Jesse Frederick
Encyclopedia
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
best known for writing and performing the themes to popular television shows such as Perfect Strangers
Perfect Strangers (TV series)
Perfect Strangers is an American sitcom that ran for eight seasons from March 25, 1986, to August 6, 1993, on the ABC television network. Created by Dale McRaven, the series chronicles the rocky coexistence of midwestern American Larry Appleton and his distant cousin from eastern Mediterranean...
, Full House
Full House
Full House is an American sitcom television series. Set in San Francisco, the show chronicles widowed father Danny Tanner, who, after the death of his wife, enlists his best friend Joey Gladstone and his brother-in-law Jesse Katsopolis to help raise his three daughters, D.J., Stephanie, and...
, Family Matters, and Step By Step.
Early years
Frederick was born Jesse Frederick James Conaway in Salisbury, MarylandSalisbury, Maryland
-Demographics:Salisbury is the principal city of the Salisbury-Ocean Pines CSA, a Combined Statistical Area that includes the Salisbury metropolitan area and the Ocean Pines micropolitan area , which had a combined population of 176,657 at the 2010 census.As of the census of 2000, there were...
and was raised in Seaford, Delaware
Seaford, Delaware
Seaford is a city located along the Nanticoke River in Sussex County, Delaware. According to the 2010 Census Bureau figures, the population of the city is 6,928, an increase of 3.4% from the 2000 census...
. He was the youngest of two children. His brother, Everett Thomas (Tommy) Conaway, Jr., 4 years his senior, died of Cystic Fibrosis
Cystic fibrosis
Cystic fibrosis is a recessive genetic disease affecting most critically the lungs, and also the pancreas, liver, and intestine...
at 12 years of age. In his early childhood, Jesse was familiarly known as "Freddy" before legally dropping the James Conaway from his name in his later teens. This was done in an attempt to distinguish himself from the legacy of his father, Everett T. "Conny" Conaway, Sr. (1915-2010). Conny was a prominent figure in the poultry processing industry. During his unprecedented 70-year career, the senior Conaway designed and built some of the earliest processing plants for Allen Family Foods
Allen Family Foods
Allen Family Foods is a large U.S. producer and exporter of chicken, headquartered in Seaford, Delaware. Founded in 1919 by Charles C. Allen and Nellie G Allen, as a small local hatchery. Today, Allen Family Foods is the world's 18th largest producer of chicken products, producing 10.5 million...
, Frank Perdue
Frank Perdue
Franklin Parsons "Frank" Perdue , born in Salisbury, Maryland, was for many years the president and CEO of Perdue Farms, now one of the largest chicken-producing companies in the United States.-Career:...
and Preston Townsend, all of which are still operating today. In early adolescence, Jesse attended Massanutten Military Academy
Massanutten Military Academy
Massanutten Military Academy is a coeducational college preparatory school for grades 7 through 12 and one postgraduate year, located in Woodstock, Virginia, United States.-Mission:...
for two years. Once he entered high school, Conny put him to work, hoping to groom a protege in the industry. Jesse learned about the processing of poultry first hand as a plant laborer at many of Conny's factories on the East Coast.
In high school, Jesse was a bright, multi-talented, popular student; he starred in many school plays and although his primary musical instrument was classical trumpet, he demonstrated from his youth a talent for mastery of a variety of musical instruments. He graduated Seaford High School in 1966, before attending Shenandoah College and Conservatory Of Music. Under his father's tutileage, he studied mechanical drafting, and eventually worked as an apprentice under Conny in plant overhead conveyor layout designs. All the while, the young musician continued writing and composing his own work, while pursuing aspirations to make it in the music industry.
Bearsville Records and early EPs
Although he released some early single records in the Philadelphia area in his late teens, and recorded demos for Columbia RecordsColumbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
while in college, it was in 1971, at the age of 23, Jesse was signed to Albert Grossman
Albert Grossman
Albert Bernard Grossman was an American entrepreneur and manager in the American folk music scene and rock and roll. He was most famous as the manager of Bob Dylan between 1962 and 1970.-Biography:...
