John Trivers
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![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/60/Trivers2017.jpg/220px-Trivers2017.jpg) John Trivers, 2017
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Born
| 1946 (age 77–78)
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Nationality
| American
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Occupation(s)
| Songwriter and musician
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Spouse
| Liz Myers
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John Trivers
(born 1946) is an
American
songwriter
and
musician
, the recipient of gold and platinum records for his involvement with
Blue Oyster Cult
and
Tina Turner
, and the co-writer with his wife and partner
Elizabeth Myers
of several popular themes for commercials, television programs, and film scores.
[1]
Biography
[
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]
The group "Lost and Found", 1966. From left: Peter Haviland, Jeff Hayes, John Trivers,
Eric Bloom
, and George Faust
Trivers was born in
Buffalo, New York
, the son of Julian Trivers, a marketing consultant, and Patricia Culver, a homemaker. The third of five children, he was educated at
The Hill School
, an exclusive boarding school in
Pennsylvania
from which he graduated in 1965, and
Hobart College
, where he received a bachelor's degree in music in 1969. While at Hobart, he played bass for the band Lost and Found, fronted by
Eric Bloom
, with whom he would later collaborate on songs for Bloom's band
Blue Oyster Cult
.
[2]
[3]
From 1972 to 1979, he played for Broadway shows such as
Grease
which is where in 1976 he met his future wife, fellow musician Elizabeth (Liz) Myers. In 1980, he went on to study Film and Television Post-Production at
UCLA
, In the early 1980s, he was also a member of the Vancouver-based band
Prism
, signed with
Capitol Records
. He has played with four Grammy award winners, Janis Ian, Mary Travers, Peter Allen and
Tina Turner
with whom he recorded on "Private Dancer". His playing is featured in the Turner song "Total Control" from the "
We Are the World
" record.
Trivers and his wife relocated to
Los Angeles
and started a commercial music business, Trivers-Myers Music, which has written well-known themes such as that used on the
CBS Evening News
,
[4]
and the award-winning
Apple Computer
Macintosh campaign which was directed by
Ridley Scott
and Adrien Lyne. In 2004, they scored an animated commercial for
United Airlines
which was first broadcast during the
Academy Awards
and has since been displayed on exhibit at various art museums. The music was an arrangement of
George Gershwin
's "Rhapsody in Blue" and was recorded at
Capitol Records
with 40 members of the
Los Angeles Philharmonic
orchestra.
[5]
In 2008, they composed the soundtracks for five United Airlines commercials created especially for the Beijing Games. "Heart" featured a two-piano composition performed by
Herbie Hancock
and Chinese classical musician
Lang Lang
. The music was written and produced by Trivers and Myers.
[6]
In 2011, Trivers and Myers music was featured on national broadcasts of Major League Baseball and the National Football League.
In 2015, author
J.K. Rowling
, in her crime novel
Career of Evil
, quoted lyrics from songs co-written by Trivers that appeared on albums by Blue Oyster Cult.
Trivers is the father of Julian Trivers, the drummer in the JUNO nominated Montreal band
Busty and the Bass
.
Awards
[
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]
- 1998, Composer (with
Liz Myers
and Jim Cox) for
Best Western International
"Manhattan" commercial,
Clio Award
, Television/Cinema, Certificate
- 1997, Composer (with
Mark Isham
) for
Saturn Corporation
ads "The Lift", "Tourist Attraction", "Secret Car". Clio Award, Television/Cinema
- 1996, Arranger/Composer (with Liz Myers),
Blue Cross / Blue Shield
"The Delivery", Clio Award, TV/Cinema
- 1988, Composer, Olympic Stain "Blueprint", U.S. Television/Cinema, Clio Winner
- 1986, Composer,
Sunkist
"Stamp Factory", U.S. Television, Clio Winner
Works
[
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]
As bass player
[
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]
As songwriter/composer
[
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]
with Blue Oyster Cult
[
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]
with Elizabeth Myers
[
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]
- Score for the film
Birch Street Gym
, directed by Steven Kessler for Chanticleer Films and nominated for an
Academy Award
in 1993 in the "Short Film" category
- Theme for the "
CBS Evening News with Dan Rather
" (with Alan Pasqua)
- 1998, Score for
Norma Jean, Jack & Me
, directed by
Cyrus Nowrasteh
for
New Path Pictures
- 2000, Score for
Broke Even
, directed by
David Feldman
, which won the award for Best Drama at the 2000 New York Independent Film festival
- 2001, Score for the
Oliver Stone
-produced TV movie
The Day Reagan Was Shot
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Queenan, Joe (October 25, 1993). "Classical gas".
Forbes
.
- ^
Adelson, Andrea (August 27, 1998).
"Companies are increasingly seeking to identify their products with music, both old and new"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
July 4,
2011
.
- ^
"Eric Bloom biography"
. Hobart College alumni website. Archived from
the original
on September 27, 2011
. Retrieved
July 4,
2011
.
- ^
Leiser, Ernest (January 6, 1988). "Composers change the sound of the news".
San Francisco Chronicle
.
- ^
"Trivers/Myers music broadcasts United Airlines spot"
.
Mix Online
. March 17, 2004. Archived from
the original
on July 9, 2011
. Retrieved
July 4,
2011
.
- ^
"Music and sound that's undeniably straight from the heart".
SHOOT
. Vol. 49, no. 19. November 7, 2008.
External links
[
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]
"2024 BREAKTHROUGH GROUP OF THE YEAR | Busty and the Bass". The JUNO Awards - Canada's Music Awards. Retrieved 26 February 2024.