Timothy John Kvasnosky, known professionally as Tim K, is an American record producer, musician, and film score composer. Tim K composed the score (along with collaborator

Jake Shears Jason Sellards (born October 3, 1978), known professionally by the stage name Jake Shears, is an American singer, songwriter, musician and actor. He is best known as the co-lead vocalist of New York City pop-rock band Scissor Sisters, who achi ...

of the

Scissor Sisters Scissor Sisters are an American pop rock band formed in 2000. The band's current line-up consists of Jake Shears (vocals), Babydaddy (various instruments), Del Marquis (guitar, bass) and Randy Real (drums). Former members include vocalist A ...

) to the 2015

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

select ''

I Am Michael ''I Am Michael'' is a 2015 American biographical drama film written and directed by Justin Kelly. Based on the journalist Benoit Denizet-Lewis' ''New York Times Magazine'' article "My Ex-Gay Friend", the film stars James Franco, Zachary Quin ...

'', starring

James Franco James Edward Franco (born April 19, 1978) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has starred in numerous films, including Sam Raimi's Spider-Man (2002 film series), ''Spider-Man'' trilogy (2002–2007), ''Milk (2008 American film), Milk'' (200 ...

. In 2016, he scored "

King Cobra The king cobra (''Ophiophagus hannah'') is a species complex of snakes Endemism, endemic to Asia. With an average of and a record length of , it is the world's longest venomous snake and among the heaviest. Under the genus ''Ophiophagus'', i ...

" starring

Christian Slater Christian Michael Leonard Slater (born August 18, 1969) is an American actor. He made his film debut with a leading role in '' The Legend of Billie Jean'' (1985) and gained wider recognition for his breakout role as Jason "J.D." Dean, a sociopath ...

and

which documented the real life murder of porn producer Bryan Kocis. As a producer and sideman has also worked with artists such as

Sam Sparro Samuel Falson (born 8 November 1982), better known by his stage name Sam Sparro, is an Australian singer, songwriter and record producer. He was signed to the British record label Island Records. Sparro is best known for his 2008 single " Bl ...

Ed Droste Edward Droste (born October 22, 1978) is an American singer-songwriter, licensed therapist, and musician, formerly of the rock band Grizzly Bear. The group began as the solo effort of Droste with the release of 2004's '' Horn of Plenty'', origin ...

Rahzel Rozell Manely Brown (born October 6, 1964) is an American beatboxer and rapper, formerly a member of the Roots. Rahzel is known for an ability to sing or rap while simultaneously beatboxing, as evidenced in his performances of "Iron Man" and h ...

, Lisa Shaw,

Kat DeLuna Kathleen Emperatriz DeLuna (born November 26, 1987) is an American singer. DeLuna began pursuing a career as a singer when she was a teenager and later signed with Epic Records. Her debut single, " Whine Up", released in 2007, went on to become ...

Dam Funk Damon Garrett Riddick (born June 15, 1971), better known by his stage name Dam-Funk (stylized as DāM-FunK; pronounced "Dame Funk"), is an American funk musician, vocalist and producer from Pasadena, California. In 2007, Riddick signed with the ...

Miguel Migs Miguel Steward (born December 6, 1972) better known by his stage name Miguel Migs, is an American deep house DJ and producer and the founder of Salted Music, an independent electronic dance music record label based in San Francisco, California. ...

and DJ Colette. He is a member of the musical group

Tiny Hearts Tiny Hearts is an American trip-hop/electronic music trio formed in 2011 from Detroit. Tiny Hearts is composed of producer Waajeed (of Platinum Pied Pipers), producer/composer Tim K (Tim Kvasnosky) and vocalist Deanne Reynolds of DEDE. Backg ...

. As a remixer, he produced 4 top 5 Billboard Club Play remixes. He has also scored commercials for

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine giv ...

Target Target may refer to: Warfare and shooting * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artille ...

Corona Corona (from the Latin for 'crown') most commonly refers to: * Stellar corona, the outer atmosphere of the Sun or another star * Corona (beer), a Mexican beer * Corona, informal term for the coronavirus or disease responsible for the COVID-19 ...

