Heinz Kiessling (March 11, 1926 – December 27, 2003) was a German musician, conductor, composer and music producer, known mainly from his work for popular films and television programs. Kiessling's piece "Temptation Sensation" is the theme song for ''

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'' is an American sitcom created by Rob McElhenney and developed by McElhenney and Glenn Howerton that premiered on August 4, 2005 on FX and later FXX beginning with the ninth season in 2013. It stars Char ...

'', which is the longest running live-action sitcom in American television history. The series also uses background music during its episodes from Kiessling, such as "On Your Bike" or "Blue Blood".

Life and career

Kiessling studied piano, composition and conducting after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

at the Nuremberg Conservatory in 1949, and started his career in 1949 as a pianist and played in different concerts around the world. Soon after, he started working on recording music for television. In 1950, he began composing music in the

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire ...

and light music genres. At times, he also led his own orchestra, and also worked many years for the RIAS Big Band in Berlin. Together with the pianist Werner Tautz (December 9, 1922 – May 19, 2014) he established in 1964 the label "Brilliant" through which he managed numerous national and international

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...

s. Kiessling worked with many national and international stars, including

Chet Baker Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker Jr. (December 23, 1929 – May 13, 1988) was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist. He is known for major innovations in cool jazz that led him to be nicknamed the "Prince of Cool". Baker earned much attention and ...

, Luis Bonfa,

Wenche Myhre Wenche Synnøve Myhre (born 15 February 1947), known in some countries as Wencke Myhre, is a Norwegian singer who has had a great number of hit songs since the 1960s in the Norwegian, Danish, German and Swedish markets and languages. Early care ...

, and Caterina Valente. For over two decades, he accompanied the shows of

Peter Alexander Peter Alexander may refer to: * Pete Alexander (born Grover Cleveland Alexander; 1887–1950), American baseball player * Peter Alexander (Shakespearean scholar) (1893–1969), professor of English language and literature at the University of Glasgo ...

. In addition, Kiessling composed the songs and scene music for numerous films and television productions, including ', '' Zwei himmlische Töchter'', '' Dingsda'', ''

Das Traumschiff ' ("The Dream Ship") is a German television drama series by ZDF. The series, about a cruise ship that travels to places around the world, debuted in 1981 and became one of the most-watched television shows in Germany. A total of 83 episodes hav ...

'' and '' Aktenzeichen XY... ungelöst''. In total he produced over 1200 tunes and also published some of his own recordings which made him become one of the most successful German "

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, ...

" composers of the post-war period.

Notable Works

In 1969, Kiessling wrote "In The Shadow of the Moon" for

Reprise In music, a reprise ( , ; from the verb 'to resume') is the repetition or reiteration of the opening material later in a composition as occurs in the recapitulation of sonata form, though—originally in the 18th century—was simply any repe ...

, which later on became the theme song for

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the " Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular entertainers of the 1940s, 1950s, and ...

's daughter Tina Sinatra TV mini-series ''Romeo und Julia '70''. His piece "Temptation Sensation" is used as the theme song for the FX and

FXX FXX is an American basic cable channel owned by the Walt Disney Television unit of The Walt Disney Company through FX Networks, LLC. It is the partner channel of FX, with its programming focusing on original and acquired comedy series and fe ...

TV show ''

''. ''Always Sunny'' cast member

Charlie Day Charles Peckham Day (born February 9, 1976) is an American actor, writer, producer and podcaster. He is best known for playing Charlie Kelly on the FX comedy ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'' (2005–present), which he co-created with Rob ...

told ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...

'' that the original pilot of the show took place in Los Angeles and the theme song used to be a cha-cha version of " Hooray for Hollywood." "FX loved the show, but wanted to take it out of the entertainment industry," Day explained. "We had a music supervisor called Ray Espinola and we said, 'Give us everything you have in a sort of '' Leave It to Beaver'' with a big band-swing kind of feel,’ and the majority of the songs are from what he sent over. When you set it against what these characters were doing—which oftentimes can be perceived as quite despicable, or wrong—it really disarmed the audience. It just became our go-to library of songs." Many of Kiessling's other orchestral production music compositions are featured on the show such as "Hotsy-Totsy" and "Honey Bunch." "We were leaning towards 'Off Broadway' to be the theme song," Day said. "But John Landgraf, the president of the network, really liked ‘Temptation Sensation’ and he put his foot down. Now I'm happy it's the theme tune. But it is an odd title."

Discography

Studio albums * ''That's Music'' (1965) * ''Happy Rallye'' (1968) * ''Das Orchester Heinz Kiessling - Symphonie For Lovers'' (1968) * ''Young Sound (album), Young Sound'' (1969) * ''Travel Guide'' (1969) * ''Magic Violins'' (1969) * ''Today's Music'' (1972) * ''Heinz Kiessling's Playland'' (1974) * ''Flying Places'' (1990)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiessling, Heinz 1926 births 2003 deaths Bandleaders German film score composers Male film score composers German male composers German pianists 20th-century pianists It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia German male pianists Light music composers 20th-century German male musicians 20th-century German musicians