Richard Wolf

Richard Wolf

Richard Wolf a.k.a. RichardWolfieWolf is a multi-Platinum selling record producer/songwrite/remixer & and Emmy Award winning film & television composer. Producing some of the seminal projects that were the first to fuse hip-hop with R&B pop, Wolf worked with artists including Prince, Bell Biv Devoe, Coolio, Seal, MC Lyte, Freddie Mercury and Sheena Easton. His work in film and television has spanned three decades and includes hit movies such as Rodney Dangerfields "Back To School", the quirky war/anti-war pic "Three Kings" and long-running television shows such as "Americas Next Top Model" & "Fox Sports Broadcasts".

Wolfs first recordings were as a songwriter and guest vocalist for the Southern rock/funk band Crimson Tide. Wolfs co-writer in the band was the legendary Muscle Shoals guitar player Wayne Perkins, who played with The Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Joni Mitchell and Bob Marley. (Marley famously named Perkinsthe Great White Wonder” – see "Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley" by Timothy White). Crimson Tide made two albums for Capitol Records, released 19791980, which enjoyed only limited regional and international success.

After Crimson Tide, Wolf concentrated on writing songs for other artists and feature films. He wrote and produced several songs, including the theme, for the comedy classic Rodney Dangerfields "Back To School". Other movies he worked on, including three other No.1 box office hits, were "Karate Kid 2", "Strictly Business", Madonnas "Whos That Girl", "Presumed Innocent", "Three Kings", "Scooby-Doo & The Cyber Chase" and "Material Girls". His songs were covered by Angela Bofill, Toni Basil, Tom Snow and SouthSide Johnny ( of SouthSide Johnny & The Jukes).

In 1989 Wolf formed a production team with his former studio intern BretEpicMazur which they named Peace Productions but later became known as Wolf & Epic. Wolfs vision was to play live the kind of funk & R&B that was being sampled from old records by hip-hop producers and then sample the new performances and overlay scratching & other hip-hop techniques to give it a new dimension. Wolf played guitar & keyboards, Epic played drums and DJd, and other musicians were brought in to fatten the sound. The first project Wolf & Epic worked on was Laquan, a politically minded rapper that they signed to their production company and then to 4th & Broadway/Island Records. ( John Pareles in the The New York Times wrote that Laquan wasamong the better new radical rappers.. and may be the most serious 16 year-old in Los Angeles”). This was one of the first rap records to combine a live band with hip-hop scratching, sampling & rapping.

Before they would help to pioneer the fusion of hip-hop & R&B, Wolf & Epic were on the cutting edge of a new jazzy variation of hip-hop that became known as acid jazz. The Laquan songWitness The Driftwas included in the first ever acid jazz compilation "Rebirth of The Cool" that also included A Tribe Called Quest & Stetsasonic,

Wolf & Epic next worked on the triple-platinum selling Bell Biv Devoe album "Poison". The project was noteworthy for being the first hit to bringhip-hop smoothed out on the R&B Tipto the top of both the R&B and the Pop charts. Wolfs traditional songwriting and production skills and deep affinity for hip-hop along with Mazurs talent for drumming, programming and DJing were a timely combination that helped the former members of New Edition achieve their ambitious hybrid of pop, hip-hop and soul. Their production and Wolfs wha-wha guitar playing on the remix ofDo Me”, which was the version used in the video of the song, the clubs and in substantial radio airplay, helped to propel the songs climb to #3 on The Billboard Hot 100 chart. AfterDo Me”, the funky wha-wha guitar sound, which had been largely absent in urban music during the80s, now came back to the airwaves with a new ferocity. The subsequent Wolf & Epic remix production ofBBD I Thought It Was Memade it to No.1 on the Hot R&B Chart. The remixes were so successful that MCA released an album of the remixesWBBD - Bootcity! The Remix Albumwhich reached #18 on both Billboards Hot 200 & The Top R&B Album Charts. The single from the album, which was only released as a video and radio single but not as a commercially available record, was the Wolf & Epic produced and writtenWord To The Mutha”. The video, which also featured the other New Edition members Bobby Brown, Ralph Tresvant and Johnny Gill, reached No.1 on MTVs video Countdown.

