Michael Lehmann Boddicker (born January 19, 1953) is an American film composer and

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

, specializing in

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electro ...

. He is a three times National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (N.A.R.A.S.) Most Valuable Player "Synthesizer" and MVP Emeritus, he was awarded a

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

as a songwriter for "

Imagination Imagination is the production or simulation of novel objects, sensations, and ideas in the mind without any immediate input of the senses. Stefan Szczelkun characterises it as the forming of experiences in one's mind, which can be re-creations ...

" from '' Flashdance'' in 1984. He is the president of The Lehmann Boddicker Group.

Early life and education

Boddicker grew up in

Cedar Rapids, Iowa Cedar Rapids () is the second-largest city in Iowa, United States and is the county seat of Linn County, Iowa, Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River (Iowa River), Cedar River, north of Iowa City, Iowa, Iowa City and north ...

. His parents, Arlene Estelle (née Reyman) and Gerald "Jerry" Valentine Boddicker operated a music school and store in Cedar Rapids, which served students in all of Eastern Iowa. His mother was a nationally recognized

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a ree ...

ist. While still attending Jefferson High School in Cedar Rapids in 1971, Boddicker enrolled full-time at the local Coe College, studying electronic music. By 1972, he continued studies at Coe College, focused on music composition and he started taking jazz studies at the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...

. By 1973, he enrolled in 20th-century composition at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 co ...

. That same year in 1973, Michael purchased a powerful portable semi-modular synthesizer, the ARP 2600. By 1974, Michael moved to Los Angeles, and finds Paul Beaver as a mentor.

Career

He was able to purchase a

Minimoog The Minimoog is an analog synthesizer first manufactured by Moog Music between 1970 and 1981. Designed as a more affordable, portable version of the modular Moog synthesizer, it was the first synthesizer sold in retail stores. It was first pop ...

and a Moog System 15 modular synthesizer by 1975. As a result of his purchase, he was asked by Bob Moog (the founder of

Moog Music Moog Music Inc. () is an American synthesizer company based in Asheville, North Carolina. It was founded in 1953 as R. A. Moog Co. by Robert Moog and his father and was renamed Moog Music in 1972. Its early instruments included the Moog synthes ...

) to demonstrate their newest synthesizer, the

Polymoog The Polymoog is a hybrid polyphonic analog synthesizer that was manufactured by Moog Music from 1975 to 1980. The Polymoog was based on divide-down oscillator technology similar to electronic organs and string synthesizers of the time. Histo ...

, at the 1975 summer National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) convention. He quickly found work as a

, and by 1977 appeared playing

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

, vocoder, accordion and keyboards on albums by many notables such as

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...

Randy Newman Randall Stuart Newman (born November 28, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist known for his Southern-accented singing style, early Americana-influenced songs (often with mordant or satirical lyrics), and vari ...

The Manhattan Transfer The Manhattan Transfer is a Grammy award–winning vocal group founded in 1969 that has explored a cappella, vocalese, swing, standards, Brazilian jazz, rhythm and blues, and pop music. There have been two editions of the Manhattan Transfer, ...

and The Bee Gees. One of Boddicker's earliest soundtrack collaborations of note was a score for a short experimental claymation film made by Gumby creator Art Clokey entitled "Mandala" (released in 1977). Soon after that he entered the mainstream with work on such films as ''

Saturday Night Fever ''Saturday Night Fever'' is a 1977 American dance drama film directed by John Badham and produced by Robert Stigwood. It stars John Travolta as Tony Manero, a young Italian-American man from the Brooklyn borough of New York. Manero spends h ...

'', ''

Battlestar Galactica ''Battlestar Galactica'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Glen A. Larson. The franchise began with the original television series in 1978, and was followed by a short-run sequel series (''Galactica 1980''), a line of ...

'' and ''

The Wiz ''The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical "Wonderful Wizard of Oz"'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls (and others) and book by William F. Brown. It is a retelling of L. Frank Baum's children's novel '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' ...

''. Boddicker is a

Board Member A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

of The Society of Composers and Lyricists (SCL), of Beverly Hills, California. He owns an audio post production facility, Sol7 (aka Sol Seven), in the Sherman Oaks neighborhood of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. In 2019, he co-founded the Los Angeles synthesizer music festival, Synthplex.

Personal life

Boddicker was married to Cassandra Lee Jensen, from 1972 to 1980, ending in divorce. Boddicker officially changed his name to Michael Lehmann Boddicker when he married singer/conductor/actress Edie Lehmann on October 15, 1995 in Hollywood, California. He has four children, two of the children he had were with Edie Lehmann. They live in Southern California. In January 1988, a New Jersey-born scam artist and criminal, Louis Figueroa had impersonated Michael Boddicker in order to gain a celebrity status and attain perks in the town of Kill Buck,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. He sued Michael Jackson's estate in 2016, alleging that he was unpaid for work and services provided early in his professional relationship with Michael Jackson.

Awards

He was awarded a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

as a songwriter for "Imagination," from the movie Flashdance in 1984. Boddicker was voted most valuable synthesizer player in 1981, 1982, 1984 by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. In 1991, in recognition of his achievements, contributions and furtherance of electronic music in the recording industry, he was presented with an honorary doctorate of music from Coe College.Winter Courier 2004
, p. 22,

PDF Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...

