Roxanne Seeman
Vorlage:Infobox Musical artist Roxanne Seeman is an Emmy-nominated,[1] American songwriter, lyricist, and record producer. She was born in New York, and is best known for her songs with Philip Bailey with Phil Collins, The Jacksons, The Sisters Of Mercy, Bette Midler, Earth, Wind & Fire, and Billie Hughes.
Musical career and personal life
Education and Early Career
Roxanne received a B.A. at Columbia University in Oriental Studies, Arts and Language. She spent nights in New York jazz clubs and found her way into records when Dee Dee Bridgewater recorded the Ramsey Lewis instrumental "Tequila Mockingbird" with Seeman's lyrics. Larry Dunn of Earth, Wind & Fire wrote the tune and George Duke produced the record. This led to Roxanne's collaboration with Philip Bailey of Earth, Wind & Fire, with whom she penned, along with Maurice White and Eduardo del Barrio, "Sailaway", for Earth, Wind & Fire's Faces album. During this time, Carmine Coppola and Italia Pennino asked Roxanne to collaborate with them in developing themes from Carmine's movie scores into songs. She co-wrote lyrics for the themes from The Black Stallion, The Outsiders, and Napoleon. [1]
Roxanne held the position of Executive Assistant to Scott Rudin, President of Production, 20th Century Fox. In 1987, she worked on location in Bangkok, on the film Off Limits, starring Willem Dafoe and Gregory Hines. She is credited for Thai casting.
Working with Billie Hughes
Roxanne's partnership in 1983 with recording artist and songwriter/composer Billie Hughes marked the beginning of a long and successful career of recording, producing and songwriting.
Seeman and Hughes' efforts achieved fame in Japan in 1991; the couple wrote and produced Hughes' "Welcome to the Edge" #1 single and album. "Welcome To The Edge" remained on Billboard's Japan Top 10 chart for four months, selling 520,000 copies. Seeman and Hughes received #1 International Single of the Year at the NHK Japan Grand Prix Awards (equivalent of the United States Grammy's).[1]
Billie Hughes "Welcome to the Edge" album was released in Southeast Asia and the song has been recorded by numerous prominent Japanese and Chinese artists. In August 2004, Fuji TV released "Mou Daremo Aisenai" with Billie Hughes "Welcome To The Edge" and "Ai To Lu Namae Nomo To Ni" with Billie Hughes "Dreamlove" on DVD.[1]
Songwriting Career
"Walking On The Chinese Wall" is one of Roxanne and Billie's most novel songs, resulting in the title track, chart single and video for Philip Bailey's "Chinese Wall" album produced by Phil Collins. In 1985, Philip Bailey received a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Male Vocal for "Chinese Wall."
In September 2004, the first pop concert in history was staged on the Great Wall of China outside of Beijing with Alicia Keys headlining. Roxanne Seeman and Billie Hughes' song "Walking On The Chinese Wall" by Philip Bailey produced by Phil Collins was the finale of the event.[2]
Roxanne achieved success in Europe, Asia and South America, writing lyrics for international songs recognized as contemporary standards in their native language. Barbra Streisand recorded Seeman's "Let's Start Right Now", a Brazilian song with her original English lyric. "Let's Start Right Now" appeared as a bonus CD single in a limited edition of Streisand's "A Love Like Ours" album. It was a bonus track in the "If You Ever Leave Me" international CD single release.
In 2003, Jermaine Jackson performed "Let's Start Right Now" on The View, introduced by Barbara Walters.
In 1991, Bette Midler released Seeman & Hughes' "Night And Day," a chart single and music video.
In 1993, The Sisters of Mercy released "Under The Gun," a chart single and music video, written by Billie Hughes, Roxanne Seeman, and Andrew Eldritch, produced by Andrew Eldritch and Billie Hughes.
In collaboration with Sarah Brightman and Frank Peterson, Seeman wrote "Harem", new, original English lyrics for "Cancao do Mar", a Portuguese fado made famous by Amalia Rodrigues. Sarah Brightman's "Harem" album stayed in the Billboard Top 10 Crossover Classical chart for over 80 weeks. "Harem" was the title of Brightman's "Harem World Tour", her PBS "Harem: A Desert Fantasy Special" broadcasts, and her "Live From Las Vegas Harem World Tour" DVD. "Harem" (Lehman & Rivera Mixes) dance single charts at #1 on the Hot Dance Club Play Billboard Chart. [1] [3]
In December 2008, Daniel Lindstrom released the single "Caught In That Feeling" in Sweden, written by Seeman, Lindstrom, and Samsson.
Film & Television
Roxanne's works have been incorporated in film, television, video, and records. Her "So Hard To Know" was written by request for Chet Baker. It appears in the Oscar-nominated documentary "Let's Get Lost", Bruce Weber's tribute to Chet Baker's life and music. The re-release of Bruce Weber's "Let's Get Lost" Chet Baker documentary was premiered in London on June 5th, 2008.
February 19, 1994, “The Jackson Family Honors” live ABC telecast from Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Hotel features Roxanne Seeman, Billie Hughes, and Jermaine Jackson’s song “If You’d Only Believe” thematically, with a finale performance including Michael Jackson, guest artists Celine Dion and others.
"Welcome to the Edge" received an Emmy nomination for Best Original Song in the TV drama Santa Barbara. In 1992, Seeman and Hughes received a second Emmy nomination for Best Original Song for "Dreamlove" in the TV drama Another World.
With Earth, Wind & Fire, Seeman wrote "Cruisin'" for Spike Lee's "Get On The Bus." A collaboration with Eric Levi of ERA and Philip Bailey of Earth, Wind & Fire resulted in the end-title song of the hit French film "La Vengeance d'Une Blonde".
Roxanne wrote "Hold On To The Good Things" for "Stuart Little 2", recorded by Grammy-winning artist Shawn Colvin. "Hold On To The Good Things" appears as the second end-credit song.
From William Ross' theme for The Young Black Stallion, Roxanne and Gavin Greenaway developed and produced the song "Born To Ride" sung by Biana Tamimi, 11 year old actress of the movie, for the DVD release December 2004. [4] [5]
References
External links
- ↑ a b c d e Awards. noanoamusic.com, abgerufen am 11. Juli 2008. Referenzfehler: Ungültiges
<ref>-Tag. Der Name „noanoa“ wurde mehrere Male mit einem unterschiedlichen Inhalt definiert. - ↑ ASCAP. ascap.com, abgerufen am 16. Juli 2008.
- ↑ All Music Guide. allmusic.com, abgerufen am 16. Juli 2008.
- ↑ Credits. imdb.com, abgerufen am 11. Juli 2008.
- ↑ Movie Credits. nytimes.com, abgerufen am 16. Juli 2008.