Aaron Zigman

Award-winning film + TV composer Aaron Zigman has composed over 60 film scores for many of Hollywood's major studios and directors. Zigman combines his classical background and training with a strong knowledge of contemporary music, which has enabled him to create some of Hollywood's most memorable scores, including The Notebook, Bridge to Terabithia, The Proposal, Flicka, For Colored Girls, Flash of Genius, Sex and the City, Sex and the City 2, and the animated film Escape from Planet Earth. He has also scored such films as The Company Men, Alpha Dog, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (co-score with Alexandre Desplat), My Sister's Keeper and The Shack. The recent film Wakefield, starring Bryan Cranston and Jennifer Garner, marks his second collaboration with Oscar-nominated writer and director Robin Swicord, having previously worked together on The Jane Austen Book Club. He has also won an Emmy for Outstanding Original Song for the Showtime TV Movie Crown Heights. For Showtime TV, Zigman most recently scored the Suge Knight documentary American Dream/American Knightmare, directed by Antoine Fuqua. While attending UCLA, Zigman signed a four-year songwriting contract with publishing giant Almo Irving and began writing, producing, arranging and orchestrating for many major artists in the record industry. As one of only four songwriters on Irving's staff, Zigman penned songs for Carly Simon and the hit television show Fame, as well as co-wrote music with David Lasley, Jerry Knight, and Steve Cropper. Zigman also studied with his cousin, the renowned MGM composer George Bassman. After a brief apprenticeship, Zigman broke out as a studio musician, working with producers Don Was, Gary Katz, Steely Dan, and Stewart Levine. From this experience, he began making a name for himself as a producer/writer, and soon after wrote his first big hit, with the song "Crush On You," which was recorded by The Jets and topped the pop charts. Working with legendary record producer Clive Davis, Zigman has produced and arranged music for such artists as Aretha Franklin ("Through the Storm" duet record) and Natalie Cole. He has also written, arranged and produced songs for many of the top vocalists, producers, and artists in the music industry, including John Legend (co-wrote), Quincy Jones, Trevor Horn, Seal, Ray Charles, Alison Sudol (co-wrote), Bryan Adams (co-wrote), Phil Collins, Dionne Warwick, Boz Scaggs, Tina Turner, Seal, Carly Simon, The Pointer Sisters, Huey Lewis, Jennifer Holliday, Patti LaBelle, Chicago, and Christina Aguilera. Transitioning to film music composition in the '90s, Zigman's work has been featured on such soundtracks as Mulan, What's Love Got To Do With It, The Birdcage, License to Kill, Caddyshack, Pocohantas. In 2000, Zigman arranged a classical 35-minute symphonic tone poem entitled "Rabin," which was composed in memory of Yitzhak Rabin, the late prime minister of the State of Israel and was performed by the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony. Director Nick Cassavetes, who was in attendance the night of the performance, was so moved by what he heard, he asked Zigman to score his upcoming film, the critically acclaimed John Q. starring Denzel Washington. The success of John Q. was followed by The Notebook, a notable major box-office hit.