's Bearsville Records
Bearsville Records
Bearsville Records was founded in 1970 by Albert Grossman. Artists included Todd Rundgren, Elizabeth Barraclough, Foghat, Halfnelson/Sparks, Bobby Charles, Randy VanWarmer, Paul Butterfield's Better Days, Lazarus, Jesse Winchester, and NRBQ. The label closed in 1984, two years before Grossman's...
.
His self-titled debut album, recorded in Nashville and mixed in part by Todd Rundgren
Todd Rundgren
Todd Harry Rundgren is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and record producer. Hailed in the early stage of his career as a new pop-wunderkind, supported by the certified gold solo double LP Something/Anything? in 1972, Todd Rundgren's career has produced a diverse range of recordings...
, was released in that year. Although the album gained Frederick a lot of respect from his peers, its sales success was limited. In 1973, Bearsville released a promo 45 featuring both stereo and mono versions of the first single from Frederick’s second album, After the Rain, which would never be released. The single was entitled "I Belong to You". As the 1970s progressed, Frederick would sign with another label, spawning a third album in the process; as in the last project at Bearsville, it never saw the light of day.
In a partnership with producer Jeff Koz (who had worked with Frederick on some film and video projects), Frederick formed the band The Kinetics and released the single, "Don't Stand In The Shadow", for Columbia Records.
As a movie composer
By the late 1970s, Frederick had changed his beat to movie and TV score composing. He performed the lead vocal duties for the main character in the 1980 Taylor Hackford film The IdolmakerThe Idolmaker
The Idolmaker is a 1980 American musical drama starring Ray Sharkey, Peter Gallagher, Paul Land, Tovah Feldshuh and Joe Pantoliano.The film is based on the life of rock promoter and manager Bob Marcucci, who discovered and promoted several rock 'n' roll stars including Frankie Avalon and Fabian....
. A single from the picture's soundtrack, "Here Is My Love", was released in both stereo and mono formats. That same year, Frederick played Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
's roadie in the film Roadie. In 1982, Frederick composed the score for the Troma motion picture The Fanatic (aka The Last Horror Film). Many more major theatrical titles would follow, including that of Garry Marshall
Garry Marshall
Garry Kent Marshall is an American actor, director, writer and producer. His notable credits include creating Happy Days and The Odd Couple and directing Nothing In Common, Pretty Woman, Runaway Bride, Valentine's Day, and The Princess Diaries.-Early life:Marshall was born in the New York City...
's 1984 hit The Flamingo Kid
The Flamingo Kid
The Flamingo Kid is a 1984 comedy film directed by Garry Marshall, written by Marshall, Neal Marshall and Bo Goldman. It stars Matt Dillon, Richard Crenna, Hector Elizondo, and Janet Jones...
.
Foray into TV: Bennett Salvay and Miller/Boyett
It was Frederick's subsequent partnering with writer/composer Bennett Salvay that would bring him the greatest success of his career. Frederick and Salvay, who found they had a dynamic spark of creativity between them, sought out work on original compositions that ended up being heavily wanted by TV producers. In the fall of 1985, the pair met with celebrated veteran producers Thomas L. Miller and Robert L. Boyett, who had previously worked with Flamingo Kids Garry Marshall on many of his 1970s hits for ABC. Miller and Boyett, who were in the midst of furthering their producing streak at their new parent studio of Lorimar Television (minus their former ParamountParamount Television
Paramount Television was an American television production/distribution company that was active from January 1, 1968 to August 27, 2006.Its successor is CBS Television Studios, formerly CBS Paramount Television...
partner, Edward K. Milkis), commissioned Frederick and Salvay to compose the theme music and underscore for their upcoming ABC comedy project, which at that time was titled The Greenhorn. Although it was too early to predict at the time, Frederick and Salvay had just embarked on what would be a long-running alliance with Miller/Boyett Productions.
Perfect Strangers When ABC slated the new Miller/Boyett project to premiere on Tuesdays in March 1986, following some cast changes, it went into official production under the new title, Perfect Strangers
Perfect Strangers (TV series)
Perfect Strangers is an American sitcom that ran for eight seasons from March 25, 1986, to August 6, 1993, on the ABC television network. Created by Dale McRaven, the series chronicles the rocky coexistence of midwestern American Larry Appleton and his distant cousin from eastern Mediterranean...
