Geoff Levin (born September 14, 1945) is an American rock musician, film/television composer and songwriter. Performing as part of the Black Mountain Boys with

Jerry Garcia Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician who was the lead guitarist and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence during the counterculture of the 196 ...

in the early years of his career, in 1968 his own group, People!, scored a hit record " I Love You" on

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

. Together with Geoffrey Lewis in 1970, he created Celestial Navigations, a storytelling group, that produced 8 albums, several made the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' (New Age) charts. He co-composed and co-produced "The Janitor", an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

-nominated animated short based on a story by Geoffrey Lewis from the album '' Celestial Navigations''. Levin has scored over 40 full-length films and has created music used in many TV shows including ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The series follows Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey American Mafia, Mafia boss who suffers from panic attacks. He reluct ...

'', '' Chicago Fire'', '' The Good Wife'', ''

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane (producer), David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting List of Friends episodes, ten seasons. With an ensemble cast ...

'', ''

Bloodline Heredity, also called inheritance or biological inheritance, is the passing on of traits from parents to their offspring; either through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction, the offspring cells or organisms acquire the genetic infor ...

'', '' SNL'', ''

Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American Fantasy television, fantasy Drama (film and television), drama television series created by David Benioff and for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of high fantasy novels by ...

'', '' Friday Night Lights'', '' CSI'', and ''

Weeds A weed is an unwanted plant of any species. Weed or weeds may also refer to: Places * Weed, Arkansas, an unincorporated community in the United States * Weed, California, a city in the United States * Weed, Kentucky, an unincorporated communit ...

''. He co-wrote the theme song for '' Jakers'', an

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...

and

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

Award-winning PBS animated series. In addition, he composed music for

James Cameron James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker, who resides in New Zealand. He is a major figure in the post-New Hollywood era and often uses novel technologies with a Classical Hollywood cinema, classical filmmaking styl ...

's deep sea documentary, ''Last Mysteries of the Titanic''. In 2007, as part of People!, Levin was inducted into San Jose's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Biography

Levin was born in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

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 ...

, to Manny Levin and Esther Bloom. Levin grew up in San Jose and attended

Willow Glen High School Willow Glen High School is a public high school in the Willow Glen neighborhood of San Jose, California, within the San Jose Unified School District. Athletics Willow Glen High School has a swimming pool, a basketball court/gym and weight tr ...

. He began playing the guitar at 16 and started performing at 17. He performed regularly at Offstage, a folk club in San Jose founded by Paul Foster that later hosted artists including the

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, Folk music, folk, country music, country, bluegrass music, bluegrass, roc ...

Jefferson Airplane Jefferson Airplane was an American Rock music, rock band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1965. One of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the San Francisco Bay Area, ...

Quicksilver Messenger Service Quicksilver Messenger Service is an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1965 in San Francisco. The band achieved wide popularity in the San Francisco Bay Area and, through their recordings, with psychedelic rock enthusiasts around the globe, ...

, Jorma Kaukonen, Paul Kantner,

David Freiberg and

David Crosby David Van Cortlandt Crosby (August 14, 1941 – January 18, 2023) was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He first found fame as a member of the Byrds, with whom he helped pioneer the genres of folk rock and psychedelic music, psych ...

, Odetta, Jesse Fuller, The Albin Brothers (members of

Janis Joplin Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer and songwriter. One of the most iconic and successful Rock music, rock performers of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals and her "electric" ...

's band) and Malvina Reynolds. Levin attended

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the List of oldest schools in California, oldest public university on the West Coast of ...

and performed with numerous artists including

and the Black Mountain Boys and his own band, The Piney Creek Ramblers with his brother Robbie Levin. In 2017, Levin's former band People! decided to come back together to start recording their new album which includes the single ''Eve of Destruction''. Current members include, Gene Mason, Denny Fridkin, Robb Levin, Geoff Levin, and John Tristao.

Career

People!

Levin is a former member of the rock band People!.

Producing

Levin helped produced the album ''Tusks & Horns'' for artist Mayuka Thaïs which was released in May 2014. Levin and Thaïs performed the single off the album ''Tusks & Horns'' at the Global March for Elephants & Rhinos on October 4, 2014.

Collaboration

For her exhibition held at the Carnegie Art Museum, Levin collaborated with artist Bobbie Moline-Kramer by adding auditory experience to complement the art pieces.

Personal life

In 1975, Levin met Diana Canova and in 1976 they were married. They divorced in 1979. In 1993, Levin married Lisa London and had two children, son Collin, and daughter Savannah. Levin and London divorced in 2006. Levin was a Scientologist for 30 years, even having served in the Sea Org, Scientology's religious order, aboard the ''

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

''.

Discography

Film

Television

TV movies

Documentary

Videos

Albums

Singles

Video interviews

* "An interview with Mat Gleason, '' Coagula Art Journal'', ''Modern Art Blitz'', Bobbie Moline-Kramer and Geoff Levin" 2017 * "''The Jerry Bovino Show'' - Rock and Roll Brothers with Robbie Levin, Geoff Levin, and Host Jerry Bovino" 2017

Awards

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Levin, Geoff American folk guitarists Songwriters from California Musicians from Los Angeles 1945 births Living people San Jose State University alumni American rock guitarists American male guitarists Jewish American television composers American television composers American former Scientologists