Mike Post

Television music's most renowned and prolific composer, Mike Post crafted many of the medium's most enduring themes, including those for Hill Street Blues, Magnum, P.I., L.A. Law, The Rockford Files, and The Phil Donahue Show. Born on September 29, 1944, in Berkeley, he first gained experience as a sideman with the Markettes and the duo Paul & Paula. A period performing in the house band at a local strip club prompted him to enroll once more in college for formal music studies; following graduation he assembled the folk group known as the Wellingbrook Singers. Engagements with Sammy Davis, Jr. and Dean Martin came next, and after contributing guitar to Sonny & Cher's hit single "I Got You Babe," he produced Kenny Rogers & the First Edition's "I Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)." His initial Grammy recognized the arrangement he supplied for Mason Williams' 1968 album The Phonograph Record.

That same year he joined The Andy Williams Show as musical director. He soon began a songwriting collaboration with veteran jazz trombonist and arranger Pete Carpenter that continued until Carpenter's death in 1987. Starting with the 1973 series Toma, the pair supplied music for more than 1,800 hours of television, frequently for producers Stephen J. Cannell and Steven Bochco; among their joint credits are Hill Street Blues, which earned Post four Grammy awards, as well as Wiseguy, The A-Team, Law and Order, and NYPD Blue. Post also co-wrote, arranged, and produced the theme for The Greatest American Hero, a number one hit for singer Joey Scarbury, while additional projects outside television involved Ray Charles, Dolly Parton, and Peter Allen. In 1994 he received BMI's Richard Kirk Award for lifetime achievement in film and television music. The CD Inventions from the Blue Line appeared that year, followed by the 1998 compilation It's Post Time: Encore Collection and the 1999 collection NYPD Blue: The Best of Mike Post.