You have heard his stellar musical arrangements
on Rihanna's "Unfaithful"; on the powerful horn section hook of
Paul Simon's "You Can Call Me Al" from his landmark CD, Graceland;
on Steely Dan's "Babylon Sisters" and "Time Out of Mind" from Gaucho;
on Donald Fagen's "Ruby Baby" (a Grammy-nominated arrangement) from the
Grammy-winning CD, Nightfly; on Madonna's "Crazy for You"--her
second #1 single in the United States; on Aretha Franklin's thrilling orchestral
reading of "Nessun Dorma" (another Grammy nomination) and many, many other
hit recordings.
Rob's first record production was Michael Franks' Passionfruit
in 1982. Rob went on to produce two more albums with Franks (Skin
Dive and The Camera Never Lies) and projects for Aaron
Neville (Nature Boy,) Natalie Cole, Carly Simon, Heather
Headley, Lee Ann Womack, Chiara Civello, Sadao Watanabe, Aztec Camera, Eddie Daniels,
Deborah Cox, Leslie Mendelson, Yvette Rovira and others..
Rob is
one of the top arrangers in the business, from his early days with producers Ashford
& Simpson (Diana Ross, Gladys Knight) Joel Dorn (Steve Goodman)
and Leon Pendarvis (Cissy Houston, Roberta Flack) to more recent
work with Phil Ramone (Billy Joel, Elton John, Natalie Cole, Dave Koz,
George Michael) and Russ Titelman (Lyle Lovett, Keb' Mo', Tom Wopat)
and projects for Paul Simon, James Taylor, Michael Buble, Rihanna, Usher, Mary
J. Blige, Eddy Mitchell, Trisha Yearwood and many more. Grammy-winning songwriter,
John Bettis notes of Rob's arrangement on Madonna's "Crazy for You": "We
owe a big debt of gratitude to Rob Mounsey. He really made a hit record out of
[the song]".
Rob's performances on piano and keyboards have been featured on scores of well-loved recordings, including Steely Dan's Gaucho, Paul Simon's Graceland, Donald Fagen's Nightfly, Phil Collins' "Against All Odds," and recordings by Diana Ross, Billy Joel, Phoebe Snow, Kurt Elling, Diana Krall, Steve Winwood, Milton Nascimento, Steve Khan, Deborah Cox, Heather Headley, David Sanborn, George Benson, Brian Wilson, Roberta Flack and many others.
As a composer for film and television, Rob created the score for Mike Nichols' hit film Working Girl; collaborated with Donald Fagen on the score for Bright Lights, Big City; created the score for the Oscar-winning documentary Big Mama; composed two long-running and award-winning themes for CBS-TV's Guiding Light; composed many musical cues for HBO's hit Sex & the City; and contributed music to the films Just a Kiss, Where the Heart Is, For the Love of the Game, The King of Comedy, The Warriors and Animal House, as well as the scores to the television films Kings of South Beach and Citizen Jane.
Currently, Rob has been onstage all over the world as the Musical Director for Broadway (Wicked and Rent) and TV (Glee) star Idina Menzel, creating all her musical arrangements and appearing with her as pianist. He also just produced and arranged the smash Christmas release entitled Heavenly Christmas (Columbia) by eleven-year-old sensation Jackie Evancho, was one of several arrangers on the upcoming George Michael 2012 release, contributed arrangements and conducted the music for jazz vocalist Sophie Milman's In The Moonlight CD.
In 2012, Rob is preparing to produce a new album with Aaron Neville and work with Ms. Aretha Franklin.
The recipient of six Grammy nominations and two Emmys, Rob works from his beautiful Manhattan studio with a breaktaking view of the Hudson River. His deep love of music-making, his varied musical skillset, his extensive experience, and his soft-spoken demeanor keep Rob in high demand.
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