Mark Mueller (born July 11, 1957) is an American songwriter. A two-time winner of the

ASCAP 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 ...

Pop Award for writing one of the Most Performed Songs of the year, he has had three ''

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 ...

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

Top Ten singles and one #1

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

hit. He co-wrote the hits "

Crush Crush may refer to: * Infatuation or limerence, the romantic attraction to another person * Puppy love, feelings of love, romance, or infatuation felt by young people Crush may also refer to: Film * Crush (1972 film), ''Crush'' (1972 film), a H ...

" by Jennifer Paige and "

That's What Love Is For "That's What Love Is For" is a song by Contemporary Christian music, Christian music/pop music-crossover singer Amy Grant. It was written by three-time Grammy-Award winner Michael Omartian, Mark Mueller and Amy Grant and produced by Omartian. It ...

" by

Amy Grant Amy Lee Grant (born November 25, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She began her music career in contemporary Christian music (CCM) before crossing over to pop music in the mid-1980s. Grant has been referred to as "Honorific ...

and wrote both words and music for the Top 10 hit " Nothin' At All" by

Heart The heart is a muscular Organ (biology), organ found in humans and other animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels. The heart and blood vessels together make the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrie ...

. Songs he has written have been featured on

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

-certified gold and platinum records in four consecutive decades: the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s; and on the ''Billboard'' Top 10 charts for 30 years. For his work in television, Mueller has been the recipient of two

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 ...

nominations, both in the category of ''Outstanding Achievement in Music and Lyrics''. Mueller wrote the words and music for the theme songs of both the original

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

's ''

DuckTales DuckTales refers to: Film and television * ''DuckTales'' (1987 TV series), original TV series ** '' DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp'' * ''DuckTales'' (2017 TV series), reboot TV series Video games * ''DuckTales'' (video game) ...

'' and '' Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers'' animated TV series as well as the 2017 ''

'' reboot. In 2022, Mueller's ''Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers'' theme song was performed by rapper and singer

Post Malone Austin Richard Post (born July 4, 1995), known professionally as Post Malone, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. His music blends various genres including hip-hop, Pop music, pop, Contemporary R&B, R&B, Tra ...

for the

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

movie version of '' Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers'' and also appears on the soundtrack. A Vanity Fair magazine article about Mueller and his ''

'' theme song covered his pop music career and his experience writing the song. In 2023, two of his themes were included in ''Billboard'' magazine's list of the 100 "Best

Songs of All Time" (film, television and theme park music) marking the studio's first 100 years, with ''

'' ranked at #19 and '' Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers'' at #63. Mueller was born in the Bay Area and graduated from

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

; he lives and works 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, ...

Chart history

", recorded by Jennifer Paige, was #3 on the

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), ...

Chart for 4 weeks. It spent 17 weeks in the Top 10 and 25 weeks overall on the chart. "Crush" also peaked at #2 on the R&R CHR/Pop airplay chart. "Crush" was also the 10th most played pop song of the year on the R&R CHR/Pop Year-End Chart. "Crush" was a #1 single in Canada, Spain, New Zealand and Australia. In the UK, "Crush" reached #1 on the airplay chart and #4 on the UK Singles Chart, where it spent three weeks in the Top 10. In 2016, "Crush" returned to the ''

'' Top 10 when it peaked at #5 on the magazine's

Smooth Jazz Smooth jazz is commercially oriented crossover jazz music. Although often described as a "genre", it is a debatable and highly controversial subject in jazz music circles. As a radio format, however, smooth jazz radio became the successor to e ...

Airplay chart in a cover by jazz keyboardist John Novello. His version features R&B saxophone artist Gerald Albright on the chorus. It spent a total of 19 weeks in the Top 30. "

" by

was #1 on the ''Billboard''

chart for 3 weeks (13 weeks in the Top 10 and 32 weeks on the chart overall), reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (4 weeks in the Top 10) and peaked at #4 on the R&R CHR chart. " Nothin' at All" by

reached #10 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and spent 16 weeks on the chart overall. The song peaked at #8 for two weeks on the R&R CHR pop airplay chart and was #6 on the ''Billboard''

Mainstream Rock Songs Mainstream Rock is a music chart published by ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States. It is an administrative category that combines the " active rock" and " heritage rock" fo ...

