Bass Hall Presents Randy Newman 1/23

Performing Arts Fort Worth welcomes the return of acclaimed singer-songwriter and pianist Randy Newman to Bass Performance Hall on Sunday, January 23, 2011, at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $22-$55, and are on sale NOW!

Winner of five Grammy awards, three Emmy awards and an Academy Award, Randy Newman is one of popular music's most celebrated singers, songwriters and composers. Throughout a career that has spanned more than four decades, Newman, who was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992, has recorded a number of hits - such as "Short People" and "I Love L.A." - but is equally regarded for scoring the music to such films as Ragtime, The Natural, Parenthood, The Paper, Cars, A Bug's Life, Monsters, Inc, Meet the Parents and the three Toy Story films.

Newman wrote and sang many of the memorable and pivotal songs from those films, including "You've Got a Friend in Me" (Toy Story), "Our Town" (Cars), "If I Didn't Have You" (Monsters, Inc.) and "When She Loved Me" (Toy Story 2). Newman was recently nominated for a pair of 2011 Grammys for his work on the Toy Story 3 soundtrack and for the song "Down in New Orleans" from The Princess and the Frog soundtrack.

But it's Newman's latest solo album that brings him to town. Harps and Angels, released in 2008, has been called one of his finest. Upon its release, Newsweek proclaimed, "Randy Newman is curmudgeonly, cranky and at his best."

Starting with his 1968 self-titled debut record, Newman has spent his career infusing social and political humor and commentary into his encyclopedic music, which encompasses rock, pop, R&B, classical and blues. Rolling Stone proclaims: "Randy Newman writes mordant, ironic, concise songs with chromatic twists worthy of George Gershwin and Kurt Weill."

Born in New Orleans and raised in California, Newman grew up surrounded by music; two of his uncles scored several films. At 17, Newman was already a staff writer for a music publisher. Just a few years later, Newman landed a record deal. Throughout the 1970s, Newman alternated between having his own hit songs and writing hits for others. He toured frequently, often with a full orchestra, and released several acclaimed albums, such as Little Criminals and Sail Away.

In the 1980s, he began scoring films, such as The Natural and Ragtime, and he also had his biggest hit yet with the tongue-in-cheek song, "I Love L.A.," which The Los Angeles Times called the city's "de facto theme song."

Since then, Newman has continued to divide his career between releasing solo albums and film scores. He has also dabbled in theater; in 1995, he wrote a musical adaptation of Goethe's Faust. Despite detours into theater and film, he still considers himself, first and foremost, a singer/songwriter. "As much as I love writing movie music," he said in an interview with music web site MOG, "and I think I've done some good movie music, I guess my job is still, as far as most people are concerned, being a singer-songwriter. Even though the singer part of that equation is open to debate!"

To charge tickets by phone, call (817) 212-4280 in Fort Worth; 1-877-212-4280 (toll free) outside Fort Worth; or order online at www.basshall.com. Tickets are also available at the Bass Performance Hall ticket office at 525 Commerce Street. Ticket office hours: Monday through Friday 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. and Saturday 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

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