Marc Shaiman

Noted for his bouncy film scores that are a throwback to the heyday of the Tin Pan Alley composers, Marc Shaiman first gained prominence as the musical director for Bette Midler and her back-up singers, The Harlettes, in the mid-1970s. As a teenager, he had dropped out of high school and moved to NYC in the hopes of working with Midler. When her pianist, Barry Manilow, moved on, the Divine Miss M hired Shaiman and their careers have been intertwined since. He has worked on numerous stage shows with Midler, written special material for the artist and served as music supervisor on several of her films, notably "Beaches" (1988), to which he also contributed the song "Otto Titsling," and "For the Boys" (1991), for which he co-wrote the song "Dixie's Dream." He also scored Paul Mazursky's "Scenes From a Mall" (1991) and Hugh Wilson's "The First Wives Club" (1996), both starring Midler, and collaborated with her on the TV specials "Bette Midler's Mondo Beyondo" (HBO, 1988), "Bette Midler--Diva Las Vegas" (HBO, 1997) and "Jackie's Back!" (Lifetime, 1999).