for two weeks as well, staying in the Top 10 for four weeks. Mueller wrote both words and music for the Pop/Rock song. Mueller's Eternal single " I Am Blessed" peaked at #7 on the UK BPI singles chart, spending three weeks in the Top 10. "Someone", performed by

El DeBarge Eldra "El" Patrick DeBarge (born June 4, 1961) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. He was the focal point and primary lead singer of the DeBarge family, family group DeBarge. Popular songs led by El DeBarge include "Time Will Reveal ...

made the Top 20 ''Billboard''

chart and peaked at #20, where it spent two weeks. Overall it stayed on the magazine's Adult Contemporary Chart for 13 weeks as well as 9 weeks on the

. It was co-written with twice

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

-winner Jay Graydon and singer Robbie Nevil.

Earth, Wind & Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (abbreviated as EW&F or EWF) is an American band formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1969. Their music spans multiple genres, including jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, Latin and Afro-pop. They are among the best-selling ba ...

recorded "You & I", a single Mueller co-wrote with singer Robbie Nevil that was a ''Billboard''

R&B Chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

Top 30 hit in 1987, reaching #29.

ABBA ABBA ( ) were a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. They are one of the most popular and successful musical groups of all time, and are one of the List ...

's Agnetha Faltskog recorded Mueller's " I Wasn't the One (Who Said Goodbye)", which was a Top 20 hit in 1988, reaching #19 on the ''Billboard'' Adult Contemporary Chart. It was a duet with Peter Cetera, former lead singer of the band

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. Co-written with

Aaron Zigman Aaron Zigman (born January 6, 1963) is a classically trained American composer, producer, arranger, songwriter, and musician who has scored music for films including '' The Notebook'', '' The Company Men'', '' Bridge to Terabithia'', '' John Q. ...

, the song also spent time in the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, peaking at #93.

George Benson George Washington Benson (born March 22, 1943) is an American jazz fusion guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He began his professional career at the age of 19 as a jazz guitarist. A former child prodigy, Benson first came to prominence in the ...

's "No One Emotion", which Mueller co-wrote with

Clif Magness Clifton “Clif” Magness (born April 24, 1957) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist, best known for co-writing and producing several tracks on Avril Lavigne’s 2002 debut album, '' Let Go'' including the ...

, was released as a single in the UK in 1985 where it reached #76 on the Official British Pop Chart. "Just Because I Love You" by Lina Santiago reached #27 on the ''Billboard'' Rhythmic Top 40 Chart hit in 1996. It spent eight weeks in the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #78. Mueller's first ''Billboard'' chart hit was "I Don't Want To Be Lonely", performed by Dana Valery. It reached #23 on the ''Billboard'' Adult Contemporary chart and spent 13 weeks on that chart and five weeks on the magazine's

Gold and platinum records

Mueller's work in the U.S. has been featured on

-certified platinum and gold records by artists including:

, 'N Sync featuring

Justin Timberlake Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actor, record producer, and dancer. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Prince of Pop", ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' honored him as the b ...

, Lea Michele (on the '' Glee: The Music, Volume 2'' Soundtrack), Jennifer Paige,

, SWV,

Al Jarreau Alwin Lopez Jarreau (March 12, 1940 – February 12, 2017) was an American singer and songwriter. His 1981 album '' Breakin' Away'' spent two years on the ''Billboard'' 200 and is considered one of the finest examples of the Los Angeles pop and ...

Aaron Carter Aaron Charles Carter (December 7, 1987November 5, 2022) was an American singer and rapper. He came to fame as a teen pop singer in the late 1990s, establishing himself as a star among preteen and teenage audiences during the first years of th ...

Agnetha Fältskog Agneta Åse "Agnetha" Fältskog (; born 5 April 1950) is a Swedish singer, songwriter, and a former member of the pop group ABBA. She first achieved success in Sweden with the release of her 1968 Agnetha Fältskog (album), self-titled debut alb ...

, Peter Cetera, and

The Pointer Sisters The Pointer Sisters are an American female vocal group from Oakland, California, who achieved mainstream success during the 1970s and 1980s. They have had a repertoire with many genres, they have sold around 50 million records throughout their ...

