Paul Ross Jacobs is an American composer and musician. Most known for his work with Late Singer

Meat Loaf Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; September 27, 1947 – January 20, 2022), known professionally as Meat Loaf, was an American rock singer and actor. He was noted for his powerful, wide-ranging voice and theatrical live shows. He is on t ...

and his band the Neverland Express.

Biography

Paul Ross Jacobs was born in New York City. He attended the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...

and as a child, played at Carnegie Hall, on television and for

Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...

. After watching

The Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...

on ''

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the '' CBS Sunday Night M ...

'', he started playing guitar. He worked as a session musician during his high school years and later on with

Roy Buchanan Leroy "Roy" Buchanan (September 23, 1939 – August 14, 1988) was an American guitarist and blues musician. A pioneer of the Telecaster sound, Buchanan worked as a sideman and as a solo artist, with two gold albums early in his career and two lat ...

, and

Edgar Winter Edgar Holland Winter (born December 28, 1946) is an American musician. He is a multi-instrumentalist, playing keyboards, guitar, saxophone, and percussion, as well as singing. His success peaked in the 1970s with his band the Edgar Winter Group ...

Early career

Jacobs' association with the National Lampoon came through

Christopher Guest Christopher Haden-Guest, 5th Baron Haden-Guest (born February 5, 1948) is an American-British screenwriter, composer, musician, director, actor, and comedian. Guest is most widely known in Hollywood for having written, directed, and starred in ...

, who had written a large chunk of the first National Lampoon album, ''Radio Dinner''. Guest was working as a session musician and met Jacobs when they were both performing at the same session. Guest was developing his own songs at the time and asked Jacobs to contribute, and a musical association was born. When Guest was tapped for '' National Lampoon's Lemmings'' in 1973, he brought Jacobs on board. Jacobs was musical director of the show and album ''Lemmings''. As well as being musical director for the production, he played guitar and piano, and sang lead vocals on several songs. He also appeared on the Lampoon album Goodbye Pop 1952-1976.

From comedy to rock

After serving as musical director and cast member of "The National Lampoon Show" Jacobs moved on from Lampoon-related activities and did a stint in the often-intertwined worlds of musical theater and rock and roll. In 1977, when Steinman staged a workshop production of his life-work "Neverland", Jacobs served as musical director and co-arranged the show's score. A year later, Jacobs joined

as a pianist and background vocalist. Later becoming album writer and guitarist.

Children's TV

In 1988, following his departure from active live touring with Meat Loaf, Jacobs and his wife began the task of writing songs for ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...

''. As of 2008, they have written over 100. As of the early 2000s, Jacobs has served as musical director for the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

show "

Between the Lions ''Between the Lions'' is an American animated/live-action/puppet children's television series designed to promote reading. The show was a co-production between WGBH in Boston and Sirius Thinking, Ltd., in New York City, in association with Mis ...

" alongside his wife,

Sarah Durkee Sarah Durkee is a writer and lyricist, a television lyricist and screenwriter, and an author and humorist. Durkee and her husband Paul Jacobs are the creators of the theme song for the popular PBS literacy education series, ''Between the Lions'' ...

, and they have won several Emmys for their work on that show, most recently the 2007 Emmy for "Best Original Song in an Animated Children's Series." Jacobs was nominated again for a

Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences ...

for Best Music Direction and Composition in 2011.

Later work

In 2000, Jacobs won the Van Cliburn Institute Amateur Piano Concerto Competition.

References

External links

dramaticpublishing.com feature
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jacobs, Paul Living people Juilliard School alumni Daytime Emmy Award winners National Lampoon people Neverland Express members Sesame Street crew 21st-century American composers Songwriters from New York (state) American male pianists American male composers American male singers 21st-century American pianists 21st-century American male musicians Year of birth missing (living people)