Harold Wheeler

William Harold Wheeler Jr.

(1943-07-14) July 14, 1943
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.

Piano

RCA Victor

Career[edit]

Wheeler first worked in the 1960s as the musical director (MD) for Burt Bacharach making him the first African-American MD of a major pop act. He also was doing arranging for Tony Orlando and Nina Simone during that time. He was named Music Conductor for the 76th Academy Awards, becoming only the second African-American conductor in the academy's history. He also was a music arranger on the 79th Academy Awards. Wheeler was one of two conductors (the others being fellow composers John Williams and Paul Shaffer) during the closing ceremonies of the 1996 Summer Olympics.


Wheeler was the musical director on the ABC Network show, Dancing with the Stars for the show's first 17 seasons.[2] In January 2014, it was announced that former American Idol bandleader Ray Chew would take over as musical director for the show's 18th season.

Awards[edit]

In 2008, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the NAACP Theatre Awards In 2019, he received a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theater.[3]

Personal life[edit]

Wheeler was born in St Louis, Missouri. He attended Howard University, where he met his future wife, actress Hattie Winston.[4]

(1968) – Musical Director, dance arrangements

Promises, Promises

(1969) – Dance arrangements

Coco

(1971) – Musical direction and supervision

Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death

(1971) – Musical Supervisor

Two Gentlemen of Verona

(1972) – Musical Supervisor

Don't Play Us Cheap!

(1974) – featuring songs by

Love For Love

(1975) – music orchestrated by

The Wiz

(1981) – Musical Director

Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music

(1981) – Musical Supervisor, music orchestrated by

Dreamgirls

(1982) – music orchestrated by

Little Me

(1983) – Musical Supervisor, music arranged by, vocal arrangements by

The Tap Dance Kid

(1984) – music orchestrated by

The Wiz

(1984) – additional orchestrations by

The Three Musketeers

(1985) – opening dance sequence composed and orchestrated by

Leader of the Pack

(1985) – additional orchestrations by

Grind

(1987) – Musical Supervisor, music orchestrated by

Dreamgirls

(1988) – Musical Supervisor, music orchestrated by

Carrie

Tommy Tune Tonite! (1992) – arrangements and/or orchestrations by

(1997) – music orchestrated by

The Life

(1997) – music orchestrated by

Side Show

(1998) – music orchestrated by

Little Me

(1999) – music orchestrated by

Swing!

(2000) – music orchestrated by

The Full Monty

(2002) – music orchestrated by

Hairspray

(2003) – music orchestrated by

Never Gonna Dance

(2005) – music orchestrated by

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

(2005) – music orchestrated by

Lennon

(2011) – arrangements and orchestrations by

Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway

(2014) – music orchestrated by

Side Show

(2019) – music orchestrated by

Ain't Too Proud

[5]

– Here Comes the Sun (1971) – Arranger, conductor & producer

Nina Simone

– Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. (1973) – Piano on "Blinded By the Light" and "Spirit In The Night"

Bruce Springsteen

(1985) – Additional orchestrations

Grind

The Harold Wheeler Consort – Black Cream (1975) RCA BGL1-0849 – Producer, arranger, piano/keyboards/organ/Moog, composer credit for tracks "Black Cream" and "Color Me Soul"

[6]

– Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk (1977) – arranger & producer

Meco

(1978) – soundtrack[7]

The Wiz

(1991)[7] – original music

Straight Out of Brooklyn

(1992) - original score

The Jacksons: An American Dream

(2005) – Arranger and conductor

Mississippi Rising

at the Internet Broadway Database

Harold Wheeler

at IMDb

Harold Wheeler

discography at Discogs

Harold Wheeler

thehistorymakers.com/biography

All Music Guide

at NAMM Oral History Collection (2021)

Harold Wheeler Interview