Rick Rhodes (July 28, 1951 – November 2, 2005) was an American

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

and television

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 ...

. His music for TV shows including ''Santa Barbara'', ''Another World'' and ''

Guiding Light ''Guiding Light'' (known as ''The Guiding Light'' before 1975) is an American radio and television soap opera. ''Guiding Light'' aired on CBS for 57 years between June 30, 1952, and September 18, 2009, overlapping a 19-year broadcast on radio ...

'' won a total of five

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 ...

. In 2005, he died of brain cancer at the age of 54.

Life

Born 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, ...

on July 28, 1951, Rhodes learned to play the trombone and the piano during his teen years. As an adult, he toured the U.S. with his band, Wonder, but eventually settled with a television career in composing. He married

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

and

lyricist A lyricist is a writer who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment. Royalties A lyricist's income derives ...

Vivian Rhodes in 1982; they had two children, a son and a daughter. Rick and Vivian, together, produced two songs, "Let's Be Lovers Again" and "Fasten Your Seat Belts", which both received

nominations. They also co-wrote the musical ''Ug''; which was performed in California and off-Broadway in 2004. Rhodes' songs have been recorded by many musicians, including Patti Austin, Diane Schuur, Tom Scott,

Bill Champlin William Bradford Champlin (born May 21, 1947) is an American singer, keyboardist, guitarist and songwriter. He formed the band Sons of Champlin in 1965, which still performs today, and was a member of the rock band Chicago (band), Chicago from 1 ...

, and Joey Scarbury. Rhodes was partners with actor Lane Davies, with whom he produced many productions for The Santa Susanna Repertory Company. Rhodes is perhaps best remembered for co-founding, with Davies, The Kingsmen Shakespeare Festival in

Thousand Oaks, California Thousand Oaks is the second-largest city in Ventura County, California, located in the northwestern part of Greater Los Angeles. Approximately from the city of Los Angeles and from Downtown Los Angeles, it is named after the many oak trees pr ...

. He was also the founder of The Performing Arts Department at Oak Park High School in

Oak Park, California Oak Park is an unincorporated community in southeastern Ventura County, California, United States. When developed in the Simi Hills in the late 1960s, a single road provided the only access to the community from Agoura Hills, California, in neigh ...

. During his career, Rhodes won six Emmy awards for his work on '' Santa Barbara'', ''

'', and '' Another World''. Rhodes was most famous for his work on the 1996 children's

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...

game, '' Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide When It's Dark Outside'', notably his piece in the dancing furniture scene with a disco-esque song that goes "Dyuewwwww" in four-bar increments. This musical enigma has perplexed many music theorists over the course of 14 years and it would appear that Rhodes took the answer to the grave with him. Rhodes had planned to release another in the summer of 2004, but was unable to because of a malignant

brain tumor A brain tumor (sometimes referred to as brain cancer) occurs when a group of cells within the Human brain, brain turn cancerous and grow out of control, creating a mass. There are two main types of tumors: malignant (cancerous) tumors and benign ...

he had removed on September 5, 2003. Rhodes died on November 2, 2005, of

, at age 54. He was survived by his wife and children, his mother, and his sister. His memorial service was held on Nov. 19th, at The Samuelson Chapel at

California Lutheran University California Lutheran University (CLU, Cal Lutheran, or Cal Lu) is a private university in Thousand Oaks, California, United States. It was founded in 1959 and is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, but is nonsectarian. It o ...

Filmography

Composing

* '' Some Mother's Son'' (1996) * '' Power and Beauty'' (2002) * ''

'' (1983) * '' Family Ties'' (1982) * '' Day by Day'' (1988) * ''

Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythical ...

'' (1993) * '' World of Aden: Thunderscape'' (1995) * '' Fantasy General'' (1996)

Soundtrack

* '' Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide When It's Dark Outside'' (1996) * '' Wild Things'' (1998) * '' The Big Kahuna'' (1999) * ''

Drowning Mona ''Drowning Mona'' is a 2000 American crime comedy film starring Danny DeVito as Wyatt Rash, a local police chief from Verplanck, New York, who investigates the mysterious death of Mona Dearly (Bette Midler), a spiteful, hard-drinking, loud-mouthe ...

'' (2000) * '' Amy's Orgasm'' (2001) * '' Rollerball'' (2002) * '' Messengers'' (2004) * '' Seed of Chucky'' (2004)

Discography

Albums

* ''Now You See It'' (1994; original release) * ''Now You See It'' (European release; 1994) * ''Indian Summer'' (1995; original release) * ''Indian Summer'' (European release; 1995) * ''Deep In The Night'' (US re-release of Indian Summer; 1998)

Singles

# Now You See It # Rumors # Let's Be Lovers Again # Promise In The Dark # Lies # Guardian Angel # People Like Us # Tropical Postcard # Don't Throw It All Away # The First Move # Unconditional Love # Deep In The Night # Hold Me # I On U # Eurotica # Hotstage Of Love # Indian Summer # Here Comes Another Fool # King Of Hearts # Touch Of Heaven

Awards and nominations

Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NA ...

: * Won, 1988, Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series for: '' Santa Barbara'' (shared with Liz Lachman and

Dominic Messinger Dominic Messinger is an American television composer. He began his work in soap opera music on ''General Hospital'', followed by Santa Barbara and has since composed for reality series and documentaries including '' Intervention'', '' Brace for Im ...

