Dan Radlauer (born April 26, 1957 in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

) is an American film and

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

composer, who was born in

and grew up in the eastern suburb of

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 2023. Its population is greater than that of 40 individua ...

La Habra Heights La Habra Heights is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 5,325 at the 2010 census, down from 5,712 at the 2000 census. La Habra Heights is a suburban canyon community located on the border of Orange and ...

. Radlauer is the recipient of four BMI composer awards and has received special recognition at independent film festivals.

Early life, musical training, early successes

Dan Redlaurer was raised in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

(Southeastern range of the

Puente Hills The Puente Hills are a chain of hills, one of the lower Transverse Ranges, in an unincorporated area in eastern Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, in the United States. The western end of the range is often referred to ...

). He started playing music at the age of 8 with

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

and later learned

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"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 Reed (mou ...

and various other

stringed instrument In musical instrument classification, string instruments, or chordophones, are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer strums, plucks, strikes or sounds the strings in varying manners. Musicians play so ...

s. Great inspiration came from his parents Ed and Ruth Radlauer, who are well known book authors. The advanced musical training he received was while attending school in the music department at

Fullerton College Fullerton College (FC) is a public community college in Fullerton, California. The college is part of the California Community Colleges System and the North Orange County Community College District. Established in 1913, it is the oldest communi ...

in the late 1970s, playing and writing for their jazz and pop groups. During this time he also studied with film composer Albert Harris. Radlauer's big-band composition " Straight Tone and Strive Ahead" is the opening track of the

Jazz Band 1983

Down Beat ''DownBeat'' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm that it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1 ...

Award-winning LP ''

Time Tripping ''Time Tripping'' is an album (LP Vinyl) released by the Fullerton College Jazz Band for the Discovery Records Trend AM-PM label, it became the Down Beat Magazine 1st Place Award Winner in the College Big Band Jazz category for 1983. Background ...

''. Radlauer also did notable writing for the big bands Maiden Voyage, the Big Band Jazz Machine, and publisher C.L. Barnhouse. His first 15 years of professional composing were in the area of TV and radio

commercials A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

; companies worked for include Coke,

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company headquartered in El Segundo, California. Founded in Los Angeles by Harold Matson and the husband-and-wife duo of Ruth Handler, ...

Nissan is a Japanese multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the ''Nissan'' and ''Infiniti'' brands, and formerly the ''Datsun'' brand, with in-house ...

, Greenlight Financial,

Albertsons Albertsons Companies, Inc. is an American grocery company founded and headquartered in Boise, Idaho. With 2,253 stores as of the third quarter of fiscal year 2020 and 270,000 employees as of fiscal year 2019, the company is the second-large ...

, and

Pizza Hut Pizza Hut, LLC is an American multinational pizza restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas, by brothers Dan and Frank Carney. The chain, headquartered in Plano, Texas, operates 19,866 restaurants worldw ...

. He has worked in the R&B and pop music fields recording with stars such as

Teena Marie Mary Christine Brockert (March 5, 1956 – December 26, 2010), known professionally as Teena Marie, was an American Soul music, soul and Contemporary R&B, R&B singer, songwriter, and producer. She was known by her childhood nickname Tina before ...

and co-produced the original ''TV's Greatest Hits'' CD.

TV and film scoring

By 2001 Radlauer started to be contracted much more for music scoring in the television and film industry doing feature length work. He has composed music for numerous

reality TV Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 199 ...

, drama, and

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

shows to include ''

For the Love of Ray J ''For the Love of Ray J'' is a dating show on VH1 featuring hip hop singer Ray J. The program has a format similar to '' Flavor of Love'', ''I Love New York'', and '' Rock of Love with Bret Michaels''. In reference to the series, Ray J said: Th ...

'', ''Ruby'', ''

Flavor of Love ''Flavor of Love'' is an American reality television dating game show starring Flavor Flav of the rap group Public Enemy. While not a direct spin-off, the show was a result of Brigitte Nielsen and Flavor Flav's failed relationship on ''Strange ...

'', and ''

The Surreal Life ''The Surreal Life'' is an American reality television series that records a group of celebrities as they live together for a limited number of weeks. Initial seasons took place in Glen Campbell's former mansion in the Hollywood Hills for two w ...

''. He was a contributing writer working with

Randy Edelman Randy Edelman (born June 10, 1947) is an American musician, Record producer, producer, and composer and Conducting, conductor for Film score, film and television. He began his career as a member of Broadway theatre, Broadway's pit orchestras; he ...

on the 2008 action adventure film '' The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor''. Other titles he has also scored as independent, feature-length movies, and documentaries include ''The Reflecting Pool'' (2008), ''Bad Guys'', ''Salvation'' (2007), ''Pip and Zastro'' (2006), ''She Wolves of the Wasteland'' (1987), ''Phoenix the Warrior'' (1988), and ''Thunder Geniuses''.

Music education, teaching

As an educator, Radlauer worked at the

Idyllwild Arts Academy Idyllwild Arts Academy is a private school located in Idyllwild, in the San Jacinto Mountains and San Bernardino National Forest, within western Riverside County, California. The school was founded in 1946. It was previously known as Idyllwil ...

and at the PS#1 Elementary School in Santa Monica as well as creating music ensembles at New West Middle School in Los Angeles and Pali High School. He has been adjudicating jazz festivals for over 20 years, as well as providing instruction for music educators in Southern California. He has also mentored young musicians and composers, including his son Ruben of Model/Actriz.

References

External links

Official website for Dan Radlauer
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Radlauer, Dan Living people American film score composers American male film score composers American jazz composers American male jazz composers American music arrangers 1957 births Musicians from Los Angeles Fullerton College alumni People from La Habra Heights, California Jazz musicians from California