Friskies Friskies is an American brand of wet and dry cat food and treats owned by Nestlé Purina PetCare Company, a subsidiary of Nestlé global. Friskies was initially introduced by Carnation Company in the 1930s as a dog food brand. When Friskies ca ...

Volkswagen Volkswagen (VW; )English: , . is a German automotive industry, automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by German Labour Front, The German Labour Front, it was revitalized into the global brand it ...

Bulgari Bulgari (, ; stylized as BVLGARI) is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in 1884 and known for its jewellery, watches, fragrances, accessories, and leather goods. Headquartered in Rome, the company was acquired by the French conglomera ...

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

, and many others. His Friskies commercial composition "Adventureland" was featured during the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Background

At the age of five, he began classical piano lessons. At the age of 11, he began playing jazz saxophone. By high school, he was playing as a jazz pianist sideman in Seattle, and was also the DJ in a local hiphop crew. He attended

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a non-denominational all-male institutio ...

jazz performance program with concentration in Piano, where he jammed in his dorm room with

Bosco Mann Gabriel Roth (born August 17, 1974), also known as Bosco Mann among other aliases, is an American record producer, musician, and co-founder of Daptone Records. He is best known as the bandleader, bass player, primary songwriter, and Record produc ...

. He studied with

Frank Kimbrough Frank Kimbrough (November 2, 1956 – December 30, 2020) was an American post-bop jazz pianist and composer. He was born and raised in Roxboro, North Carolina. He did some work at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Chapel Hill before moving to Washingt ...

Arturo O'Farrill Arturo O'Farrill (born June 22, 1960) is a jazz musician, the son of Latin jazz musician, arranger and bandleader Chico O'Farrill,

and

Don Friedman Donald Ernest Friedman (May 4, 1935 – June 30, 2016) was an American jazz pianist. He began playing in Los Angeles and moved to New York in 1958. In the 1960s, he played with both modern stylists and more traditional musicians. Early life Fr ...

. He has been a keyboard sideman with

, Lisa Shaw,

, Orchestra Clave,

and DJ Colette.

Film

In 2018, Tim K scored '' JT Leroy'' starring

Kristen Stewart Kristen Jaymes Stewart (born April 9, 1990) is an American actress and director. She has received various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award and a César Award, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe ...

and

Laura Dern Laura Elizabeth Dern (born February 10, 1967) is an American actress. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and five Golden Globe Awards. Born ...

. The film is a biographical drama film that tells the story of

Laura Albert Laura Victoria Albert (born November 2, 1965) is an American author who invented the literary persona JT LeRoy, whom Albert described as an "avatar." She published various works of purportedly autobiographical fiction under the LeRoy name be ...

, a woman who wrote and published a series of books under the pseudonym

JT LeRoy Jeremiah Terminator LeRoy, or simply JT LeRoy, is a literary persona created in the 1990s by American writer Laura Albert. LeRoy was presented as the author of three books of fiction, which were purportedly semi-autobiographical accounts by a t ...

, a young transgender man. The score featured an avant garde small ensemble woodwind score. In 2016, Tim K scored ''

'', starring

and

Molly Ringwald Molly Kathleen Ringwald (born February 18, 1968) is an American actress, writer, and translator. She began her career as a child actress on the sitcoms ''Diff'rent Strokes'' and '' The Facts of Life'' (both 1979–1980) before being nominated for ...

about the death of porn producer Bryan Kocis. It premiered at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...

. The score was well received, the music praised as "effervescent electronic score" by ''

Screen Daily ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company which also owned '' Broadcast''. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involv ...

''. In 2015, he composed score to ''Buried Above Ground'', a documentary by director Ben Selkow. In 2014, Tim K composed the score, with

of the

, to Justin Kelly directed,

Gus Van Sant Gus Green Van Sant Jr. (born July 24, 1952) is an American filmmaker, photographer, painter, and musician. He has earned acclaim as an independent film, independent auteur. His films typically deal with themes of marginalized subcultures. His ...

produced ''

'' starring

and

Emma Roberts Emma Rose Roberts (born February 10, 1991) Additional on October 9, 2016 is an American actress, singer and producer. Known for her performances spanning multiple genres of film and television, her work in the horror film, horror and thriller ...

