Brett Raymond
Photo credit: brettraymond.com
Brett Raymond, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is a professional composer, arranger, studio musician, and singer. He has worked with all four major television networks – ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox – as well as other varied clients such as ARTS Entertainment channel, Major League Baseball, Utah Jazz, FTD. He has also written and composed theme music for TV programs such as the theme for the “Today Show” on NBC, production music for TV stations, network promos, and the title theme for “ABC’s Wide World of Sports.
His solo albums which he began releasing in 1994 on the Deseret Book/Shadow Mountain label include Primarily for Grown-ups (1994), Primary for Christmas (1996), First Light-Scenes from the Restoration, Vol. 1(1997), A Case of Pop (1998), and Primary for Grown-Ups Again! (2001). His album “First Light-Scenes from the Restoration, Vol.1” won the Album of the Year award from the Faith-Centered Music Association.
Brett was born in 1958 in Dayton, Ohio, but grew up in Utah. His compassion for music began at an early age. He began taking piano lessons at the age of eight. Years later, after receiving a composition music grant from Brigham Young University (BYU), but spending little time on academics, he started his professional music career with the band “Souvenir” in 1982 and released two singles on Curb/MCA records.
In 1986, he moved to Tokyo, Japan where he worked as a composer and arranger for pop records, radio, and television commercials. While living in Japan, he got the opportunity to release his first solo album called Only Love on Sixty Records (distributed by Nippon Phonogram). The album was only released in Japan, but the name Brett Raymond soon became recognized by AOR/Westcoast Music lovers because of the high quality of his music which features his soft and gentle pop vocals. In 1993, he played synthesizer on “When You Look in My Eyes” for Jay Graydon’s album called “Airplay for The Planet.”
Brett lived and worked in Thousand Oaks, California for a few years before returning to his roots and settling down in a suburb north of Salt Lake City, Utah. In his short bio on his official website he writes:
I’ve worn a variety of ‘hats’ through the years, being on ‘both sides of the glass’ as they say. I’ve been the piano man at the piano bar atop the high-rise hotel. I’ve been the studio player playing for the artist, I’ve been the artist other musicians are recording for. I’ve produced artists, I’ve been produced as an artist. I’ve been an arranger, whether for a studio recording or for sheet music, I’ve had my pieces arranged. I’ve hired bands to back me up on live shows, I’ve been hired by artists to back them up on live shows. I’ve even been the studio engineer, pushing buttons. But the biggest single thing in this crazy business that has kept the bills paid and tummies full has been my work in production music. Everything from jingles (Velveeta Shells and Cheeze) to TV Themes (The Agatha Christie Hour) to promo work (“America’s Biggest Road Show”- College Football on ABC) The biggest of those gigs has been, and continues to be, the Today Show on NBC, which has used my ‘main studio theme’ for a number of years, and which I’m very grateful for.
He currently resides in Franklin, Tennessee with his wife Becky where he continues to work as a composer, producer, arranger, studio musician, and singer, writing and composing music for TV and film. He has said, “Because I appreciate great songwriting, my CD player is filled with music from songwriters like Billy Joel, Carole King, Cherie Call…”
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