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Alf Clausen (born March 28, 1941) is an American film and television composer. He is best known for his work scoring many episodes of The Simpsons, of which he has been the sole composer since 1992. Clausen has scored or orchestrated music for more than 30 films and television shows, including Moonlighting, The Naked Gun, ALF, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. He was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and grew up in Jamestown, North Dakota. is the 87th day of the year (88th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see 1941 (disambiguation). ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... Simpsons redirects here. ... Moonlighting is a television series that first aired on ABC in the United States from 1985 to 1989 with a total of 66 episodes. ... The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! is the first film in a series of comedy movies starring Leslie Nielsen, Priscilla Presley, George Kennedy, and O.J. Simpson. ... ALF is a 30-minute television sitcom that originally ran on NBC from 1986 to 1990. ... Ferris Bueller redirects here. ... Minneapolis redirects here. ... Jamestown is a city in Stutsman County, North Dakota in the United States. ...

Biography

Clausen was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and raised in Jamestown, North Dakota. He received his training at North Dakota State University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Boston's Berklee College of Music, earning degrees in Arranging & Composition. He began his musical career as a French Hornist and Bassist, going on to become an instructor at Berklee. Minneapolis redirects here. ... Jamestown is a city in Stutsman County, North Dakota in the United States. ... North Dakota State University (NDSU) is a public university in Fargo, North Dakota, U.S. It is the second largest school in the eleven campus North Dakota University System. ... University of Wisconsin redirects here. ... Nickname: City on the Hill, Beantown, The Hub (of the Universe)1, Athens of America, The Cradle of Revolution, Puritan City, Americas Walking City Location in Massachusetts, USA Counties Suffolk County Mayor Thomas M. Menino(D) Area    - City 232. ... Berklee College of Music, founded in 1945, is an independent music college in Boston, Massachusetts with many prominent faculty, staff, alumni, and visiting artists. ...

He has composed scores for several television series and TV movies, including Moonlighting (for which he received six Emmy nominations), The Simpsons (for which he received two Emmy awards, three Annie awards, three International Monitor Awards, 18 additional Emmy nominations and three additional Annie nominations), Bette, The Critic, ALF, Christine Cromwell, Dads, Double Agent, Fame, Harry, Lime Street, My First Love, Murder In Three Acts, Police Story, She Knows Too Much, Stranded, and Wizards & Warriors. Look up moonlighting in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For the play by Sheridan, see The Critic (play). ... The movie Fame spawned three television series: The original, which ran from 1982 to 1987 Fame L.A., which ran in the mid-1990s. ... Police Story was an anthology television drama on the NBC broadcast network from the years 1973 through 1977. ...

His feature film credits include Half-Baked and Number One With a Bullet. He has contributed additional music and orchestrations to numerous feature films, including Airplane II: The Sequel, The Beastmaster, Ferris Beuller's Day Off, Dragnet, Into The Night, Micki + Maude, Mr. Mom, The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!, Splash, Weird Science, and Wise Guys. He has been musical director, composer and arranger for numerous television variety shows including The Donny & Marie Show, Mary and The Mary Tyler Moore Hour. Half Baked is a 1998 comedy film starring Dave Chappelle, Jim Breuer, Harland Williams and Guillermo Díaz. ... Marc Singer, The Beastmaster The Beastmaster is a 1982 fantasy film directed by Don Coscarelli that starred Marc Singer, Tanya Roberts, John Amos and Rip Torn. ... Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) shakes things up on a parade float Ferris Buellers Day Off is a 1986 film written and directed by John Hughes. ... Dragnet is a 1987 film starring Dan Aykroyd, Tom Hanks, Christopher Plummer, Dabney Coleman, Harry Morgan, and Alexandra Paul, directed by Tom Mankiewicz. ... Micki + Maude (1984) is a comedy film starring Dudley Moores as Rob Salinger, an overworked television reporter. ... For the Lonestar song, see Mr. ... The Naked Gun is the name of a series of comedy movies starring Leslie Nielsen, Priscilla Presley and OJ Simpson. ... Look up splash in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see Weird Science. ... For the talk show, see Donny & Marie (1998 TV series). ... For the 1985 sitcom, see Mary (TV series) Mary was a variety-type program briefly broadcast by CBS as part of its 1978-79 fall lineup. ... The Mary Tyler Moore Hour was a television series broadcast by CBS in the spring of 1979. ...

His CD credits (as songwriter, conductor and producer) include the hit Rhino Records The Simpsons releases Songs in the Key of Springfield, Go Simpsonic with The Simpsons, and The Simpsons: Testify, and the 2005 CD with the Alf Clausen Jazz Orchestra, Swing Can Really Hang You Up The Most. Simpsons redirects here. ... Songs in the Key of Springfield is a 1997 soundtrack album from The Simpsons compiling many of the musical numbers from the series. ... Go Simpsonic with The Simpsons is the 1999 soundtrack album from The Simpsons. ...

He later composed the music for the parody songs for the Rita and Runt Episode: "Les Miseranimals", who worked with the writer and lyricist of the show, Deanna Oliver. Runt Rita and Runt were the stars of several musical segments in the animated television series Animaniacs. ... Deanna Oliver is an American actress who did the voice of Toaster in The Brave Little Toaster. ...

His compositions and arrangements have been featured by many recording artists and commercial advertisers. His music is featured on the Universal Studios Tram Tour 2000. He has also composed for musicians such as Buddy Rich, Thad Jones, Mel Lewis, Ray Charles, Woody Herman, Stan Kenton, and Denny Christianson. His memberships include AFM, ASCAP, ATAS, IAJE, NARAS, Society of Composer & Lyricists (former Vice President and member, Board of Directors), Songwriters Guild, SAG, Who's Who In The West, Who's Who In California, and Who's Who In Entertainment. Bernard Buddy Rich (September 30, 1917 Brooklyn, New York – April 2, 1987) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. ... Thad Jones Thaddeus Joseph Jones (March 28, 1923 - August 21, 1986) was an American jazz trumpeter. ... Mel Lewis (May 10, 1929 - February 2, 1990) was a drummer, Jazz musician and band leader. ... For Ray Charles, the composer and conductor of the Ray Charles Singers, see Ray Charles (composer). ... Woodrow Charles Herman (May 16, 1913 – October 29, 1987), better known as Woody Herman, was an American jazz clarinetist, alto and soprano saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. ... Stanley Newcomb Kenton (December 15, 1911 – August 25, 1979) led a highly innovative, influential, and often controversial American jazz orchestra. ...

Awards include two Emmy awards, twenty-seven Emmy nominations, three Annie awards, three Annie nominations, three International Monitor Awards, Grammy and CLIO nominations, Honorary Doctor of Music Degree-Berklee College of Music, Honorary Doctor of Music Degree-North Dakota State University, Alumnus Recognition Award-Berklee College of Music, “One of Top 50 Alumni” Award-Berklee College of Music, the Alumni Achievement Award-North Dakota State University, the “1:00 O'Clock” Award-North Texas State University, two National Endowment For The Arts Composition Fellowship Grants, and seven times recipient of the ASCAP Popular Award For Music Composition. He is also a recipient of several ASCAP Film and Television Music awards.

External links

• Alf Clausen at the Internet Movie Database
• Alf Clausen's official site
• Alf Clausen Online Music Scholarship