'Love Boat,' 'Happy Days' theme writer helped write the soundtrack ...

You may not know the face, or even the name, but you assuredly know the music.

Charles Fox wrote the theme songs for Happy Days, for The Love Boat, for Wide World of Sports. He?s written several pop standards, including Killing Me Softly With His Song.

He?s too modest to brag, but his ASCAP rating must be sky-high.

And now he?s written a moving memoir called Killing Me Softly: My Life in Music. It?s not a showbiz memoir so much as a coming-of-age story about a young man whose life is changed by a teacher.

That the teacher was the legendary Nadia Boulanger, the student of Faure, the classmate of Ravel, one of Stravinsky?s best friends, and the teacher of everybody from Aaron Copland to Virgil Thomson to Quincy Jones, makes it even more interesting.

Still, Fox is perfectly aware that the reason people will buy his book is to hear how he co-wrote such hits as Barry Manilow?s Ready to Take a Chance Again and Jim Croce?s I Got a Name, not to mention that TV theme music.

"The idea is to channel the emotional quality of the proposed show," he says, "even if the show itself doesn?t achieve it."

Theme songs have pervaded Fox?s career. His first was in 1965 for ABC?s Wide World of Sports, which was followed by Monday Night Football.

Fox came to Hollywood in 1968 to do the music for Goodbye, Columbus. Paramount liked his work and asked him to compose the score for the pilot of Love, American Style. Fox remembers that what he had to work with was the script, the main title with fireworks exploding, and a mock-up of the credits, with pictures of the different stars that would be appearing. "We had a minute to a minute and a half to bring out the essence of the show. Now composers have 10 seconds."

Happy Days was a spinoff from Love, American Style that Paramount kept in the can until American Graffiti came out and proved it was commercially safe to revisit the 1950s.

What?s a great TV theme song written by someone else?

"Oh, Mission: Impossible is a great theme. And I like M*A*S*H, which came from the movie. A great theme grows under your skin ? gives you an inkling of what the show is about. The theme from The Andy Griffith Show totally captures the spirit of the show, and there?s no words, just the melody and the man whistling."

Predicting the hit can be impossible

All songwriters who have written huge hits will tell you that they?ve written songs that were every bit as good, and in some cases better, than their hits. But nobody has ever heard of those songs.

"With a hit song, the stars have to align. Lots of things can go wrong ? it can be the wrong singer, or the record wasn?t released in time. If it?s tied to a TV show or movie, timing is everything. New York, New York became a standard without ever being a hit. The Love Boat theme was never a big record, but it?s Jack Jones? biggest song when he performs."

Killing Me Softly was originally recorded by a singer named Lori Leiberman on an album that went nowhere but was heard by Roberta Flack. Flack called Quincy Jones and asked how could she go about getting in touch with Charles Fox.

"I did four albums with Lori and never had a hit. On that first album was another song that Roberta recorded, When the Feeling?s Good. Sarah Vaughan also recorded it, Jose Feliciano also recorded it. Have you ever heard of it?"

Uh, no.

"My point. When Killing Me Softly took off, I thought I could predict songs that were going to be a hit. But it doesn?t work that way."

Never paid a penny for lessons

Fox brings passion to every topic that comes up, but his special passion is Nadia Boulanger, who 52 years ago gave free lessons to a window washer?s son from the Bronx.

"I never paid her a penny for lessons, and she charged some people plenty. I came to Paris for a summer to study with her at the conservatory. My father only made a modest income, but he paid to send me there for the summer.

"And then Boulanger said, ?I want you to come to Paris to study.?

" ?Mademoiselle, my parents can?t afford to keep me here.?

" ?Can they send you $100 a month??

" ?Well, maybe.? So we sat down and made a budget. A piano, food and music. ?But Mademoiselle, we didn?t leave any money for the lessons.?

" ?You have enough to worry about.? "

Fox remembers that Boulanger had two grand pianos in the living room, and would have her students sight-read Mozart and Schubert. "She would give you the most grueling and complex things. Then there was composition and analysis class. Then she would invite me for dinner and sometimes to a concert. I never paid her a centime."

Film music now about sound ?snippets?

As for movie music, it has gone into a trough with the death of such irreplaceable composers as Elmer Bernstein and John Barry, who contrived to write themes that elevated the story. Now movie music is predominantly washes of sound without themes.

"Now you have a sound design concept. It?s a different style, largely based on synthesizers. It?s taking sounds and little snippets of melody and it?s not the traditional kind of musical element based on themes."

But Fox doesn?t worry about it. He is busy with commissions and classical music, having a great time. "I relish this time, frankly," he says.

I tell him that he sounds optimistic about film music.

"I?m optimistic about everything."

Source: http://www.pbpulse.com/music/2011/09/15/from-themes-from-the-love-boat-to-wide-world-of-sports-charles-fox-helped-write-the-soundtrack/

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