] , Billboard, April 28, 2008