Ray Colcord, a former president of the Society of Composers & Lyricists and prolific television composer behind the scores for such shows as 227, The Facts Of Life and more, died February 5 following a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 66.
Born in New York City in 1949, Colcord attended Rice University and got his start in music as a touring musician in Texas. He also worked as an A&R executive for Columbia Records, and was responsible for getting the rock band Aerosmith signed to the lable. He would later serve as a producer on their second album. He became music director for The Groundlings in 1976, composed all of the comedy troupe’s music during his tenure, and won a Drama-Logue Award in 1985. That same year he began scoring for broadcast network television shows, though his first foray into TV was in 1982, for A&E’s An Evening at the Improv.
Among the other television series he worked on were Family Affair, Big Brother, Dinosaur and episodes of The Simpsons, My Two Dads, and Silver Spoons. He also wrote music for several films, including “I Like ‘Em Big And Stupid” for the Earth Girls Are Easy soundtrack and “Bouzouki Trella” for Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, as well as several tv movies and specials.
Colcord was later appointed by the Library of Congress to the National Film Preservation Board, taught a UCLA Extension course in music production and served on the Film Music Society board of directors. He is survived by his wife, Madeleine, his son Alex, and his brother, Marc.
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