Ian Freebairn-Smith (born March 4, 1932) is an American composer, arranger, conductor and group singer in film and TV. He spans from classical to popular music, jazz, choral music, and new music.

Early life and education

Ian Freebairn-Smith was born in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

, Washington.Ian Freebairn-Smith
IMDb.com, Inc., accessed June 8, 2018 He began studying composition in high school. He then attended the

Los Angeles Conservatory of Music LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to: Science and technology * Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation * Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers * Level of significance, a measure of statistical significan ...

, the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...

, and UCLA. He later studied film scoring with

Leith Stevens Leith Stevens (September 13, 1909 – July 23, 1970) was an American music composer and conductor of radio and film scores. Early life and education Leith Stevens was born in Mount Moriah, Missouri,DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An ...

.American Society of Music Arrangers and Composer
Ian Freebairn-Smith, Board of Directors
ASMAC.org, accessed June 8, 2018

Career

Freebairn-Smith began as a group singer with the California Dreamers and The Singers Incorporated, followed by choral arranging, orchestra arranging, and composing for motion pictures. He wrote the scores for films like The Strawberry Statement and was instrumental in the composing of scores for "The Muppet Movie" and "A Star is Born." He also wrote the score for a film called The End, starring Burt Reynolds. In 1977, he won a Grammy Award for best arrangement accompanying a vocalist, for "

Evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, whic ...

" sung by

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers awar ...

. He arranged and conducted for The Hi-Lo's,

The Four Freshmen The Four Freshmen is an American male vocal quartet that blends open-harmonic jazz arrangements with the big band vocal group sounds of The Modernaires, The Pied Pipers, and The Mel-Tones, founded in the barbershop tradition. The singers accom ...

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, Frederica von Stade,

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, Stephen Bishop,

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, Paul Williams,

Jeff Beck Geoffrey Arnold Beck (born 24 June 1944) is an English rock guitarist. He rose to prominence with the Yardbirds and after fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, he switched to a mainly instrumental style, with a fo ...

, and others. As late as April 2018, Freebairn-Smith had given a master class at LA Valley College.Charles Fernande
Ian Freebairn-Smith Master Class – It’s a Wrap!
May 2, 2018, Blog, Master Class Highlights, ASMAC.org

Personal life

As of 2018, he was married to Shari Zippert with one daughter, Vanessa, who are both musicians in Los Angeles. He has three daughters from his first marriage, two of whom, Alison and Jennifer, are singer/songwriters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Freebairn-Smith, Ian 21st-century American composers Living people American male composers 1932 births 21st-century American male musicians