(on the ''Billboard'' #1 ''

We Are The World "We Are the World" is a charity single recorded by the supergroup USA for Africa in 1985. It was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and produced by Quincy Jones for the album '' We Are the World''. With sales in excess of 20 milli ...

'' album). His theme song for ''

'' is featured on the platinum-selling record '' The Music of Disney: A Legacy in Song''. Internationally, Mueller's songs have been on the UK's BPI-certified platinum and gold records by artists including:

Girls Aloud Girls Aloud are a British-Irish pop music, pop girl group that was created through the ITV (TV network), ITV talent show ''Popstars: The Rivals'' in 2002. The line up consisted of members Cheryl (singer), Cheryl, Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, N ...

featuring

Cheryl Cole Cheryl Ann Tweedy (born 30 June 1983) is an English singer and television personality. She rose to fame as a member of Girls Aloud, a Pop music, pop girl group created through ITV (TV network), ITV's reality competition show ''Popstars: The R ...

, Eternal, Steps and Australia's ARIA-certified gold records including: Jennifer Paige, Lea Michele ('' Glee: The Music, Volume 2'') and lead singer of Little River Band

John Farnham John Peter Farnham (born 1 July 1949) is a British-born Australian singer. Farnham was a teen pop idol from 1967 until the mid-1970s, billed as Johnny Farnham. He has since forged a career as an adult contemporary singer.McFarlane (1999). Enc ...

's solo album ''

Age of Reason The Age of Enlightenment (also the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment) was a European intellectual and philosophical movement active from the late 17th to early 19th century. Chiefly valuing knowledge gained through rationalism and empiric ...

'', which went 11 x platinum.

Television and film

Mueller received his two

Emmy Award 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 categor ...

nominations for his work as a lyricist on the ABC-TV series '' Life Goes On'' and the NBC-TV series '' Quincy, M.E.''. He wrote both words and music for the title song of Disney's animated series ''

'' (performed by Jeff Pescetto) and '' Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers'' (performed by Pescetto on the series and The Jets on the ''Disney Afternoon'' album). He also wrote the theme song for 1991 film '' The Little Engine That Could''. Mueller co-wrote the title song, the lyrics and the script for an all-sung CBS-TV musical pilot he executive produced titled '' Shangri-La Plaza''. The show starred Terrence Mann, Chris Sarandon,

Melora Hardin Melora Diane Hardin Jackson (born June 29, 1967) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her roles as Jan Levinson on NBC's ''The Office'' (2005–2013), Trudy Monk on USA Network's ''Monk'' (2004–2009), and Tammy Cashman o ...

and Savion Glover. The ''

'' theme was performed live twice on the '' Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' in 2018. In March 2018, it was sung by Brendon Urie of

Panic! at the Disco Panic! at the Disco was an American pop rock band formed in Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2004 by high school friends Ryan Ross (guitar) and Spencer Smith (musician), Spencer Smith (drums), who recruited classmates Brendon Urie (vocals and ...

after being selected from the "Audience Suggestion Box." In September 2018

Carrie Underwood Carrie Marie Underwood (born March 10, 1983) is an American singer and songwriter. She rose to prominence after winning the fourth season of ''American Idol'' in 2005, returning as a judge beginning with the twenty-third season. Underwood's f ...

sang a brief, spontaneous duet of the ''DuckTales'' theme with Jimmy Fallon after telling him it was one of her young son's favorite songs. The ''DuckTales'' theme was played live on ABC-TV's ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...

'' in September 2016 on the second episode of the show's 23rd season, with a performance by the show's Season 20 champion Val Chmerkovskiy and Olympic Gold Medalist

Laurie Hernandez Lauren Zoe Hernandez (born June 9, 2000) is an American retired artistic gymnast. During her debut year as a senior gymnast, she competed as a member of the U.S. women's gymnastics team dubbed the " Final Five" that won the team gold medal at ...

. "

" was featured on the "Ballad" episode of ''

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 ...

'' in 2009, when it was covered by Lea Michele. Her version of the song is also featured on the soundtrack album '' Glee: The Music, Volume 2'', which peaked at #1 on the Billboard Soundtrack Chart, #3 on the Billboard Hot 200 Album Chart in December 2009 and was certified as a gold record by the RIAA in January 2010. "Crush" was also prominently used in a special TV-movie-length episode of ABC-TV's ''

Sabrina, the Teenage Witch ''Sabrina the Teenage Witch'' is a comic book series published by Archie Comics about the adventures of a fictional American teenager named Sabrina Spellman. Sabrina was created by writer George Gladir and artist Dan DeCarlo, and first appea ...