) * Won, 1993, Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series for: ''Santa Barbara'' (shared with

and

Jonathan Firstenberg Jonathan Firstenberg is an American television composer, music supervisor, producer and consultant. Biography Jonathan Firstenberg was born in 1949 in Brooklyn, and grew up on Long Island, in Floral Park and Woodbury. Inspired by his parents, Fi ...

) * Won, 1995, Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series for: '' Another World'' (shared with Carole Severson Weiss, Ron Brawer, Susan-Beth Markowitz,

John Henry Kreitler John Henry Kreitler (February 6, 1948 – January 28, 2024), also credited as John Henry, was an American Emmy-winning composer of contemporary classical, film, television and theatre music. He was a songwriter, producer and publisher, and co-foun ...

, Wes Boatman,

Barry De Vorzon Barry De Vorzon (born July 31, 1934) is an American composer, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He worked as a pop musician during the 1960s and co-founded Valiant Records, before being known as a composer of film and television scores ...

, Richard Hazard, Robert Sands, and

Edward Dzubak Edward is an English male name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortunate; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-S ...

) * Won, 1996, Outstanding Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series for: ''

'' (shared with

Robyn Cutler Robin Miriam Carlsson (; born 12 June 1979), known professionally as Robyn (), is a Swedish singer, songwriter, record producer, and DJ. Her 1995 debut album ''Robyn Is Here'' produced two ''Billboard'' Hot 100 top 10 singles: " Do You Know ( ...

, Michael Licari,

Ron Cohen Ron Cohen is an American television composer and soundtrack writer. He graduated from the California State University, in Northridge. Positions held * Composer on '' Leeza'' and ''The Guiding Light''. * Music writer on '' Go Tigers!'' * Sound trac ...

, Wes Boatman,

Danny Lawrence Danny is a masculine given name. It is related to and short for the male name Daniel.🖾🖾 People *Danny Altmann, British immunologist *Danny Antonucci, Canadian animator, director, producer, and writer * Danny Baker (born 1957), English jo ...

, John E. Young, David Grant,

, Richard Hazard,

, and Alan Bellink) * Won, 1998, Outstanding Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series for: ''Guiding Light'' (shared with Barbara Miller-Gidaly,

, Brian Siewert,

, Richard Hazard,

, Michael Licari, Chieli Minucci, Jamie Lawrence, John Henry, and Wes Boatman) * Nominated, 1999, Outstanding Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series for: G''uiding Light'' (shared with

, Rhoda Farkas Rhodes, Robert Israel, Christina Loeb, Elizabeth Loeb, Brian Siewert,

, Richard Hazard, and

) * Nominated, 1999, Outstanding Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series for: ''

As the World Turns ''As the World Turns'' (often abbreviated as ''ATWT'') is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created ''As the World Turns'' as a sister show to her other so ...

'' (shared with Sybil Costello, Gary Deinstadt, Robert Bard, Billy Barber, Earl Rose,

, and Jon E. Young) * Nominated, 1999, Outstanding Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series for: ''Another World'' (shared with Ron Brawer, James Kowal, Lanny Meyers, John Henry, Wes Boatman,

, Robert Sands, Richard Hazard,

, Allan Bellink, Ed Dzuback, Mark Breeding, and Chieli Minucci) * Nominated, 2000, Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition in a Drama Series for: ''As the World Turns'' (shared with Sybil Costello, Pamela Magee, James Kowal, Gary Deinstadt, Robert Bard, Billy Barber, Earl Rose, David Nichtern, Robert Sands, Ed Dzubak, Kevin Bents, Jamie Lawrence, and Bette Sussman) * Nominated, 2000, Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition in a Drama Series for: ''Another World'' (shared with James Kowal, Pamela Magee,

, Mark Breeding, Robert Sands, Ed Dzubak, Frederic Hand, Chieli Minnucci, Richard Hazard,

, Brian Siewert, John Henry, and Wes Boatman) * Nominated, 2001, Outstanding Achievement in Music Directing and Composition in a Drama Series for: ''Guiding Light'' (shared with

, Gary Deinstadt, Robert Israel, Brian Siewert, Chieli Minucci, Robert Sands, Robert Firpo-Cappiello,

, and Birch Johnson) * Nominated, 2002, Outstanding Achievement in Music Directing and Composition in a Drama Series for: ''Guiding Light'' (shared with

, Gary Deinstadt, Brian Siewert, Chieli Minucci, Robert Sands, Birch Johnson,

, Robert Firpo-Cappiello,

, and Robert Israel) * Nominated, 2003, Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition in a Drama Series for: ''Guiding Light'' (shared with

, Gary Deinstadt, Brian Siewert, Chieli Minucci, Robert Sands, Birch Johnson, and Robert Israel) * Nominated, 2004, Outstanding Original Song for: ''Guiding Light'' (shared with Vivian Rhodes) * Nominated, 2004, Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition in a Drama Series for: ''Guiding Light'' (shared with

, Gary Deinstadt, Chieli Minucci, Brian Siewert, Robert Israel, Daniel Pelfrey, Jamie Lamm, Billy Barber,

, Birch Johnson, Gabriele Solarino, and Ron Komie) * Nominated, 2005, Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series for: ''Guiding Light'' (shared with

, Gary Deinstadt, Daniel Pelfrey, Brian Siewert, Chieli Minucci, Jamie Lamm, Mark Stephen Ross, Kenneth Eberhard, Gabriele Solarino, Ron Komie, Daniel O. Baker, Billy Barber, Robert Israel, and Birch Johnson)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rhodes, Rick 1951 births 2005 deaths 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians American male composers Musicians from Los Angeles Place of death missing