In the 1970s, Newman co-wrote with Jake Holmes the "Most Original Soft Drink Ever" jingle for Dr Pepper. [21] Couch, Aaron (September 18, 2012). "Randy Newman Sings 'I'm Dreaming of a White President' in Politically Charged Song (Video)". Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on July 31, 2021 . Retrieved August 9, 2021. Newman wrote the music for Walt Disney Animation Studios' The Princess and the Frog. During Disney's annual shareholder meeting in March 2007, Newman performed a new song written for the movie. He was accompanied by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. The New Orleans setting of the film played to Newman's musical strengths, and his songs contained elements of Cajun music, zydeco, blues and Dixieland jazz. [33] Two of the songs, " Almost There" and " Down in New Orleans", were nominated for Oscars. [34] The song had been written in 1970, he says, before people of vaguely that persuasion took power. "It was pre-Reagan, and even Reagan, in retrospect, wasn't that far to the right in many ways. The right to me means, 'We're not going to help people who might need help.' They might deny this and say, 'Do you think we have no hearts? Do you think we don't care?' and I would say, 'Yeah, I do think that.' Often, his songs are misconstrued. His dry homage to Los Angeles, I Love LA, was adopted as a theme song for the city's 1984 hosting of the Olympics. It was welcomed by civic figures who failed to see that it was double-edged. Many of the places it mentions are bland and depressing.

Newman was born to a Jewish family on November 28, 1943, his father's 30th birthday, [9] in Los Angeles. He is the son of Adele "Dixie" ( née Fuchs/Fox; August 30, 1916 – October 4, 1988), a secretary, and Irving George Newman (November 28, 1913 – February 1, 1990), an internist. [10] He lived in New Orleans, Louisiana, as a small child and spent summers there until he was 11 years old, when his family returned to Los Angeles. The paternal side of his family includes grandparents Luba ( née Koskoff) (July 21, 1883 – March 3, 1954) and Michael Newman (Nemorofsky) (1874–1948), and three uncles who were Hollywood film-score composers: Alfred Newman, Lionel Newman, and Emil Newman. [11] Newman's cousins, Thomas, Maria, David, and Joey, are also composers for motion pictures. He graduated from University High School in Los Angeles. He studied music at the University of California, Los Angeles, but dropped out one semester shy of a B.A. [12] In June 2021, he finally completed his degree at UCLA. [13] a b "Chronology". Randynewman.com. Archived from the original on April 3, 2012 . Retrieved July 29, 2011.Nonesuch Records Inc., a Warner Music Group Company, 1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10104. He studied music at the University of California in the same city, but dropped out shortly before completing his B.A. I'll Be Home" is a song that was also recorded (most notably) by Harry Nilsson ( Nilsson Sings Newman, 1970), Barbra Streisand ( Stoney End), Cass Elliott ( Cass Elliot), The New Seekers ( Beautiful People album), Anne Murray ( Danny's Song), Tim Hardin and Mina ( Mina, in Italian). Newman released a studio version on Little Criminals in 1977. Kevin Courrier (2005). Randy Newman's American Dreams. ECW Press. p.205. ISBN 9781550226904 . Retrieved August 29, 2016. He has been following the California gubernatorial election, and is wary of people from the world of showbiz playing on a political stage. "In general, if someone from showbusiness told me the sky was blue, I wouldn't believe them. It's too weird a life - it's too divorced from anything real for the most part. What the hell does Arnold Schwarzenegger know about life's reality at this point? He's isolated from it."

Randy Newman rescheduled ‘An Evening with Randy Newman’ live, in concert 2022 European Tour dates. They’re now on for 2023. In 1985 Newman performed a set at the first Farm Aid concert that included a duet with Billy Joel on facing grand pianos. Newman performed " Sail Away". After starting his songwriting career as a teenager, Newman launched into recording as a singer and pianist in 1968 with his self-titled album Randy Newman. Throughout the 1970s, 80s, and 90s he released several acclaimed albums such as: 12 Songs, Sail Away, Good Old Boys, Little Criminals, Born Again, Trouble in Paradise, Land of Dreams, and Bad Love. Randy Newman, The Musical Voice Of 'Toy Story' ". KOSU. June 21, 2019. Archived from the original on January 24, 2021 . Retrieved March 28, 2020. Newman has always tried to explain to people that many of his songs are written in character. Faust, which he recorded in 1995 with Elton John, Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Bonnie Raitt and Don Henley, allowed him to write the ultimate character parts: both God and the devil, who cheerfully sings to God: "We're a figment of their imagination/Me and you."To me, the justification for a white person to use that word is a very narrow window," he says. "I thought I needed it for the song, but I was never that comfortable with it. I don't like writing it down, I don't like saying it and I hate hearing it, but not in the context of the song. It still isn't OK for any white person to say the word, almost never." Kamf, David (February 18, 2016). "How Randy Newman and His Family Have Shaped Movie Music for Generations". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on February 20, 2016 . Retrieved February 26, 2020.