'' set in Rome. Mueller wrote the song "Babysitting Blues", performed by actress

Elisabeth Shue Elisabeth Shue (born October 6, 1963) is an American actress. She has starred in films such as '' The Karate Kid'' (1984), '' Adventures in Babysitting'' (1987), ''Cocktail'' (1988), ''Back to the Future Part II'' (1989), '' Back to the Future P ...

, Blues legend

Albert Collins Albert Gene Collins (October 1, 1932 – November 24, 1993)Skeely, Richard. "Albert Collins: Biography" Allmusic.com. was an American electric blues guitarist and singer with a distinctive guitar style. He was noted for his powerful playing ...

and the cast of '' Adventures in Babysitting'' in Chicago-area nightclub Fitzgerald's. The scene was shot over the course of three days and takes place during a pivotal chase sequence. For the NBC-TV musical comedy series ''

Rags to Riches Rags to riches (also rags-to-riches) refers to any situation in which a person rises from poverty to wealth, and in some cases from absolute obscurity to heights of fame, fortune and celebrity—sometimes instantly. This is a common archetype i ...

,'' Mueller wrote new comedic lyrics for existing hit songs from the '50s and '60s that were featured in most episodes of both seasons of the show. He also wrote the lyrics to the show's theme song. 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 Music of Latin America, Lati ...

, Mueller co-wrote all songs featured in the original film musical ''Berlin Blues'', starring Julia Migenes. Mueller's songs have been featured in films including: '' One Hour Photo'', '' Pokémon: The First Movie'', '' Money Talks'', '' B*A*P*S'', ''National Lampoon's Vegas Vacation'', '' The Last Starfighter'', '' Adventures in Babysitting'', '' Simply Irresistible'', '' The Legend of Billie Jean'' and '' Honey, I Blew Up The Kid''..

Stage

Mueller wrote the lyrics and co-wrote the book of an original musical titled ''Butterfly'', which was directed by Jack Hofsiss and performed at the

Goodspeed Opera House Goodspeed Musicals is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and advancement of musical theater and the creation of new works, located in East Haddam, Connecticut. Its landmark Goodspeed Opera House is a distinctive feature of ...

. Bernadette Peters performed the song "The Next Dream" from the musical on the

Carol Burnett Carol Creighton Burnett (born April 26, 1933) is an American comedian, actress, singer and writer. Burnett has played dramatic and comedic roles on stage and screen. She has received List of awards and nominations received by Carol Burnett, nu ...

TV variety show '' Carol & Company''. Mueller also created an original musical, ''How The Hell Did I Get Here?'', with

Downton Abbey ''Downton Abbey'' is a British historical drama television series set in the early 20th century, created and co-written by Julian Fellowes. It first aired in the United Kingdom on ITV (TV network), ITV on 26 September 2010 and in the United St ...

star and SAG Award-winning actress Lesley Nicol. Mueller, who accompanies Nicol on piano onstage, first performed the show in 2017 at Nicol's alma mater, London's

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a music school, music and drama school located in the City of London, England. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz al ...

and in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

at the historic Fringe Club. ''How The Hell Did I Get Here?'' opened in Chicago in March 2022 and made its New York City

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

debut in April 2022. The show received an Off Broadway Alliance Award nomination in the category of best Solo Performance in May. The show was scheduled to be a part of the Pittsburgh Public Theater 2022 season at the O'Reilly Theater but was initially postponed due to Covid and later to a death in Nicol's family.

Awards

Primetime Emmy Awards

ASCAP Pop Awards

!Ref. , - , 1991 , "

" by

, rowspan=4, Most Performed Songs , , , - , , 1998 , "

" by Jennifer Paige , , , -

BMI Pop Awards

!Ref. , - , 1986 , " Nothin' at All" by

, rowspan=4, Most Performed Songs , , , -

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mueller, Mark Living people American lyricists Place of birth missing (living people) Songwriters from California 1957 births American male songwriters 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American composers 21st-century American male musicians