Jeff Russo

Guitarist Jeff Russo, who co-founded the band Tonic, has earned recognition as a composer for both film and television. Early mainstream exposure arrived when Tonic scored a rock radio success with “If You Could Only See” on the 1996 debut album Lemon Parade. Two Grammy nominations followed for the 2002 release Head on Straight. His television work later brought an Emmy for the FX series Fargo, and he has since composed for Star Trek: Discovery, The Umbrella Academy, and Legion. Additional feature scores include Noah Hawley’s 2019 film Lucy in the Sky and the 2021 drama Oslo.

Russo, born in 1969, began playing guitar during his teenage years after discovering the Beatles, Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin. In 1990 he formed the alternative-rock group Tonic alongside childhood friend and co-vocalist Emerson Hart. The platinum-certified Lemon Parade yielded further hits “Open Up Your Eyes” alongside the earlier single, while 1999’s Sugar delivered “You Wanted More,” a track also featured on the American Pie soundtrack. Head on Straight earned the two Grammy nominations, and the self-titled fifth album appeared in 2010.

Alongside continued Tonic activity, Russo turned to commercial composition and production. An Emmy arrived in 2014 for his Fargo score, after which he scored the Starz series Counterpart starring J.K. Simmons, the Netflix production Altered Carbon, and the HBO limited series The Night Of featuring John Turturro and Riz Ahmed. A BAFTA nomination for Best Music recognized his contribution to the Annapurna Interactive game What Remains of Edith Finch.

Legion, the Marvel-based FX series, received his score in 2017. He also composed for the Peabody Award-nominated Star Trek: Discovery and for Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy, drawn from Gerard Way’s comic series. Feature work encompasses the 2018 action film Mile 22 starring Mark Wahlberg and the biographical thriller Lizzie, which starred Chloë Sevigny and Kristen Stewart. In 2019 he scored Lucy in the Sky for director Noah Hawley, with Natalie Portman in the lead role, and supplied music for the 2021 television film Oslo depicting the negotiations that produced the 1993 Oslo Accords.