Steve Sexton is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

composer, arranger, musical director, producer and

keyboardist A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instr ...

. He served as Canadian singer

Anne Murray Morna Anne Murray (born June 20, 1945) is a retired Canadian singer. Her albums, consisting primarily of pop, country, and adult contemporary music, have sold over 55 million copies worldwide during her over 40-year career. Murray was the fir ...

's Musical Director for 25 years with responsibilities as her pianist, conductor, arranger, and on occasion her producer.

Early career

Sexton was born in Richmond Hill,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. He graduated from Richmond Hill High School and received a music degree from

The University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thames Ri ...

and a performance degree from the Western Ontario Conservatory of Music. He was a member of the Canadian rock band,

Red Rider Red Rider, later known as Tom Cochrane & Red Rider, is a Canadians, Canadian Rock music, rock band popular in the 1980s. While they achieved significant success in Canada, the band never had a song in the top 40 in the United States, although "L ...

, from 1982 to 1984 and appears as keyboardist on their albums ''

Breaking Curfew ''Breaking Curfew'' is the fourth studio album by the Canadian rock band Red Rider, released in 1984 (see 1984 in music). The album was recorded and mixed at ''Metalworks Studios'' and ''E.S.P. Studio'' in Toronto, Ontario and ''Startling Studio ...

'' and '' Neruda''. He was one half (with Gerald O'Brien) of the

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

new-age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars conside ...

ensemble, Exchange, whose recordings include ''Between Places'', ''Into the Night'', ''Exchange'', and ''Beyond Words''. ''Between Places'' reached number 9 in the

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

New Age chart for June 30, 1990. He also appears as keyboardist on the

Strange Advance Strange Advance is a Canadian new wave band formed in 1982 in Vancouver, British Columbia. They were nominated for a 1983 Juno Award as Most Promising Group of the Year and again in 1985 as Group of the Year. Their first two albums, 1982's ' ...

album, '' 2WO'', Platinum Blonde's album, '' Standing in the Dark'',

Shirley Eikhard Shirley Rose Eikhard (7 November 1955 – 15 December 2022) was a Canadian singer-songwriter. Although moderately successful in Canada as a performer in her own right, she had her greatest Canadian and international success as a songwriter for ...

's comeback album, ''Taking Charge'', and the

Jim Carrey James Eugene Carrey (; born January 17, 1962) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian and artist. Known for his energetic slapstick performances, Carrey first gained recognition in 1990, after landing a role in the American sketch comedy te ...

film '' Copper Mountain''. His ensemble, Exchange, was nominated for a 1993

Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

for Best Instrumental Artist or Ensemble of the year and they have released seven albums.

Work with Anne Murray

Steve's extensive career has had him working alongside such artists as

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...

Bryan Adams Bryan Guy Adams (born 5 November 1959) is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, composer, and photographer. He has been cited as one of the best-selling music artists of all time, and is estimated to have sold between 75 million and mor ...

Michael Bublé Michael Steven Bublé ( ; born September 9, 1975) is a Canadian singer. A four-time Grammy Award winner, he is often credited for helping to renew public interest and appreciation for traditional pop standards and the Great American Songboo ...

, and top orchestras such as the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

and the

Boston Pops The Boston Pops Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts, specializing in light classical and popular music. The orchestra's current music director is Keith Lockhart. Founded in 1885 as an offshoot of the Boston Symp ...

Philharmonic orchestra and worked with

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who wa ...

. He served as Anne Murray's Musical Director for 25 years with responsibilities as her pianist, conductor, arranger, and on occasion her producer. He was the Music Director for many of her television shows, including ''Friends & Legends'' (2008), ''The Music of My Life'' (2005), ''Intimate Evening with Anne Murray'' (1998), ''The Sounds of London'' (1985), ''Anne Murray's Winter Carnival in Quebec'' (1984), and ''A Special Anne Murray Christmas'' (1981). He also produced ''Anne Murray's Christmas Album'' (2008), ''An Intimate Evening With Anne Murray'' (1998), ''Anne Murray's Classic Christmas'' (1995), and ''Anne Murray'' (1991).

Notable Television and Film scores

His music scores for television shows include ''

The Legend of Prince Valiant ''The Legend of Prince Valiant'' is a 1991–1993 American animated television series based on the ''Prince Valiant'' comic strip created by Hal Foster. Set in the time of King Arthur, it is a family-oriented adventure show about an exiled prince ...

'',Erickson, Hal, ''Television Cartoon Shows: An illustrated encyclopedia'', McFarland, 1995, pp. 302 and 612. and ''The Phantom 2040''. As a songwriter, his compositions include "Her Body Makes Vows" which appears on the soundtrack for the

Antonio Banderas José Antonio Domínguez Bandera (born 10 August 1960), known professionally as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish actor and singer. Known for his work in films of several genres, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Antonio Ba ...

and

Rebecca DeMornay Rebecca, ; Syriac: , ) from the Hebrew (lit., 'connection'), from Semitic root , 'to tie, couple or join', 'to secure', or 'to snare') () appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblical ...

film ''

Never Talk to Strangers ''Never Talk to Strangers'' is a 1995 erotic thriller film directed by Peter Hall and starring Antonio Banderas and Rebecca De Mornay. Plot Psychologist Dr. Sarah Taylor is a guarded, aloof criminal psychologist who interviews a client who is ...

'' and Tú's single "Stay With Me", the band's biggest hit.Jam
"Tu"
''The Canadian Pop Encyclopedia'' According to his official website, his compositions have also been heard on several sporting events and broadcasts including the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

, the

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

, the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

, the

Masters Tournament The Masters Tournament (usually referred to as simply The Masters, or the U.S. Masters outside North America) is one of the four major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week of April, the Masters is the first maj ...

Baseball World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

, ''

ABC's Wide World of Sports ''ABC's Wide World of Sports'' is an American sports anthology television program that aired on ABC from April 29, 1961 to January 3, 1998, primarily on Saturday afternoons. Hosted by Jim McKay, with a succession of co-hosts beginning in 198 ...

'' and the

Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is contested every two years with the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe. The Ryder Cup is named af ...

References

;Additional sources *Murray, Anne and Posner, Michael, ''All of Me'', Alfred A. Knopf, 2009, p. 290 and '' passim''. *Encyclopedia of Electronic Music, http://www.pugachov.ru/eem/ea.html *IMDB, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0786690/filmogenre

External links

Steve Sexton - Official websiteSteve Sexton - IMDbSteve Sexton - PhotographPhotograph of Steve Sexton with Anne Murray and other members of her band
(on

's official website) {{DEFAULTSORT:Sexton, Steve Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Canadian male composers Canadian rock keyboardists Canadian record producers Musicians from Ontario People from Richmond Hill, Ontario University of Western Ontario alumni Red Rider members 20th-century Canadian composers 20th-century Canadian male musicians 21st-century Canadian male musicians

Early career

Work with Anne Murray

Notable Television and Film scores

See also

References

External links