Mike Post

Mike Post (born Leland Michael Postil, September 29, 1944, Berkeley, California) is an American multi-Grammy and Emmy Award winning composer best known for scoring some of the most popular TV theme songs in the United States, for primetime series such as Law & Order, NYPD Blue, The Rockford Files, LA Law, Quantum Leap, Magnum, P.I., Hill Street Blues, among numerous other notable TV shows and feature films.

Early musical career

Post's first credited work in music was cutting demos using two singing sisters, Terry and Carol Fischer; with Sally Gordon, they went on to become The Murmaids (their first single, "Popsicles and Icicles" was a #3 hit song in 1963).

Post also provided early guidance for the garage rock band the Outcasts while in basic training in San Antonio, Texas; he was the songwriter and producer for both songs on the band's first single, released in 1965, and also arranged a local concert where they served as the back-up band.^[1]

He won his first Grammy at age 23 for Best Instrumental Arrangement on Mason Williams' "Classical Gas", a #2 hit song in 1968. He is also credited as the producer for Williams' LP that included this song, The Mason Williams Phonograph Record.

Billed as the Mike Post Coalition, their track "Afternoon of the Rhino" became a sought after Northern soul track.^[2] The single peaked at #47 in the UK Singles Chart in August 1975.^[3]

Post also worked with Kenny Rogers and produced the first three albums he recorded with his country/rock group the First Edition (between 1967 and 1969). Post also produced Dolly Parton's hit album 9 to 5 and Odd Jobs in 1981. Much later, in 1997, he produced Van Halen's Van Halen III album.

Television theme music

One of his first jobs in television started when he was 24, as the musical director on The Andy Williams Show. Another early job was writing the theme music for the short-lived detective series Toma in 1973, but his big breakthrough (together with co-composer Pete Carpenter) came in the following year with his theme song for The Rockford Files, another series by producer Stephen J. Cannell. The theme also got cross-over Top 40 radio airplay and earned a second Grammy for Post.^[4] Post subsequently won Grammys for Best Instrumental Composition for the themes for the television shows Hill Street Blues in 1981 and L.A. Law in 1988 as well as another Grammy in 1981 for Best Instrumental Performance for the Hill Street Blues theme.^[4]

Post won an Emmy for his Murder One theme music, and had previously been nominated for NYPD Blue, among others. He has won BMI Awards for the music for L.A. Law, Hunter, and the various Law & Order series. The theme for The Greatest American Hero is one of the few television themes to reach as high as #2 as a single record on the Billboard Hot 100.^[4]

Other TV music works include The A-Team, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Blossom, CHiPs, The Commish, Doogie Howser, M.D., Hardcastle & McCormick, Hooperman, Hunter, Magnum, P.I., NewsRadio, Profit, Quantum Leap, Renegade, Riptide, Silk Stalkings, Stingray, Tenspeed and Brown Shoe, The White Shadow, Wiseguy, the BBC series Roughnecks, Law & Order, and Philly.

Inventions from the Blue Line

In 1994, Post released a CD, called Inventions from the Blue Line. The CD contained several of his well-known themes, featuring NYPD Blue and also including Law & Order, Silk Stalkings and Renegade. In the liner notes, he discussed his late father, Sam Postil, and the admiration for law enforcement officers that Sam instilled in Mike. He also referred to police in the traditional nickname of "blues", as in The Thin Blue Line (referring to the police in general and to police camaraderie). One of the tracks is called "The Blue Line", which Post calls "the comradery [sic] theme".

In popular culture

Pete Townshend wrote a song called "Mike Post Theme", which mentioned Post's work in television music. It was released on The Who's 2006 album, Endless Wire.

References

1. ^ Review from Fuzz, Acid and Flowers, partially reproduced on www.dennysguitars.com/outcasts1.html
2. ^ Maconie, Stuart (2004). Cider With Roadies (1st ed.). London: Random House. p. 69. ISBN 0-091-89115-9. 
3. ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 432. ISBN 1-904994-10-5. 
4. ^ ^{a b c} Mike Post Bio on Enotes

External links

• Mike Post at the Internet Movie Database
• Biography
• Biography On Enotes.com
• Mike Post Archive of American Television Interview

Persondata
Name	Post, Mike
Alternative names	Postil, Leland Michael
Short description	American composer
Date of birth	September 29, 1944
Place of birth	Berkeley, California, United States
Date of death
Place of death