John Andrew Colby (born April 23, 1949) is an American musician. He is a music producer composer and keyboardist. Colby produced the score for the 1981 Academy Award nominated

Ken Burns Kenneth Lauren Burns (born July 29, 1953) is an American filmmaker known for his documentary film, documentary films and television series, many of which chronicle United States, American History of the United States, history and Culture of the ...

documentary ''

Brooklyn Bridge The Brooklyn Bridge is a hybrid cable-stayed/suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East River ...

'', wrote and produced the score for the Academy Award nominee '' The Garden of Eden'', and received a Grammy as producer for the soundtrack of Ken Burns' ''

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policie ...

'' in the best traditional folk category. He was music director of

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The co ...

from 1984 to 1992 and wrote the ''

SportsCenter ''SportsCenter'' (SC) is a daily sports news television program that serves as the flagship program and brand of American cable and satellite television network ESPN. The show covers various sports teams and athletes from around the world and ...

'' theme (dadada), the best known sports theme of its time. As keyboardist and band leader for

Clarence Clemons Clarence Anicholas Clemons Jr. (January 11, 1942 – June 18, 2011), also known as The Big Man, was an American musician and actor. From 1972 until his death in 2011, he was the saxophonist for The E Street Band. Clemons released several ...

, he produced '' Live in Asbury Park I'' and '' II''. Colby wrote the NFL theme for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are ...

in the 1990s and wrote the themes for Super Bowls XXVI and XXVII. His music is heard all over the world on ESPN, Fox,

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programmin ...

and

Spike Spike, spikes, or spiking may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Books * ''The Spike'' (novel), a novel by Arnaud de Borchgrave * ''The Spike'' (book), a nonfiction book by Damien Broderick * ''The Spike'', a starship in Peter F. Hamilto ...

. Three of his songs, "Gladiator," "Eric D.," and "Arnold" were commonly used on the ESPN show ''

NFL Primetime ''NFL Primetime'' is a sports television program that has aired on ESPN since 1987. The show is presented similarly to ESPN's own ''SportsCenter'', featuring scores, highlights, and analysis of every game of the week in the NFL. When it debute ...

''. Three other songs of his, "Gothic," "Terminator," and "Gelman" were used on the show in the early 1990s, however they were phased out as the decade went on.

References

External links

* * 1949 births Living people American male musicians American male songwriters {{US-musician-stub