. Frederick and Salvay penned their first TV title track, "Nothing's Gonna Stop Me Now", for the series, which obliquely told the ballad of the show's two leads--Balki Bartokomous (Bronson Pinchot
Bronson Pinchot
Bronson Alcott Pinchot is an American actor. He has appeared in several feature films, including Risky Business, Beverly Hills Cop , The First Wives Club, True Romance, Courage Under Fire and It's My Party...
) and Larry Appleton (Mark Linn-Baker
Mark Linn-Baker
Mark Linn-Baker is an American actor and director famous for his role as Larry Appleton on the television sitcom Perfect Strangers.-Early life and career:...
)--as the former had dreams of making it in America from the island of Mypos, while the latter had aspirations to make it in Chicago, after moving from Wisconsin. Perfect Strangers went on to become a hit, running eight seasons on ABC, and made Frederick and Salvay's songwriting weekly staples in millions of households across the country. While the lyrics were written by Frederick and Salvay, "Nothing's Gonna Stop Me Now" was sung by David Pomeranz
David Pomeranz
David Pomeranz is an American singer, composer, lyricist, and writer for musical theatre. He is also ambassador for Operation SmileBorn in Reno and raised on Long Island, Pomeranz expressed interest in music from an early age, singing in the synagogue choir, learning to play the piano, guitar, and...
.
Full House The strength in Frederick and his partner's work lay in their knack for lyric-heavy, uplifting compositions. There was a common theme between most: that of realizing one's dreams, and making a success out of one's life. It was these ingredients that touched a generation of young viewers especially. In 1987, Frederick and Salvay wrote their second title track for Miller/Boyett, "Everywhere You Look", for the new ABC fall sitcom Full House
Full House
Full House is an American sitcom television series. Set in San Francisco, the show chronicles widowed father Danny Tanner, who, after the death of his wife, enlists his best friend Joey Gladstone and his brother-in-law Jesse Katsopolis to help raise his three daughters, D.J., Stephanie, and...
. This theme had a more love-of-the-family-centric subject in its lyrics, but was in line with their work on other Miller/Boyett shows due to its catchiness and upbeat nature. Full House initially struggled in the ratings, but when ABC scheduled it on Tuesdays in addition to its regular Friday slot for a time in 1988, it began a gradual increase in audience size. The series became popular in its second season. It then served as the anchor of ABC's new TGIF
TGIF (ABC)
TGIF was the name of an American family-friendly prime time television programming block on the ABC network. The name comes from the initials of the popular phrase "Thank God It's Friday"...
lineup in 1989, where Frederick and Salvay's work were about to be heavily showcased. Full House cracked the Nielsen top 30 in its third season and the top 20 in its fourth. Well before it reached its peak in seasons five to seven (where it shot to the top 5), "Everywhere You Look", in its various edits, had become a highly referenced and celebrated song among young viewers. The hook that most heavily caught fans' delight was the opening line, which pondered, "Whatever happened to predictability? The milkman, the paperboy, evening TV?"
Frederick and Salvay's underscores for Full House, which were more sentimental and instrument-heavy than on earlier hit Perfect Strangers, became the signature sound the two are also most recognized for.
There is much speculation that Frederick inspired the creation of one of the series' main characters. When Full House was in early development at the beginning of 1987 (under the working title House of Comics), the role given to star John Stamos
John Stamos
John Phillip Stamos is an American actor, singer and musician best known for his work in television, especially in his starring role as Jesse Katsopolis on the ABC sitcom Full House. Since the cancellation of that show in 1995, Stamos has appeared in numerous television films and series. From 2006...
was originally that of Adam Cochran, one of three comedians sharing a house in San Francisco. Once the format was revised and the original pilot set to shoot, Stamos' character became Jesse Cochran, the super-cool rock musician brother-in-law of Danny Tanner (played in the unaired pilot by John Posey
John Posey
John Posey is the name of:* John Wesley Posey , American abolitionist* John Adams Posey , American politician* John Posey , American actor...
