James Scott Levine (born 1974) is an American

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and member of Remote Control Productions. He has won seven

BMI awards The BMI Film & TV Awards are accolades presented annually by Broadcast Music, Inc., honoring songwriters, composers, and music publishers in various genres. Based in the United States, the main pop music award was founded in 1952. The awards incl ...

and seven

ASCAP awards The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadc ...

. His credits include the films '' Running with Scissors'', ''

Delta Farce ''Delta Farce'' is a 2007 American war comedy film directed by C. B. Harding and stars Bill Engvall, Larry the Cable Guy, DJ Qualls and Danny Trejo. The first film after the '' Blue Collar Comedy Tour'' concert films to star both Engvall and L ...

'', and ''

The Weather Man ''The Weather Man'' is a 2005 American dark comedy-drama film directed by Gore Verbinski, written by Steve Conrad, and starring Nicolas Cage as a Chicago-area weatherman who is in a midst of a mid-life crisis even as his career is potentially ...

'', and the television shows ''

Nip/Tuck ''Nip/Tuck'' is an American medical drama television series created by Ryan Murphy that aired on FX in the United States for six seasons from 2003 to 2010. The series, which also incorporates elements of crime, black comedy, family drama, sati ...

'', ''

Glee Glee may refer to: * Glee (music), a type of English choral music * ''Glee'' (TV series), an American musical comedy-drama TV series, and related media created by Ryan Murphy * ''Glee'' (Bran Van 3000 album) * ''Glee'' (Logan Lynn album) * Gle ...

'', ''

The Closer ''The Closer'' is an American police procedural television series starring Kyra Sedgwick as Brenda Leigh Johnson, a Los Angeles Police Department Chief of police#United States, deputy chief. A CIA-trained interrogator originally from Atlanta, G ...

'', ''

Rizzoli & Isles ''Rizzoli & Isles'' ( ; stylized in all lowercase) is an American crime drama television series starring Angie Harmon as Jane Rizzoli and Sasha Alexander as Maura Isles. Based on the series of ''Rizzoli & Isles'' novels by Tess Gerritsen, the ...

'', and ''

American Horror Story ''American Horror Story'' (''AHS'') is an American horror film, horror anthology series, anthology television series created by Ryan Murphy (producer), Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk for the Cable television, cable network FX (TV channel), FX. Th ...

''. He has also provided additional music for films such as ''

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

'', ''

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Reci ...

'', and '' Something's Gotta Give''.

Early life

James Levine grew up in

Medford, Massachusetts Medford is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the time of the 2020 United States census, Medford's population was 59,659. It is home to Tufts University, which has its campus on both sides of the Medford and Somervill ...

, where he played multiple instruments in various genres. The main instrument he played growing up was the piano, performing at multiple events growing up. At the age of 13 Levine shifted his focus from playing the piano, to learning Jazz, as well as improvisation. Composers that Levine looked up to when he was younger were Mozart, Morricone and James Newton Howard. He is of

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

heritage. Levine attended

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, as well as Talloires, France. Tufts also has several Doctor of Physical Therapy p ...

, where he was originally a

pre-med Pre-medical (often referred to as pre-med) is an educational track that undergraduate students mostly in the United States pursue prior to becoming medical students. It involves activities that prepare a student for medical school, such as pre-med ...

student. However he switched subject areas, and subsequently in college Levine studied Sociology and Musicology, and got his degree in American Studies. He graduated from Tufts in 1996.

Career

Levine came to Hollywood in 1997 to begin his career as a composer, leaving behind money and family. He first started off his career by doing intern work around Los Angeles. James Levine is a composer for shows like ''

'', ''

Royal Pains ''Royal Pains'' is an American comedy-drama television series that ran on the USA Network from 2009 to 2016. The series is based in part on contemporary concierge medicine practices of independent doctors and companies and follows Hank Lawson, ...

'' and ''

''. The music for ''American Horror Story'' is one of his most known works, receiving many awards such as the Best Music in a Series, Best music in a non-series, and has been nominated for outstanding sound mixing for television movies and miniseries two years in a row. Due to the success of his music he has continued to create music for the show. His work on ''Glee'' has also won him many awards and he has gone on to keep composing for the show until the final season.

Composing

Awards

References

External links

* *
"Interview: James Levine, Composer of 'American Horror Story,' 'Royal Pains,' and 'Glee'"
Movie Mom, at BeliefNet
Composer Interview: James S. Levine
at FilmMusicMedia ()
ASCAP

James S. Levine AMA (Ask Me Anything)
on Reddit {{DEFAULTSORT:Levine, James S. 1974 births Living people People from Medford, Massachusetts Tufts University School of Arts and Sciences alumni