31 Facts About Alf Clausen

Alf Heiberg Clausen was born on March 28,1941 and is an American film and television composer.

Alf Clausen is best known for his work scoring many episodes of The Simpsons, for which he was the sole composer between 1990 and 2017.

Alf Clausen was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and raised in Jamestown, North Dakota.

Alf Clausen began playing the French horn in the seventh grade and learned piano; and he sang in his high school choir.

Alf Clausen continued playing and learned to play the bass guitar, stopping singing because the choir met at the same time as the band.

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Alf Clausen studied mechanical engineering at North Dakota State University although, after being inspired by his pianist cousin, switched his major to musical theory.

Whilst there, Alf Clausen took a correspondence course at Boston's Berklee College of Music in jazz and big band writing.

Alf Clausen went on to attend the University of Wisconsin–Madison to complete his master's degree, but he quit as he disliked the place, especially what he felt was an "anti-jazz" attitude.

Alf Clausen later attended Berklee and graduated with a diploma in arranging and composition in 1966.

Alf Clausen was the first French horn player to ever attend the college and took part in many ensembles; he is featured on some Jazz in the Classroom albums.

Alf Clausen moved to Los Angeles, California in 1967 in search of television work, wanting to become a full-time composer.

Alf Clausen worked as a copyist on "Come On Get Happy", the theme song to The Partridge Family.

Alf Clausen had the same role on The Mary Tyler Moore Hour in 1979.

Alf Clausen served as the composer for the series Moonlighting from 1985 to 1989, scoring 63 of the 65 episodes.

Alf Clausen received an Emmy nomination for each episode in the category Outstanding Achievement In Music Composition For A Series in 1986 and 1987, earning two more nominations over the next two years for the episodes "Here's Living with You, Kid" and "A Womb with a View".

Alf Clausen conducted the orchestras and, for some, provided additional music for several films including The Beastmaster, Airplane II: The Sequel, Splash, Weird Science, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Dragnet and The Naked Gun.

Alf Clausen delivers in spades, always bringing his trademark stylistic verve and technical precision.

Alf Clausen has proved beyond a doubt that television scoring is not the vast wasteland it is often purported to be and that an intelligent composer can take even the most demanding shows and elevate them to new heights.

Alf Clausen's friend suggested him to a producer from the Fox animated series The Simpsons who were looking for a new composer.

Alf Clausen has since scored almost all of the music and songs which have appeared on the show, across a wide range of musical styles through the end of the 28th season.

Alf Clausen conducted a 35-piece orchestra for the music, a rarity for television shows, and recorded the score for an episode every week.

Alf Clausen wrote an episode's score during the week, recorded it on a Friday, with some variation if vocals are required.

Alf Clausen has received two Primetime Emmy Awards for his work on The Simpsons, winning the award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music and Lyrics two years in a row.

Alf Clausen has been nominated in the category a further seven times in 1994,1995,1996,2002,2003,2004 and 2005.

Alf Clausen has received twelve nominations for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music Composition for a Series between 1992 and 2011 and has twice been nominated for Outstanding Music Direction, in 1997 and 1998.

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Alf Clausen has won five Annie Awards for his work on The Simpsons.

Alf Clausen was not asked to score the film adaptation of the show, with Hans Zimmer getting the job.

Alf Clausen noted: "sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug".

Whilst working on The Simpsons, Alf Clausen scored The Critic from 1994 to 1995 and Bette in 2000.

Alf Clausen recorded the album Swing Can Really Hang You Up The Most in 2003, comprising the arrangements he made over his career, performed by his jazz orchestra, after self-financing it.

In 2011, Alf Clausen was awarded the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Golden Note Award.