The film was selected for domestic premiere at the

in 2015, and internationally at the

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

Producer/songwriter

Tim K has produced records in variety of

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

styles, often with

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

influences. In 2017, he produced

's "Christmas In Blue" EP, which featured some classic carols in a vintage 1960s jazz style production. The independently release EP reached No. 25 on 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 ...

'' Jazz Chart. He produced and co-released

Honey Dijon Honey Redmond (known professionally as Honey Dijon) is an American DJ, producer, and electronic musician. She was born in Chicago and is based in New York City and Berlin. She has performed at clubs, festivals, art fairs, galleries and fashio ...

's debut album ''Best of Both Worlds'', released on

Defected Records Defected Records, or simply Defected, is a British independent record label specialising in house music recordings, compilation albums, events, publishing, artist bookings and management. Defected is one of the longest running independent lab ...

UK. He has been a longtime producer and songwriter for DJ Colette, for whom he produced three albums. When writing, he often starts with a melodic keyboard part and builds drums, and vocal melodies around it. Her "Italo-disco-owing" and "indelible electro" album ''When The Music's Loud'', featuring all compositions co-written and many produced by Tim K, was released in September 2013. The album was named by ''

Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, Habit (psychology), habit or item generally considered morally wrong in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character trait, a defect, an infirmity, or a bad or unhe ...

'' as one of the 99 Greatest Dance Albums of all time. The album was also named as one of ''Billboard'' 's Top 20 Dance albums of 2013. In December 2013, he produced and co-wrote debut single "War Of Hearts" for artist Russell Taylor, helping him win

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

Artist You Oughta Know award, which he performed live December 2, 2013 on ''

Big Morning Buzz Live ''Big Morning Buzz Live'' is a live daily morning news and pop culture talk show on VH1 that premiered on May 9, 2011, and aired its last episode on June 5, 2015. Broadcast weekday mornings and hosted by Nick Lachey, the show featured entertainm ...

''. A longtime vintage recording technique aficionado, using vintage microphones, techniques, tape and James Brown's old mixer, he recorded

Shoshana Bean Shoshana E. Bean (born September 1, 1977) is an Americans, American actress, singer and songwriter. She has appeared in numerous Musical theatre, musicals, performing in major Off-Broadway and Broadway theatre, Broadway theatres, including in the ...

's second album ''O'Farrell Street'' in 2012 at North Hollywood. With JT Donaldson, in 2012 Tim K also produced underground

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

group Hawthorne Headhunter's "Sum People Don't Change" from their debut LP ''Myriad of Now'' on

Plug Research Plug Research is an independent record label, based in Los Angeles, California, US. Created by Allen Avanessian in 1994, the label specialized in IDM, folktronica and experimental music. The label began with young artists that have made its repu ...

. Tim K lent a hand to The System's 2012 release for beatmaker David Frank's production "Mother Ungh Ungh", providing some "stutter" style edit of

Mic Murphy Michael Austin "Mic" Murphy (born January 9, 1958) is an American musician, lead singer of the successful 1980s synth R&B duo the System. He is well known for singing the group's biggest hit, " Don't Disturb This Groove," a 1987 US #4 Pop and #1 ...

's vocals. In 2011, with

Fab Dupont Fabrice Dupont, better known as 'Fabulous' Fab Dupont, is a French mixing engineer, record producer and teacher. He was born in Canada but his parents moved back to France when he was a toddler. Growing up in Paris, he studied music theory and s ...

Tim K co-produced, played vintage keyboards and added additional production to many of the tracks on

Les Nubians Les Nubians is a French musical duo, composed of sisters Hélène and Célia Faussart from Paris, France. In 1985, the sisters moved with their parents to Chad. Seven years later, they returned to Bordeaux, France, and began singing a cappella, p ...

