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Edd Kalehoff

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Edd Kalehoff
Birth nameEdward Woodley Kalehoff Jr.
Born (1945-09-01) September 1, 1945 (age 79)
Jackson, Mississippi, U.S.
GenresTelevision
OccupationComposer
InstrumentSynthesizer
Spouses
  • Beverly Kalehoff
    (divorced)
  • (m. 1988; div. 2011)
Websitewww.eddkalehoff.com

Edward Woodley Kalehoff Jr. (born September 1, 1945) is an American television composer who specializes in compositions for television, known for his work on the Moog synthesizer. Kalehoff composed the musical themes to the game shows The Price Is Right and Double Dare, as well as for ABC World News Tonight and Monday Night Football.

Early life

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Kalehoff was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi.[citation needed] His father, Edward Woodley "Woody" Kalehoff Sr., played piano in the White House for presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman.[citation needed]

Career

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Notable pieces

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Kalehoff composed many television themes and musical cues using the Moog synthesizer, alone or in combination with a band of musicians. He composed The Price Is Right main theme,[1] and the theme for the Nickelodeon game show Double Dare. He wrote a music package for ESPN on ABC that updated and expanded the Monday Night Football theme; the 1991 theme song for Labatt Blue Jays/Expos Baseball on TSN in Canada; music for WNBC's famous 1992 promotional campaign "We're 4 New York"; and many news program music and television station image packages used on stations such as WEWS-TV in Cleveland, WJBK in Detroit, and WNYW, WCBS-TV and WNBC in New York City. The NBC Stations package composed in 1995 for WNBC was used by the station until 2003; during that time, the package would also be used by two other NBC affiliates in the state of New York (WNYT in the Albany/Schenectady/Troy market and WSTM-TV in the Syracuse market). Due to its long run as the music package for both WNBC and WNYT, it is widely known in the New York tri-state area.[2] His most recent work is the new theme for the PBS NewsHour as part of a new on-air look launched on July 20, 2015.[3]

The main theme of The Price Is Right is officially credited to Sheila Cole,[4] even though it was composed and performed by Kalehoff. At the time, Kalehoff was working for Score Productions, under composer Bob Israel. Israel assigned the theme's Broadcast Music, Inc. publishing rights to Mark Goodson, the producer of The Price Is Right, so that Goodson would benefit monetarily. Israel assigned the composer credit to Sheila Cole Israel, his wife, explaining this fiction to Kalehoff as a "technicality." Israel assured Kalehoff that there would be future work with Goodson. This arrangement diverted millions of dollars of residual away from Kalehoff. Kalehoff was named as composer in the closing credits of the television show but he did not appear on the official BMI credits for the song.[1][5]

As a keyboard player and record producer

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Kalehoff is a noted synthesist, being a featured performer in the documentary film Moog and keyboardist for several albums by the Roches. He was prominently featured in a 1973 television commercial for Schaefer Beer as "Edd Kalehoff at the MOOG synthesizer" playing his rendition of the company's jingle.[6][7]

As a record producer, he produced several albums including Another World (1985) for the Roches, and Andrea McArdle's On Broadway (1996) and Family Christmas (2003).[8]

Personal life

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Kalehoff was married to Broadway theatre actress and singer Andrea McArdle, and their daughter, actress Alexis Kalehoff, has appeared in many Broadway theatre productions.[9] The couple divorced in August 2011.[10] Kalehoff has two sons, Max and Rex, from his first marriage to songwriter Beverly Kalehoff.[citation needed]

Selected filmography

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News music packages composed by Edd Kalehoff

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  • Dayna (WJBK)
  • Eyewitness Primetime (WJBK, after switch to Fox)
  • Good Day (WNYW, Good Day New York)
  • Grandeur (WCBS-TV; now used as a showcase cue on The Price Is Right)
  • Groove News (KNSD)
  • Industrial Strength (WTTG)
  • Major Theme (WJBK)
  • NBC Stations (WNBC)
  • Nightcast (WCBS)
  • Straight Talk (WJBK)
  • Today's 4 (WBZ-TV)
  • We're 4 New York (WNBC package/campaign)
  • Live on 5 (WEWS-TV)
  • Evening News (WJBK)
  • CNBC Music Package 2000-2003

References

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  1. ^ a b Fu, Eddie (October 15, 2019). "How 'The Price Is Right' Theme Song Composer Lost Out On Millions In Royalties". Genius.
  2. ^ a b "Edd Kalehoff | Composer, Music Department, Soundtrack". IMDb. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  3. ^ a b Segal, Corinne (July 20, 2015). "The NewsHour has a new theme song, and we assume you'll want to talk about it". PBS NewsHour. Retrieved 2021-05-24.
  4. ^ "Ascap search". Archived from the original on 2020-05-04. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
  5. ^ "The Price is Right (Yeah, Yeah!)". 14 October 2019.
  6. ^ Andrew Burke (2013). "Moogie Wonderland". In Benjamin Halligan; Kirsty Fairclough-Isaacs; Robert Edgar (eds.). The Music Documentary: Acid Rock to Electropop. Routledge. p. 203. ISBN 9781136311048.
  7. ^ Timothy D. Taylor (2012). "The Avant-Garde in the Family Room". In Trevor Pinch; Karin Bijsterveld (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Sound Studies. Oxford University Press. p. 400. ISBN 9780195388947.
  8. ^ "Edd Kalehoff | Credits". AllMusic.
  9. ^ Lundy, Katia (August 19, 1996). "McArdle's Daughter Follows in Mommy's Footsteps". Playbill. Retrieved October 4, 2022.
  10. ^ Rizzo, Frank (April 10, 2011). "Andrea McArdle Still Feisty After All These Years". Hartford Courant. Retrieved October 4, 2022.[permanent dead link]
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