Seth MacFarlane
can add another talent (musician) to his list.
The showrunner, who is behind Fox’s multi-billion dollar animated empire, is now a two-time Grammy nominee.
PHOTOS: 54th Annual Grammy Nominees
MacFarlane, who only recently began trying his hand at writing music, was nominated in the Best Song Written For Visual Media category, with “Christmastime is Killing Us,” which he co-wrote with
Ron Jones
and
Danny Smith
.
In an even bigger coup, the producer, who is currently overseeing
American Dad
!
,
The Cleveland Show
, an update of the classic animated series
The Flintstones
, a revamp of the 1980s PBS series
Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey
, an untitled animated series he’s preparing to pitch, a feature film due out next summer called
Ted
, a recurring gig as Comedy Central’s celebrity roast master (most recent victim:
Charlie Sheen
) and the series that made them all possible,
Family Guy
, was also nominated for his big band album
Music Is Better Than Words
.
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The debut album is nominated alongside musical heavyweights
Tony Bennett
,
Barbra Streisand
,
Harry Connick Jr.
and
Susan Boyle
in the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album category.
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The Hollywood Reporter
‘s Oct. 21
cover story
reported that when he set out to make the record with
American Dad!
composer
Joel McNeely
, he had one goal in mind: to introduce others to the kind of music — including many obscure songs from the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s — he has been listening to and loving since he was a boy. In a nod to his idol, he recorded the vocals with the actual microphone
Frank Sinatra
used on many of his classic albums. (According to McNeely, there’s already talk of a brief East Coast tour this year and a desire to make a follow-up album.)
“Seth is probably more knowledgeable about this music than anybody I’ve ever known,” says McNeely, who has spent his career ensconced in that world. “If you name a song off of a particular album from that era, he’ll be able to tell you not just who arranged it, but what studio it was recorded at, probably the year that it was recorded and who some of the players were. It’s a little freaky.”
To read THR’s MacFrarlane cover story in full, click here.
Watch “Christmastime is Killing Us” below.