Joe Renzetti

Film Composer Joseph Renzetti was born January 4, 1941 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Joseph studied guitar with Frank Tacconelli a disciple of the Eddie Lang school, Sal Benigo, Lenny Payton, Dennis Sandole and Joe Sgro. He studied composing and orchestrating under Nicholas Flagello. In the early 60s, as a result of Dick Clark and American Bandstand, originating from Philly, Cameo-Parkway records came into existence. Renzetti became Cameo Records' house guitarist, and played on the hits "Let's Twist Again", " Dee Dee Sharp's "Mashed Potato Time"", "South Street", The "Limbo Rock", "Palisades Park, and "Tallahassee Lassie". Fascinated by the advances in recording technology, and the profession of arranging for records, in 1963 Renzetti moved to New York. There, he arranged the top-ten records "Sunny", by Bobby Hebb, "Ninety Eight Point Six", by Keith, "Apple, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie", by Jay & the Techniques, and "Mandy", by Barry Manilow. In 1973 Renzetti moved to Hollywood. During this time he was called to arrange the music for feature-film The Buddy Holly Story, which garnered him an Academy Award. Although the music was that of Holly's, he taught the actors to play their instruments and sing the songs from scratch. Filmed, live on camera and using 24 track recording, the actors actually played and sung as a performing group. This had never been done on film. As a film composer, Joe Renzetti received commissions to score Fatso, Elvis, Vice Squad, Poltergeist III, an episode of Tales from the Crypt, and Child's Play. Renzetti scored the TV series "Missing Persons." Joe Renzetti continues to score films, and compose works for Orchestra, chamber groups, and solo artists. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.