Newman built up his career as a composer too. It all began with the film Cold Turkey in 1971. He worked with Steve Martin and Lorne Michaels on Three Amigos! It was when he worked on the movie Toy Story that he broke through as a credible composer in his own right. It is from his scores on the Disney Pixar films that he earned at least one Academy Award nomination. He won his Academy Awards for “If I Didn’t Have You” from Monsters Inc, and then for “We Belong Together” in the film Toy Story 3. He won a Grammy Award for the score of Toy Story 3, for the “Best Song Written for a Motion Picture with the song “Our Town” in Cars, for the same award for “If I Didn’t Have You” in Monsters Inc. Also for “When She Loved Me” featured in Toy Story 2. Advertising Jingle Music Folio Books". Classicthemes.com. April 24, 2003. Archived from the original on June 10, 2011 . Retrieved February 26, 2020.Lubow, Arthur. "Randy Newman". People. Archived from the original on March 17, 2016 . Retrieved February 11, 2014. NPR called Newman a “national treasure” in its album review, saying that he “remains first and foremost a craftsman of song, capable of telling ordinary stories in ways no one quite has before,” and the Chicago Tribune said, “Newman is one of the best songwriters of the last half-century … a master of orchestrating mood and playing a range of flawed characters, depicted in mini aural movies compressed into three verses and three minutes.” In 2011, Newman endorsed jazz singer Roseanna Vitro's album, The Randy Newman Project ( Motéma Music, 2011). [22] In addition to his solo recordings and regular international touring, Newman began composing and scoring for films in the 1980s. The list of movies he has worked on since then includes The Natural, Awakenings, Ragtime, all four Toy Story pictures, Monsters Inc. and Monsters University, Seabiscuit, James and the Giant Peach, A Bug’s Life, and Meyerowitz Stories. This administration has come closer to saying things like, 'Europe's too old.' The stupidities and exaggerations of that song are still exaggerations, but the way Donald Rumsfeld talks and Paul Wolfowitz talks is like breaking the rules. Somehow, with Reagan and Nixon, there was an understanding that you don't say things like, 'We don't need France and Germany... we have the new Europe: Bulgaria, Poland and Lithuania.' They may have thought things like that and done bad things secretly, but they didn't say that."

In October 2016, Newman released the song "Putin". The Washington Post wrote: "inspired by the Russian leader's penchant for bare-chested photo ops and a geopolitical approach that's somewhat short of soft and cuddly, Newman has crafted a song that tells Putin's story from multiple perspectives." [29] Newman explained that the song was from a new album that would be released in 2017, but he was putting out this song early because "I think that people will lose interest after this surfeit of political talk and attention after the election.... I've got the thing done. I just want to see what happens. I'm curious to see how the thing is received." [29] The song earned Newman a Grammy Award for Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals. [30] White, Timothy (December 9, 2000). "Randy Newman's America: A Portrait of the Artist". Billboard. Vol.112, no.50. p.16. ISSN 0006-2510. Since the 1980s, Newman has worked mostly as a film composer. He has scored nine Disney- Pixar animated films, including all four Toy Story films (1995–2019), A Bug's Life (1998), both Monsters, Inc. films (2001, 2013), and the first and third Cars films (2006, 2017), as well as Disney's James and the Giant Peach (1996) and The Princess and the Frog (2009). His other film scores include Cold Turkey (1971), Ragtime (1981), The Natural (1984), Awakenings (1990), Cats Don't Dance (1997), Pleasantville (1998), Meet the Parents (2000), Seabiscuit (2003), and Marriage Story (2019). All About Jazz (August 2011). "Roseanna Vitro: Following Her Muse". Allaboutjazz.com. Archived from the original on October 23, 2012 . Retrieved September 19, 2011.Peggy Lee discography". Peggylee.com. Archived from the original on June 29, 2011 . Retrieved September 28, 2014. Music certainly ran in the family; three of his uncles were respected Hollywood composers – Alfred Newman ( Wuthering Heights) , Lionel Newman ( Doctor Dolittle, Gentleman Prefer Blondes) and Emil Newman ( Sun Valley Serenade) .