, before Bob Saget
Bob Saget
Robert Lane "Bob" Saget is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and television host. Although he is best known for his roles as Danny Tanner in Full House, host of America's Funniest Home Videos and Future Ted Mosby on How I Met Your Mother, Saget is also known outside of television for his blue...
became available for the role). Fitting in with the character's new image, it is believed that naming him "Jesse" and turning him into a rocker was inspired by the real-life persona of Frederick.
Family Matters
Joining these established Miller/Boyett shows on the newly developed TGIF in September 1989 was Family Matters, a spin-off from Perfect Strangers. Frederick and Salvay scored the scenes and the closing theme alone during the series' first few episodes. During the first five ABC broadcasts, the title track was a shortened version of Louis ArmstrongLouis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
's "What A Wonderful World
What a Wonderful World
"What a Wonderful World" is a song written by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss. It was first recorded by Louis Armstrong and released as a single in 1968. Thiele and Weiss were both prominent in the music world . Armstrong's recording was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999...
". The closing theme that Frederick and Salvay wrote and recorded was a melody loosely based on "What A Wonderful World", featuring a more uptempo beat dominated by saxophone and culminating in an orchestral crescendo. By the sixth episode of Family Matters, Miller and Boyett, along with show creators William Bickley
Bickley-Warren Productions
Bickley-Warren Productions was a production company established in 1991, that was started and run by William S. Bickley, Jr. and Michael Warren. It first started to produce Family Matters and Step by Step, which were both created by Bickley and Warren. It was originally aimed at Lorimar Television...
and Michael Warren
Bickley-Warren Productions
Bickley-Warren Productions was a production company established in 1991, that was started and run by William S. Bickley, Jr. and Michael Warren. It first started to produce Family Matters and Step by Step, which were both created by Bickley and Warren. It was originally aimed at Lorimar Television...
, decided that they wanted a more sitcom-esque opening theme for the show. Frederick and Salvay wrote an original title track featuring a jazzy, ragtime piano prologue leading into an upbeat melody, again using high orchestration. Titled "As Days Go By", it was sung by Frederick with a back-up chorus of male singers. Family Matters was only a moderate success until Jaleel White
Jaleel White
Jaleel Ahmad White is an American actor and screenwriter. He is best known for his role as Steve Urkel from Family Matters and voicing the character of Sonic the Hedgehog and other characters for Sonic the Hedgehog media....
's Steve Urkel
Steve Urkel
Steven Quincy Urkel, generally known as Steve Urkel or simply Urkel, is a fictional character on the ABC/CBS sitcom Family Matters, portrayed by Jaleel White...
was added in early 1990, becoming the show's breakout character. "As Days Go By" remained as the Family Matters theme in various forms until the beginning of the show's seventh season. It wasn't until the start of the series' fifth season in 1993 that Frederick and Salvay composed a closing version of "As Days Go By"; it was a hip-hop sounding rendition with a saxophone domination. The melody was slightly altered so that it didn't closely match the notes of the opening version.
1990: In high demand
In 1990, the works of Frederick and Salvay received dramatically increased air time in the US. Perfect Strangers went into rerun syndication that fall. As a result, their music was being played on a five-days-a-week basis. Further, Miller/Boyett had just acquired a complete programming stake in ABC's hit TGIF lineup, having four of their comedies air back-to-back. Full House, Family Matters and Perfect Strangers were joined by freshman series Going Places. Frederick and Salvay composed all music for Going Places, but for the first time since Perfect Strangers, had another singer, Mark Lennon, perform the theme. Over at CBS, Miller/Boyett's other new series The Family Man was airing on Saturday nights alongside the producers' NBC series The Hogan FamilyThe Hogan Family
The Hogan Family is an American television situation comedy that aired from March 1, 1986 to July 20, 1991...
, which had switched networks. The Hogan Family was the only Miller/Boyett series from the Lorimar era to never utilize Frederick and Salvay. The two worked on The Family Man, which boasted a first for both the musical team and Miller/Boyett; it was the first series in the group to have an instrumental opening theme.
