Famous Composers

• Allen, Steve

  The original host of The Tonight Show

• Bacharach, Burt

  The pianist who co-wrote "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" and "Walk On By"

• Bach, J. S.

  German Baroque composer

• Beethoven, Ludwig van

  The composer of Beethoven's Fifth

• Berlin, Irving

  The composer of "White Christmas"

• Bowles, Paul

  Author of The Sheltering Sky

• Brahms, Johannes

  German composer of "Brahms' Lullaby" ("Wiegenlied")

• Cage, John

  Composer of the silent piano piece 4' 33"

• Carlos, Wendy

  Synthesizer performer of the album Switched-On Bach

• Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Joseph Bologne

  The 18th century composer called "The Black Mozart"

• Chopin, Frederic

   Romantic Polish-French piano composer of piano etudes and so on

• Coleman, Ornette

  The plastic sax player who launched Free Jazz

• Copland, Aaron

  American composer who wrote Appalachian Spring

• Ellington, Duke

  Performer of "Take the 'A' Train"

• Eno, Brian

  Producer of ambient and avant-garde music

• Evans, Bill

  One of the all-time greats on jazz piano

• Frisell, Bill

  Innovative guitarist who recorded In Line

• Garner, Erroll

  The guy who wrote the song "Misty"

• Gershwin, George

  Composer of Rhapsody in Blue

• Gillespie, Dizzy

  The bebop trumpeter with the upturned horn

• Glass, Philip

  Modern composer who did Einstein on the Beach

• Guaraldi, Vince

  The jazz pianist who wrote the music for Charlie Brown

• Hamlisch, Marvin

  Composer of A Chorus Line

• Handel, G. F.

  Composer of Messiah

• Handy, W.C.

  The composer called "The Father of the Blues"

• Hildegard von Bingen

  Medieval prophet, healer and composer

• Holmes, Rupert

  The guy who wrote "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)"

• John, Elton

  The singer of "Candle in the Wind"

• Jones, Quincy

  The jazz/pop maestro who produced Michael Jackson's album Thriller

• Kerr, Anita

  Creator and leader of country music's The Anita Kerr Singers

• Legrand, Michel

  The French film composer who scored The Thomas Crown Affair

• Liszt, Franz

  Romantic composer known for his Hungarian Rhapsodies

• Mahler, Gustav

  Czech-born Austrian composer of Das Lied von der Erde

• Manilow, Barry

  Singer of the 1974 hit tune "Mandy"

• Martin, George

  The music producer who helped turn the Beatles into the world's biggest band

• Menken, Alan

  The composer behind The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast

• Mingus, Charles

  Jazz bassist and composer who did Pithecanthropus Erectus

• Miranda, Lin-Manuel

  The creator and star of the musical Hamilton

• Monk, Thelonious

  Influential and idiosyncratic bop jazz pianist

• Morricone, Ennio

  The film composer famous for spaghetti westerns

• Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus

  Composer of Eine kleine Nachtmusik

• Newman, Alfred

  17 February 1970

• Newman, Randy

  Oscar-winning composer for the Toy Story movies

• Porter, Cole

  The Broadway master who wrote "Night and Day"

• Previn, André

  The jet-setting conductor who married Mia Farrow in 1970

• Prokofiev, Sergei

  Russian composer of Peter and the Wolf

• Rachmaninoff, Sergei

  The Russian pianist who composed Prelude in C-sharp Minor

• Rodgers, Richard

  Composer of Oklahoma! and The Sound of Music

• Schumann, Clara

   The pianist wife of composer Robert Schumann

• Schwartz, Stephen

  Composer of the Broadway hits Wicked and Godspell

• Shankar, Ravi

  The sitar virtuoso who influenced The Beatles

• Sondheim, Stephen

  West Side Story lyricist and superstar Broadway composer

• Sousa, John Philip

  The guy who wrote "Stars and Stripes Forever"

• Strayhorn, Billy

  Composer of "Take the 'A' Train"

• Tchaikovsky, Peter

  The Russian composer who wrote The Nutcracker

• Vangelis

  The composer of 'Chariots of Fire'

• Wagner, Richard

  German composer of Der Ring des Nibelungen

• Williams, John

  Composer of the themes from Jaws and Star Wars

• Zappa, Frank

  Iconoclastic rocker who did "Dynamo Hum"

• Zwilich, Ellen Taaffe

  The first woman composer to win a Pulitzer

See: Index by Occupation