. Coe College. Retrieved on 9 March 2008. In 2003, Boddicker was inducted to the Iowa Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame.

Film music

Among his

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to e ...

credits as a composer are '' The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension'' (1984), the score for '' The Adventures of Milo and Otis'' (1986), and additional music for ''

Bulletproof Bulletproofing is the process of making an object capable of stopping a bullet or similar high velocity projectiles (e.g. shrapnel). The term bullet resistance is often preferred because few, if any, practical materials provide complete protecti ...

'' (1996), "The Magic Egg: A Computer Odyssey" (1984) an Omni Max computer animated film, "

Get Crazy ''Get Crazy'' is a 1983 American musical comedy film directed by Allan Arkush, and stars Malcolm McDowell, Allen Garfield, Daniel Stern, Gail Edwards, and Ed Begley Jr. Plot It is December 31, 1982, and the Saturn Theater is preparing fo ...

" (1983), "

White Water Summer ''White Water Summer'' is a 1987 American drama film directed by Jeff Bleckner and starring Kevin Bacon, Sean Astin, Jonathan Ward, and Matt Adler. Plot Alan Block is a teenage city slicker with his whole summer planned out. That is, until h ...

" (1987), " F/X2 " (1991) with

Lalo Schifrin Boris Claudio "Lalo" Schifrin (born June 21, 1932) is an Argentine-American pianist, composer, arranger and conductor. He is best known for his large body of film and TV scores since the 1950s, incorporating jazz and Latin American musical eleme ...

, and "Starfire" (1992). His contributions as a composer can also be heard in the film "Battlestar Galactica" (1978) which including the BattleStar Galactica theme song produced and arranged by Michael Boddicker. "Freejack" (1992), Michael Jackson's "Black or White" (music video), and "HIStory" (music video) video produced by and additional music underscore and "THE FLY" eleven cues to augment or replace the original score. Artists that have recorded his songs and compositions include Lani Hall ("Go For The Heart"), Earth, Wind and Fire ("Opening Raise Tour"),

Patti Austin Patti Austin (born August 10, 1950) is an American R&B, pop, and jazz singer and songwriter. Music career Austin was born in Harlem, New York, to Gordon Austin, a jazz trombonist. She was raised in Bay Shore, New York on Long Island. Quincy ...

("Oh, No Margarita"),

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the " King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over ...

("Captain EO & HIStory Unveiling"), Isao Tomita's & YMO's Hideki Matsutake ("Automatic Collect", "Automatic Correct & Plan"), Kitaro ("The Silk Road"), Laura Branigan (Imagination) and

David Hasselhoff David Michael Hasselhoff (born July 17, 1952), nicknamed "The Hoff", is an American actor, singer, and television personality. He has set a Guinness World Record as the most watched man on TV. Hasselhoff first gained recognition on '' The Yo ...

. He also performed on soundtrack of the Horizons attraction Walt Disney World's

Epcot Epcot, stylized in all uppercase as EPCOT, is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division. Inspired by an unre ...

theme park.

Performer

As a session musician he played

on, among others,

's '' This Is It'', ''

HIStory History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

'', ''

Thriller Thriller may refer to: * Thriller (genre), a broad genre of literature, film and television ** Thriller film, a film genre under the general thriller genre Comics * ''Thriller'' (DC Comics), a comic book series published 1983–84 by DC Comics i ...

'', '' Bad'', " P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)", ''

Off the Wall ''Off the Wall'' is the fifth studio album by American singer Michael Jackson, released on August 10, 1979, by Epic Records. It was Jackson's first album released through Epic Records, the label he recorded under until his death in 2009, and t ...

, '' Dangerous'', '' Black or White'', and '' We Are the World''; Earth, Wind & Fire's '' Let's Groove''; Lionel Richie's '' Hello'', '' You Are'', ''

Running with the Night "Running with the Night" is the second single released from American singer and songwriter Lionel Richie's multi-platinum and Grammy Award-winning 1983 album, '' Can't Slow Down''. Richie co-wrote the song with songwriter Cynthia Weil and co-pr ...

''; Dazz Band's '' Let It Whip''; Randy Newman's ''

The Natural ''The Natural'' is a 1952 novel about baseball by Bernard Malamud, and is his debut novel. The story follows Roy Hobbs, a baseball prodigy whose career is sidetracked after being shot by a woman whose motivation remains mysterious. The story mo ...

'' and '' Short People''; Kenny Loggins' '' Footloose''; Barbra Streisand's '' Somewhere''; Cheap Trick's '' Surrender''; The Jacksons' '' Shake Your Body''; Pointer Sisters' ''

He's So Shy "He's So Shy" is a song recorded by American vocal group The Pointer Sisters for their seventh studio album ''Special Things'' (1980). Written, as "She's So Shy" and intended for Leo Sayer, in December 1979 by Tom Snow and Cynthia Weil, "He's So ...

''; and Diana Ross's '' Missing You''.A complete discography is available a
Discogs - Michael Boddicker

Music department for television

References

External links

* *
Michael Boddicker Interview
(2013), NAMM Oral History Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Boddicker, Michael 1953 births Living people Musicians from Cedar Rapids, Iowa American film score composers American male film score composers Grammy Award winners Coe College alumni University of Iowa alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture alumni Musicians from Iowa