Bell Biv Devoes popularity changed the course of urban music by making the fusion of soul and hip-hop a powerful new art form. And Wolf & Epic becamethe hottest producing team of the early 1990s” (Ruthless: A Memoir by Jerry Heller).

Their sound shaped projects with Prince, New Kids on the Block, MC Serch, Sheena Easton, Seal, Tyler Collins, Nona Gaye ( Marvins daughter), Nia Peeples and MC Lyte.

After Wolf & Epic amicably went their separate ways, Wolf continued to write, produce & remix records working on projects with Freddie Mercury, Coolio, Ce Ce Peniston, MC Lyte, Budahat ,( which contained the soon to be Dr.Dre partner and mega producer Mike Elizando), Ricky Bell and Johnny Gill, among others. But Wolfs main focus became producing and composing themes, underscore and featured songs for movies and television. He composed numerous themes for the Fox Sports Network, including the Fox Sports Station ID theme. He scored the Warner Bros. animated cartoonStatic Shockwhich was always the No.1 show in its time slot. The score was noteworthy forcombining hip-hop and electronica with traditional underscore and bringing an edgy urban soundtrack to Saturday morning cartoons. The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences recognized the soundtrack by twice nominating Wolf for the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition & Direction and awarding him the Emmy in 2004.

Wolf continues to compose custom underscore or songs for projects including "Americas Next Top Model", "N.C.I.S.", "Studio 60", "ER", "Las Vegas", "The View", "King Of The Hill", "Charmed", "The Pussycat Dolls" and "The Last Comic Standing".


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  • Richard Wolf — ist der Name folgender Personen: Richard Wolf (HBB) (1875–1955), hessischer Landtagsabgeordneter (HBB) Richard Wolf (SPÖ) (1888–1953), österreichischer Politiker (SPÖ), Nationalratsabgeordneter Richard Wolf (Autor) (1900–1995), deutscher Lehrer… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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  • Richard Wolf (Autor) — Richard Wolf (* 17. Juli 1900 in Bad Landeck; † 13. November 1995 in Rottach Egern) war deutscher Lehrer und Schriftsteller und Leiter des Goethe Instituts in München. Richard Wolf studierte in Leipzig Musik und Erziehungswissenschaften. 1924… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Richard Wolf (HBB) — Richard Wolf (* 21. Oktober 1875 in Effolderbach; † 1. November 1955 ebenda) war ein hessischer Politiker (HBB) und ehemaliger Abgeordneter des Landtags des Volksstaates Hessen in der Weimarer Republik. Familie Richard Wolf, der evangelischer… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Richard Wolf — Dick Wolf Richard A. Wolf, mieux connu sous le nom de Dick Wolf (né le 20 décembre 1946 à New York), est un producteur de séries télévisées américaines. Sommaire 1 Filmographie 2 Séries Télévisées 3 Voir aussi …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Richard Wolff — ist der Name folgender Personen: Richard Wolff (Ringer) (* 1948), deutscher Ringer Richard Wolff (Geograph) (* 1957), Schweizer Geograph und Stadtforscher Richard Wolff (Rennfahrer) (* 1976), tschechischer Speedway Rennfahrer Richard D. Wolff (*… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Wolf (Familienname) — Verteilung des Nachnamens Wolf in Deutschland Wolf ist ein deutscher Familienname. Herkunft Der Familienname Wolf kann auf verschiedene Wurzeln zurückgehen. Der Name kann einfach von dem Vornamen Wolf (auch als Abkürzung von Wolfgang) abgeleite …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Wolf (Nachname) — Verteilung des Nachnamens Wolf in Deutschland Wolf ist ein deutscher Familienname. Herkunft Der Familienname Wolf kann auf verschiedene Wurzeln zurückgehen. Der Name kann einfach von dem Vornamen Wolf (auch als Abkürzung von Wolfgang) abgeleitet… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Wolf — Meister Isegrim (umgangssprachlich); Lupus (fachsprachlich); Intertrigo (fachsprachlich); intertriginöses Ekzem (fachsprachlich); Hautwolf; Wundsein * * * Wolf [vɔlf], der; [e]s, Wölfe [ vœlfə]: 1. einem Schäferhund ähnliches, häufig in Ru …   Universal-Lexikon

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