' ''Nu Revolution'' album. In 2010, Tim K co-produced

Dâm-Funk Damon Garrett Riddick (born June 15, 1971), better known by his stage name Dam-Funk (stylized as DāM-FunK; pronounced "Dame Funk"), is an American funk musician, vocalist and producer from Pasadena, California. In 2007, Riddick signed with the ...

's Hood Pass Intact's "highlight" track "How It Be Between You and Me" on

Stones Throw Records Stones Throw Records is an American independent record label based in Los Angeles, California. Under the direction of founder Peanut Butter Wolf, Stones Throw has released music ranging from hip hop to experimental psychedelic rock. ''LA Weekly'' ...

. The album received a favorable Pitchfork rating. Later in the year, a track he produced, "Stressin'" featuring Kissey was selected for

Mark Farina Mark Farina is an American disc jockey and musician, known for his Chicago house, acid jazz and downtempo works. His notable releases include ''Mood'' (KMS Records, 1989) and the ''Mushroom Jazz'' series (Om Records, 1996–2011). He is primari ...

's ''

Mushroom Jazz ''Mushroom Jazz'' is a series of musical compilations by DJ Mark Farina. Originating in 1992 these were released on cassette tape, then since 1996 have been commercial CD and vinyl releases. Farina combines elements of downtempo, hip hop, jazz and ...

'' compilation, volume 7. Also in 2010, Tim K produced the lead single "Slow Recovery" for

Lucy Woodward Lucy Woodward is an English-American singer-songwriter. She has released records on Atlantic, Verve, and GroundUP and has sung with many artists including Rod Stewart, Barbra Streisand, Snarky Puppy, Celine Dion, Pink Martini, Gavin DeGraw, ...

's ''Hooked'' album for

Verve Records Verve Records is an active American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). Founded in 1956 by Norman Granz, the label is home to the world's largest jazz catalogue, which includes recordings by artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Ca ...

Home & Garden

Tim K worked with DJ/Producer Timothy Shumaker under the moniker Home & Garden starting in 2000. They released 12" singles and remixes for labels such as

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

Reprise Records Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels. Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Green Day, En ...

and

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

. Their debut full-length record ''Domesticated'' was released on

Om Records Om Records is an American record label established in 1995 that releases electronic, dance and hip-hop music. The label was founded in San Francisco in 1995 by Chris Smith. Om Records releases both artist albums and compilations, including the ...

in 2007. It featured appearances from

Derrick Carter Derrick Carter (born October 21, 1969) is an American DJ, record producer and musician from Chicago, Illinois. He is regarded as one of the bestLisa Shaw, DJ Colette,

, Chez Damier and

Tiny Hearts

Tim K is currently working a collaborative project,

with producer

Waajeed Robert O'Bryant, also known as Waajeed is an American music producer from Detroit, and one half of the hip hop and R&B group Platinum Pied Pipers, and a founding member of Tiny Hearts. He formed the Bling47 record label in 2002, which has rel ...

and vocalist Dede Reynolds. Their debut EP ''Stay'' will be released on Detroit's Dirt Tech Reck label. Their initial video "Centerfold" was released in September 2013. A live performance of Tiny Hearts was featured on Boilerroom.tv. His composition for the group, "Snow Cold", was featured on

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

's '' Here and Now'' late in 2013.

Commercial and other work

Friskies tapped Tim K to compose music for its "Adventureland" Campaign, featured in the Winter Olympics, as well as in 3D at movie theatre venues across the US. The 9 commercial campaign featured singer Deanne Reynolds of

. The commercial was listed as Advertising Age's Ad of the week. In 2013, Tim K composed the music for Nike's KDV shoe release.

Selected discography and chart performance

Greenskeepers Greenskeepers are an indie rock/ new wave band from Chicago. Their song "Lotion" is a tribute to the character Buffalo Bill, the fictional serial killer featured in the 1991 film '' The Silence of the Lambs''. "Lotion" also came in at #90 in the ...

, ''Go'' , Remixer

References

External links

Tim K Music
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tim K American remixers American dance musicians American house musicians Record producers from California American film score composers Living people Musicians from Seattle American male film score composers Musicians from Los Angeles Year of birth missing (living people)