Jay Gruska (; born April 23, 1952) is an American

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

best known for his film and television scoring, and for writing hit songs for a variety of artists. He has composed musical scores for dozens of TV

dramas Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been c ...

, with over 500 hours of shows played internationally. Gruska has received three

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

nominations, one

Genie Award The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978; also known as the "Etrog Awards," for scu ...

nomination, and nine

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

awards. Some of his best-known scores are for the TV shows '' Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman'', ''

Charmed ''Charmed'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by Constance M. Burge and produced by Aaron Spelling and his production company Spelling Television, with Brad Kern serving as showrunner. The series was originally broadcast ...

'', and ''

Supernatural Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...

.''

Career

Gruska started his career as a singer/songwriter. He was briefly a member of

Three Dog Night Three Dog Night is an American rock band formed in 1967, with founding members consisting of vocalists Danny Hutton, Cory Wells, and Chuck Negron. This lineup was soon augmented by Jimmy Greenspoon (keyboards), Joe Schermie (bass), Michael Allsup ...

in 1976, replacing

Danny Hutton Daniel Anthony Hutton (born September 10, 1942) is an Irish-American singer, best known as one of the three lead vocalists in the band Three Dog Night. Hutton was a songwriter and singer for Hanna-Barbera Records from 1965 to 1966. Hutton had a m ...

, until the group disbanded. He had recording contracts with

ABC Records ABC Records was an American record label founded in New York City in 1955. It originated as the main popular music label operated by the Am-Par Record Corporation. Am-Par also created the Impulse! jazz label in 1960. It acquired many labels befo ...

and

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

with the band

Maxus SAIC Maxus Automotive Co., Ltd. trading as Maxus and sometimes known by the pinyin transcription of its Chinese name, Datong (大通) is a Chinese vehicle brand. Currently, it is a commercial and passenger vehicle manufacturer being a wholly ...

, for which he was the lead singer and songwriter. Warner Bros. Records later released his solo album ''Which One of Us Is Me'', which Gruska also produced. Gruska is also known for co-writing the hit duet "

Tell Me I'm Not Dreamin' (Too Good to Be True) "Tell Me I'm Not Dreamin' (Too Good to Be True)" is a song by Jermaine Jackson featuring his younger brother Michael Jackson, taken from Jermaine Jackson's Jermaine_Jackson_(album), eponymous album. Jason Elias of Allmusic called this song "percol ...

" for

Jermaine Jermaine ( ) is a masculine given name of Latin language, Latin origin, derived from the French given name , which is in turn derived from the Latin given name , meaning "brother". The masculine given name Jermaine was popularized in the 1970s b ...

and

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

; the

Gloria Loring Gloria Loring-Lagler (born Gloria Jean Goff; December 10, 1946) is an American singer and actress. She is known for playing Liz Chandler on ''Days of Our Lives'' for six years (1980–86). She and singer-actor Carl Anderson performed the duet " ...

/ Carl Anderson duet " Friends and Lovers" (also released in a country version under the title "Both To Each Other (Friends and Lovers)," performed by

Juice Newton Judith Kay "Juice" Newton (born February 18, 1952) is an American pop and country singer, songwriter, and musician. Newton has received five Grammy Award nominations in the Pop and Country Best Female Vocalist categorieswinning once in 1983as well ...

and Eddie Rabbitt); and

Amy Grant Amy Lee Grant (born November 25, 1960) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. She began in contemporary Christian music (CCM) before crossing over to pop music in the 1980s and 1990s. She has been referred to as "The Queen of Christia ...

's " Good for Me". In November 2014, the 200th episode of ''Supernatural'', titled "Fan Fiction", aired on

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

. Gruska wrote and produced two songs for the episode (co-writing the lyrics with

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

Robbie Thompson). Within 24 hours after the episode aired, one of the songs, "The Road So Far", was #3 on the

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

soundtrack chart and #57 among all songs on iTunes.

Personal life

Gruska is the father of Barbara and Ethan Gruska, the members of the pop music duo

The Belle Brigade The Belle Brigade was an American vocal and instrumental duo from Los Angeles, California, consisting of siblings Barbara Gruska (born c. 1983) on guitar, drums, and vocals, and Ethan Gruska (born c. 1989) on guitar, piano, and vocals. The duo r ...

.Kevin Bronson
"The Belle Brigade: All in the Family"
''

L.A. Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose paren ...

'', March 31, 2011.

Awards and nominations

Awards

*2014:

Film/TV Award - Score, ''Supernatural'' *2010: ASCAP Film/TV Award - Score, ''Supernatural'' *1998: ASCAP Film/TV Award - Score, ''

'' *1993: ASCAP Pop Award - "Good for Me" *1988: ASCAP Country Award - "Friends & Lovers (Both to Each Other)" *1988: ASCAP Pop Award - "Friends & Lovers (Both to Each Other)" *1987: ASCAP Country Award - "Friends & Lovers (Both to Each Other)" *1987: ASCAP Pop Award - "Friends & Lovers (Both to Each Other)"

Nominations

*2000:

Nomination - Best Original Score, ''Falcone'' *2000: Emmy Award Nomination - Best Main Title Theme Music, ''Falcone'' *1996: Golden Reel Nomination - Music, '' Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman'' *1995: Golden Reel Nomination - Music, ''Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman'' *1994: Golden Reel Nomination - Music, ''Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman'' *1994: Emmy Award Nomination - Best Main Title Theme Music, ''Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman'' *1989:

Genie Award for Best Original Song The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television presents an annual award for Best Achievement in Music: Original Song to the best original song in a Canadian motion picture. First presented at the 3rd Genie Awards in 1982, the award was presented ...

Nomination - '' Shadow Dancing''

Film and television

Discography

References

External links

jaygruska.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gruska, Jay 1952 births Living people American male singer-songwriters American television composers American film score composers Record producers from New York (state) Singer-songwriters from New York (state)