John Beal (composer)
John Beal (born January 20, 1947 in Santa Monica, California) is an American film composer and conductor working in Hollywood, California. He has composed the music for numerous television series, such as Vega$, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley and Eight Is Enough and films such as The Funhouse and Terror in the Aisles. He is also a composer of film trailer music and works with the Hollywood Symphony Orchestra.
Early life
John Beal was born in Santa Monica, California, raised in La Cañada Flintridge, California, graduated from John Muir High School (Pasadena, California), where he was honored for having written many of the drum cadences for the school's internationally renowned Drum Corps, many of which are still used more than 50 years after his graduation. He was named to their Hall of Fame in 2008. In the 1976 Rose Parade, the UCLA Marching Band added his cadence "JB" into their repertoire He attended San Diego State University and, after being decorated for heroism and bravery in combat with the United States Marine Corps, he attended UCLA. He studied percussion with William Kraft and Bernie Mattinson, and drums with Irv Cotler (drummer for Frank Sinatra), composition with Harry Partch scholar Danlee Mitchell, synthesizers with Clark Spangler, and film scoring with Dominic Frontiere, George Duning, Buddy Baker, Fred Werner, Eddy Lawrence Manson and Earle Hagen. In his early film career, and like many of the young composers of the day, he ghost wrote the scores for numerous major motion pictures and hit television shows and orchestrated and supervised the recording sessions for many others.