Further 1990s success
Programs that ensued for the duo included Step By Step in 1991. The latter's title track, "Second Time Around", was sung by Frederick in a duet with Teresa James. It illustrated the story of the show's newly married couple, Frank Lambert (Patrick DuffyPatrick Duffy
Patrick George Duffy is an American character actor of stage and film. He is best known for his role on the CBS television drama Dallas, where he played Bobby Ewing from 1978 to 1985 and from 1986 to 1991, Duffy returns to reprise his role as Bobby in a new up-to-date Dallas currently scheduled to...
) and Carol Foster (Suzanne Somers
Suzanne Somers
Suzanne Somers is an American actress, author, singer and businesswoman, known for her television roles as Chrissy Snow on Three's Company and as Carol Lambert on Step by Step....
), as they had visions of mixing their households of kids together. Step By Step was another TGIF hit, running six seasons on ABC and its seventh and final on CBS. From 1992 to 1994, Frederick and Salvay's newest project with Miller/Boyett was at first titled A New Day in its earliest development. Following a revamp in its creation (by Bickley/Warren), it premiered on TGIF in March 1993 as Getting By
Getting By
Getting By is an American sitcom produced by Thomas L. Miller and Robert L. Boyett, with the format created by William Bickley and Michael Warren. The show debuted on ABC's TGIF block, running its first twelve-episode season from March 5, 1993 through May 21, 1993. Shortly after the spring season...
. The series had two different theme songs during each of its two seasons, the second of which aired on NBC. The first theme that Frederick and Salvay wrote was sentimental in nature with woodwind instrumentation, and sung by Mark Lennon. The second theme had the funk/hip-hop sound that had started to appear on sister shows like Family Matters, and had a different male vocalist. In 1994, the two worked on Miller/Boyett's single-season comedy On Our Own
On Our Own (1994 TV series)
On Our Own is an American sitcom that aired on ABC during the 1994-1995 season. The series starred six real life siblings: Jazz, Jocqui, Jake, Jojo, Jurnee, and Jussie Smollett....
. It starred Ralph Louis Harris and the six Smollett siblings as a family learning to fend for themselves after the death of their parents. The series' theme, one in a long line of feel-good, inspirational tunes from Frederick and Salvay, was performed by Joe Turano.
In the later years of their run with Miller/Boyett, Frederick and Salvay would alternate score composing duties with other resident talents such as Steven Chesne and Gary Boren. On some series, such as Perfect Stangers in its last few seasons, the two were replaced entirely (in this case, by Boren). After the conclusion of Full House and cancellation of On Our Own, both in 1995, Frederick and Salvay continued work on most remaining Miller/Boyett shows. However, there would be no new projects from the producers until 1997, when Miller and Boyett developed the new CBS comedy Meego, Bronson Pinchot's third series with the production company (earlier in 1997, Pinchot had been a series regular on Step By Step). Meego, which aired on the network's new "Block Party" lineup (a TGIF clone), was a departure from the usual production and musical styles of both Miller/Boyett and Frederick and Salvay. The sentimental, upbeat rock-flavored scores from earlier shows were substituted by pieces with strictly orchestral sounds, which seem most fitting for a show about an alien who crashed-landed on Earth, and now living with an American family (headed by Ed Begley, Jr.
Ed Begley, Jr.
Edward James "Ed" Begley, Jr. is an American actor and environmentalist. Begley has appeared in hundreds of films, television shows, and stage performances. He is best known for his role as Dr. Victor Ehrlich, on the television series St...
) in the series. After only a month on the air, Meego was canceled due to disappointing ratings.
In 1998, William Bickley departed from creating and producing with Michael Warren. The latter teamed up with Miller and Boyett, forming Miller/Boyett/Warren Productions. The team pitched what would be the final project for all: Two of a Kind, starring Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen
Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Fuller Olsen are American actresses and entrepreneurs.Both have appeared in television and films since infancy. Since then, they have continued their celebrity through numerous television programs, films, interviews, as well as commercial endorsements...
. Frederick and Salvay wrote their shortest opening title track to date for this series. However, Two of a Kinds instrumental theme was a return to the acoustic guitar-dominated, upbeat tunes that that two were known for, especially on the Olsens' former series, Full House. Two of a Kind, despite favorable reviews, folded in the spring of 1999 after one season.